New World January PTR adds Mutators Expedition modifiers to the game

Amazon Games are shaking things up in the new year as the Public Test Realm (PTR) is again open to New World players. The latest PTR cycle will test several new features, more endgame content and quality of life improvements for later release.

One of the new features available for testing is endgame modifiers, making Expeditions more challenging. These modifiers will allow players to relive their favourite expeditions with their unique set of challenges.

Expeditions to get harder with new modifiers

In a recent blog post, New World’s developers outlined the new features, endgame content and improvements players get to test out before the massive January update. One of these new features, Mutators, is Expedition modifiers added to the PTR alongside ten more difficulty levels for each Expedition.

📅 New Year means more New World content!

We invite you all to participate in the next cycle of our Public Test Realm, now live!

🧭 https://t.co/TcARS9bVmppic.twitter.com/zc5lteFoP3

— New World (@playnewworld) January 6, 2022

According to the developers, “Mutators change the familiar by augmenting “Normal” and “Named” Enemies found within expeditions, changing the way encounters play out and what strategies players should consider before battle.”

The developers further detailed in the PTR patch notes that the scoring system for the Mutated Expedition is based on a combination of factors, including completion time, total enemies killed, respawn rates and other performance-based scoring categories. Continue to excel in these Expeditions and see them progress to the next level with greater rewards.

These mutations will rotate weekly as players can play through 10 levels for every Expedition Mutation. As such, these mutations will challenge players to level up, with the primary goal of achieving the highest difficulty.

Throughout the current PTR cycle, however, these rotations are expedited on a schedule that allows all players an opportunity to explore the range of mutations for several Expeditions. As expected, these Expeditions will present a challenge through every level, as the difficulty will increase, making it harder to level up.

The developers have warned players that the “Recommended Gear Score” is critical to their success during the Mutated Expeditions as it “directly factors into enemy scaling”. As a result, a 600 Gear Score loadout is given to players to start their playtest on the PTR this month.

Additionally, “Named Enemies” drop rates are increased with T5 gear made available when playing a Mutated Expedition to the Dynasty Shipyard loot table. Changes to enemies counts will see the number of enemies players will likely encounter during the Lazarus Instrumentality have been reduced.

New World players can install the PTR client by browsing their Steam library, which should appear below New World. After installing the client on your PC, run the client to start your PTR playtest. 

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Don’t forget to check out our dedicated New World section for the latest news, updates, guides, leaks and more.

Featured image courtesy of Amazon Games.