As Amazon MMO New World gets a resurgence, fans praise its big new musket nerf

Amazon's MMO New World is enjoying a resurgence in its player count, and the changes to the game's muskets could help to bring even more players into the fold. 

New World launched in September 2021, and its real-time action, which mixes melee weapons with ranged artillery and supernatural powers, saw it enjoy a concurrent player peak of over 900k on Steam at launch. But it wasn't long before player numbers began to rapidly decline. 

Now the game's got something of a second wind, with its player count increasing considerably in recent weeks. According to Steam's data, New World is now regularly reaching over 100,000 concurrent players thanks to the new Brimstone Sands update Fresh Start servers. 

Developer Amazon Games Orange County continues to improve the multiplayer experience with a much-needed nerf to the game's muskets. The latest update adjusts the damage fall off of musket shots. According to the patch notes, the damage is reduced "by 60% at the full 125m, and 30% with the Ballistic Advantage Passive".

Players have been praising the move on the New World subreddit. "It's about damn time!" says HeftyScholar, while DeityVengy describes this as "a good day". A particularly thrilled user by the name of MC_Knight24 writes, "Thank Geebus! The more, the better," and an equally joyous Jiggy-Spice says, "I am so happy to see musket nerfs". New World fan Ziibo thinks the developer hasn't gone far enough, responding with, "Nerf it more".

Interestingly, all the changes that Amazon Games is implementing seem to be paying off. Looking at the Steam reviews, overall, it's got a "mixed" reception from players, but its most recent reviews have been "very positive", with 82% of the 4,509 reviews shared in the last 30 days being favourable. 

Looking for more multiplayer games to sink thousands of hours into? Our guide to the best MMORPGs has you covered.