Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek is concerned New World server merges could break one core pillar of the MMORPG’s gameplay — the economy. However, despite the issue, he believes the adjustment is a must to save the game.
In November 2021, Amazon Games confirmed that New World server merges are “on the horizon” amid concerns about the game’s population decline. It’s something the community has been asking for, and they’re thrilled about it.
Shroud is on board with the decision, too. However, he believes it’s a double-edged sword in the sense that it could potentially break the existing economies on servers, describing it as an “unavoidable issue.”
“It wouldn’t make sense to merge a small server into a medium server,” he said. “It would make more sense to merge all of the smalls and then a medium with a medium because the economy would make the most sense.
“If you grab a bunch of smalls and somebody has held onto thousands upon thousands of materials because they don’t have any competition, then they just come over to a medium or high pop and then own.”
However, he realized that merging small servers with other small servers would lead to another problem. “There’s just going to be so many items,” he said. “No matter what happens, somebody gets f**ked.”
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In the end, shroud concluded that merging servers will inevitably break economies in some way. But despite that, he thinks it’s still worth doing. “It’s an unavoidable issue. It’s better to do it than not do it, though.”
We’ll have to wait and see whether server merges do end up breaking the economies on existing servers.
However, if they do, it’s unlikely to stop shroud from playing. He’s praised the game every step of the way and even claimed it’s his favorite game to stream by far.