New World Aeternum Guide 2026: What to Do in Your First 20 Hours

New World: Aeternum is no longer for sale. Amazon delisted it from Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox on January 15, 2026, and the servers themselves go dark on January 31, 2027. If you’re reading this because you already own a copy — bought years ago, inherited an account, or grabbed it just before the delisting — this guide is for you. If you don’t already own it, there’s currently no legal way to buy in. Everything below assumes you’re one of the people who can still log in, and walks through what to actually do with the roughly 20 hours it takes to get a real feel for Aeternum before deciding whether it’s worth the rest of your time with the game.

Can You Still Start New World Aeternum in 2026?

Yes, if you already own a copy. No, if you don’t. Amazon’s official shutdown announcement confirms the game was pulled from every storefront on January 15, 2026, with in-game purchases (Marks of Fortune and everything else in the store) cut off on July 20, 2026. Existing owners can still download, reinstall, and play for free until the servers close on January 31, 2027 [1].

Development itself ended earlier than the delisting. The October 2025 Season 10 and Nighthaven update was the final content release [2][3] — no new seasons, no server merges, but bug fixes, world bosses, and bonus weeks continue until the lights go out [1]. The mechanics in this guide are verified against the March 25, 2026 quality-of-life patch and the June 23, 2026 maintenance patch, the most recent updates as of publication [7]. Values can still shift in a maintenance patch, so double-check anything time-sensitive in-game before you commit resources to it.

Quick Start Checklist: Your First Hour in Aeternum

Do these in order before you get too deep into the opening quests:

1. Change Bandwidth Mode to High and turn off Camera Shake in Settings — both are off by default and both noticeably improve how the game looks and feels [9].
2. Limit player nameplates to 15 or fewer if you’ll ever step into a war zone or Outpost Rush. It’s a real frame-rate difference in crowded fights, not a cosmetic setting [8].
3. Pick a starting zone — First Light, Monarch’s Bluff, or Windsward. They run near-identical tutorial arcs into the same open world, so pick on aesthetic (Mediterranean coast, English countryside, temperate forest) rather than trying to optimize [10].
4. Flag for PvP as soon as you’re comfortable with basic combat. Flagged characters earn noticeably more experience from everything you do, not just PvP kills [8].
5. Pick up every quest with a yellow map pin — Main, Side Story, Legendary, Town Project, and Faction quests are all tracked and nothing is missable, so there’s no reason to skip one [10].
6. Build a respawn camp from 5 green wood and 1 flint before wandering off the main path — it saves a long run back after a bad death [8].
7. Drink from any freshwater pool if you’re low on health mid-fight — it’s a free heal-over-time in a pinch [8].

Weapon Mastery and Attributes: How Builds Actually Work

New World has no classes. Every weapon is available to every character from the start, and the game expects you to run two at once, swapping mid-fight rather than committing to one playstyle [9].

Each weapon levels its own Mastery independently, up to level 20, unlocking two skill trees you can’t fully clear at the same time — you choose a lane and can respec later for Azoth [4]. Attributes work separately: you start with 5 points in each of Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Focus, and Constitution, and gain 3 points per level to spend [4][10]. Gains soft-cap at 195, with diminishing returns kicking in past 100 [4] — the mechanism that matters here is that a weapon pair sharing one attribute lets every point you spend improve both weapons at once, instead of splitting your budget between two separate stats.

The table above is the single biggest early-game build decision: pick your two weapons around one shared attribute before you start dumping points, not after. If a more traditional class system appeals to you more than New World’s mix-and-match approach, our Crimson Desert combat class guide covers a game built around fixed roles instead.

Factions and Territories: What Actually Matters Early On

You won’t be forced to pick a faction until level 10, when the “Commitment to the Cause” quest appears at your settlement, and the choice isn’t permanent — just slow to reverse [6][9]. The three factions are the Marauders (a free-for-all military nation), the Syndicate (secretive knowledge-seekers), and the Covenant (a fanatical purifying order) [6] — mechanically identical in what gear and content they grant, different only in identity and community.

If your friends already picked a faction, join them. Aeternum’s endgame content — wars, territory control — is a group activity, and a mismatched faction locks you out of playing it together. If you’re going in solo, pick on identity rather than power, since all three have equal access to gear and content. And if you change your mind, you can switch faction once every 120 days — a slow decision, not a permanent one [9]. Territory control itself, where factions fight over map ownership, affects almost nothing about your first 20 hours beyond a color changing on the map.

Gathering, Crafting, and the Trading Post

Prioritize gathering over crafting early — it funds everything else. Get Logging, Mining, Harvesting, and Tracking & Skinning to level 50 first, upgrading your tools from Flint to Iron to Steel as gold allows [9]. Logging matters more than the others: it’s the one skill that gates you out of chopping mature trees in later zones entirely until it’s leveled, not just a speed penalty like the rest [9]. For crafting itself, use the Town Project Board quests at your settlement to level skills passively while you quest normally, instead of grinding raw materials solo [9].

One Trading Post habit worth building immediately: when placing a buy order, price it just 0.01 gold above the current highest buy order rather than matching the sell price outright. It sounds trivial, but it’s a habit that meaningfully changes how much gold you keep over a full playthrough [8]. Settlement storage sheds only share space within that settlement, so drop off raw materials where you gather them — your current inventory weight directly raises the Azoth cost of fast travel, so a lighter pack is a cheaper trip [10]. Readers who want a look at how another live-service crafting loop handles long-term progression can compare notes against our V Rising tech tree guide.

What to Expect by Hour 20

Based on how the early quest chains and gathering skills scale, most new characters land around level 15–20 after roughly 20 hours of steady, unhurried play — faster if you rush the main questline, slower if you explore every side area. A few concrete milestones to watch for along the way: the faction commitment quest at level 10 [6][9], and your first mount quest at level 20 — “Change of the Wild,” which starts with “My Kingdom for a Horse” from Jochi Khan in Everfall [11]. Your main weapon’s Mastery will likely sit somewhere in the 8–12 range if you’ve stuck with one pair the whole way. Your first house (5,000 gold minimum) is realistically still a savings goal at this stage, not something you’ll casually afford [10].

Common Early Mistakes to Avoid

• Not flagging for PvP and missing the passive XP bonus for weeks without realizing it [8].
• Spending Azoth on early weapon respecs — Mastery respecs are free until level 10, so experiment before that threshold instead of after [10].
• Ignoring inventory weight before fast traveling, which directly raises the Azoth cost of the trip [10].
• Dumping every attribute point into one stat past the 100 mark, where returns diminish, instead of spreading between the two attributes your weapon pair actually needs [4].

If Aeternum’s shutdown has you thinking about what comes next, our 2026 release calendar tracks what’s landing while you finish out your time in Aeternum.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still buy New World Aeternum in 2026?

No. Amazon delisted it from Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox on January 15, 2026. If you don’t already own a copy, there’s currently no legal way to buy in [1].

When do New World Aeternum servers shut down?

January 31, 2027. Existing owners can keep playing until then; in-game store purchases stopped on July 20, 2026 [1].

Which starting zone should I pick — First Light, Monarch’s Bluff, or Windsward?

It barely matters mechanically. All three run the same opening arc into the same shared world, so pick whichever setting appeals to you visually rather than hunting for a “best” option [10].

Is it worth starting New World Aeternum now?

If you already own it, yes, for the roughly year of server life left. Questing, weapon mastery, factions, and world-boss content are all still fully playable — you’re just not getting any new content on top of what already exists [1][2].

Sources

1. Amazon Games. The Future of New World: What to Expect. Official New World: Aeternum Website
2. Amazon Games. An Update on New World. Official New World: Aeternum Website
3. Amazon Games. Releases. Official New World: Aeternum Website
4. Amazon Games. Character Progression. Official New World: Aeternum Website
5. Amazon Games. Rise of the Angry Earth: New and Returning Player Guide. Official New World: Aeternum Website
6. Amazon Games. March to Battle: Factions. Official New World: Aeternum Website
7. MMORPG.com. New World Aeternum Unlocks All Transmogs, Makes Content More Doable in Spring QoL Patch
8. Icy Veins. Beginner Tips and Tricks — New World
9. Fextralife. New World: Aeternum Complete Beginners Guide
10. Millenium. New World Beginners Guide: Getting Started in Aeternum
11. GameRant. How to Unlock Mounts in New World: Aeternum

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Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.