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How to Make the Most of New World’s Last Year: Events, Farming, and Farewell Tips

ggamesonline

2026-01-23 12:00:00

10 min read

Make the most of New World's final year: farm valuables, capture memories, and join last-server events. Practical tips for Nighthaven players.

Don't Let Aeternum Fade Unnoticed — Your 2026 checklist for New World's final year

Facing the shutdown of New World is rough. You’ve got about a year — the Nighthaven season has been extended and Amazon confirmed servers will go offline on January 31, 2027. That means a tight window to farm value, preserve memories, and help your community say goodbye the right way. This guide turns anxiety into action: prioritized tasks, step-by-step farming plans, technical how-tos for capturing screenshots and video, plus social strategies to coordinate memorials and server events.

Why act now? The landscape in 2026

In late 2025 and early 2026 the industry shifted: Amazon moved New World into maintenance mode amid wider layoffs, delisted the game, and announced the final offline date. The community reaction has been intense — public figures from other studios said games shouldn’t just die — and player-run events have already accelerated. With only a year left, the priorities are different from regular endgame: it’s less about min-maxing for forever and more about maximizing lasting value and creating shareable memories.

“We are grateful for the time spent crafting the world of Aeternum with you… We look forward to one more year together, and giving this fantastic adventure a sendoff worthy of a legendary hero.” — Amazon Games (official statement, 2026)

Top-level plan: What to do first (0–30 days)

Start with a triage. You need both digital preservation and farming targets. Do these immediately:

Backup and capture: Take high-res screenshots of characters, houses, trophy rooms, company halls, and epic kills. Record short clips of J-cuts—signature moments you’ll want to keep.
Inventory audit: Decide what’s sentimental (named weapons, house furniture, achievement gear) vs what’s useful to farm (gold, rare crafting mats, trophies, unique cosmetic drops).
Coordinate: Ping your company, friends, and server Discord/Reddit. Put together a calendar for upcoming community events and final big-group raids.

Farming priorities for the final year

With no future economy beyond January 2027, farming is about two things: things that are meaningful forever (screenshots, record detections, achievements, house builds) and things that give you immediate satisfaction (gold, trophies, named gear). Here’s a prioritized list.

1. High-impact, hard-to-recreate items

Named/legendary drops: Unique named weapons and armors are signature loot. If you want a personal trophy, target the expeditions and elite bosses that drop them.
Rare cosmetics and skins: Seasonal or rare cosmetics will be memory tokens. If a skin means something to your group, chase it.
Housing decorations and trophy walls: Homes and trophies are a physical record of your journey. Build, photograph, and video them.

2. Currency & economy

Gold: Still the most practical resource for running events, funding giveaway prizes, and buying final craft materials.
Company chests & logs: If you’re an officer, archive company rosters, activity logs, and screenshots of the company hall. Those records matter to your community history.

3. Crafting materials & trophies

High-tier crafting mats: Many late-game sets need rare materials. If you enjoy crafting legendary pieces for nostalgia, stockpile the essentials now.
Trophies and banners: They’re symbolic and look great in screenshots — prioritize unique trophies that commemorate big wins.

Farming plans by timeframe

Structure your year so you’re not scrambling at the end.

Months 1–3: Foundation

Clear inventory and create a sharing plan: who keeps what in the company; distribute sentimental items to players who want them photographed.
Begin daily/weekly gold runs and resource routes: set routes for ore, wood, and fiber with your group to scale efficiently.
Start a housing build project if you’re into decor — these take time and player trades.

Months 4–9: Scale up

Coordinate expedition farms with friends to chase named drops.
Run organized open-world boss trains for cosmetic drops and trophies.
Host monthly company events: screenshot nights, lore nights, and fashion shows to keep momentum.

Final 3 months: Festival mode

Plan server-wide memorials and large-scale wars that put Nighthaven on the map.
Schedule final screenshots, cinematic runs, and livestreamed retrospectives.
Export everything — photos, videos, chat logs — and distribute final community packages.

How to capture memories that last

Game shutdowns delete servers, but your captures stay. Prioritize quality and metadata.

Screenshot basics

Resolution & quality: Crank up render scale and resolution. Capture PNGs where possible — they are lossless and archive-friendly.
HUD off: Use the in-game HUD toggle or stream overlay to remove clutter for cinematic shots.
Multiple angles: Get close-ups, wide shots, and group portraits. If you have a friend with a good camera position, coordinate.

Recording video (best practices)

Use OBS or Game Capture: Record at 60fps, 1080p or 4K if your rig can handle it. Use a separate microphone track if you’re capturing voice chats. If you need a walkthrough on setting up reliable streams and rehearsals, see how creators run reliable workshops and preflight tests.
Short clips, raw files: Record short, high-quality clips rather than one giant file. Store raw footage in cloud backup before editing.
Stream and save: Livestream big moments (wars, memorials) on Twitch/YouTube — then save VODs. This gives you a timestamped public record.

Metadata & verification

Preserve context so future viewers understand when and where things happened.

Add captions and timestamps in filenames (YYYYMMDD_ServerName_Event).
Use EXIF tools to write notes into images and use YouTube timestamps in video descriptions. For guidance on organizing digital estates and important metadata, see how people manage digital accounts and metadata.
Keep chat logs, screenshots of the event invites, and Discord timestamps to corroborate major events.

Technical checklist: tools & settings

Screenshots: Steam (F12) or in-game screenshot — export as PNG. If you use the Windows Game Bar, set the capture quality to high.
Recording: OBS (Game Capture mode) — Profile: High Quality, Keyframe: 2s, CPU Preset: quality/balanced.
Storage: Keep two copies: local SSD + cloud (Google Drive, OneDrive, or Backblaze). Use checksums for big archives and plan for recoverability with guides like Beyond Restore.
Editing: Use something lightweight (DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Rush) for montages; export master copies as MP4 H.264 and an archival ProRes if storage permits. If storage costs are a concern, check reviews of cloud cost observability tools to plan your archive budget.

Raw files are useless if no one sees them. Build a community archive.

Shared drives: Create a server-specific folder structure: /Screenshots, /Videos, /CompanyLogs, /Builds. Use read-only sharing to protect originals; guidance on trusted backup and recovery appears in cloud recovery playbooks.
Community museum: Host a site page or thread for “Server Hall of Fame” screenshots and stories — museums and archives influence how communities remember events (lessons from museum practice).
Montages: Invite a video editor in the community to assemble highlight reels for YouTube and social platforms — if you need help coordinating creators, see best practices for launching reliable creator workshops.

Hosting player memorials and server events

Good memorials are inclusive, well-publicized, and technically reliable.

Types of events to run

Farewell sieges: Arrange final Wars and showpiece PvP events to mark the end of territorial conflict.
Memorial gatherings: Gather at a symbolic location (town square, company hall) for speeches, music, and group screenshots.
Festivals & fairs: Roleplay markets, crafting contests, and fashion shows to highlight players’ creations.

How to organize one successfully

Create a clear schedule and map the event route (spawn points, backup locations).
Push the event to all channels: Discord, Reddit, Steam groups, in-game announcements, and social platforms. For organizing field strategies, see field strategies for community pop-ups — many of the outreach and mapping tactics transfer well to in-game events.
Test tech: run a rehearsal for livestreams and ensure spawn limits and space for screenshots.
Record everything and designate official photographers and streamers.

As the shutdown approaches, scams and griefing often spike. Protect your community and keep events positive.

Verify trades and giveaways: Use multi-person witnesses for major item transfers and post screenshots of transactions. Best practices for trust and payment flows for community-driven trades are covered in trust & payment flow guides.
Use invite systems: For memorials, publish exact meetup coordinates and moderators to prevent raids/spoilers.
Communicate expectations: Make it clear memorials are respectful spaces. Create a short code of conduct and pin it to event posts.

What to avoid

Don’t panic-farm scams or rely on third-party software that could jeopardize your account or recordings.

Avoid unauthorized mods or hacks that violate the Terms of Service — these risk bans and corrupted captures. For security best practices around cloud storage and access, see security deep dives.
Don’t trust random “buyout” offers or external claims that promise to preserve accounts after shutdown.
Be cautious with mass gifting: document and moderate transfers to avoid later disputes.

Turning memories into long-term artifacts

Once you’ve recorded and gathered everything, convert it into shareable artifacts that survive the shutdown.

Server history book: Assemble screenshots, raid logs, and guild stories into a PDF or web page.
Video retrospectives: Produce a 10–20 minute documentary-style montage with interviews, clips, and music from the community.
Open archives: Make a read-only community archive (Google Drive or a dedicated site) so future fans can browse Aeternum’s history. If you need help with archive structure and recoverability, review guides like Beyond Restore.

Case study: How one company used the last 6 months (Experience & lessons)

In early 2026, a medium-sized company on the Nighthaven server executed a plan that is replicable:

Month 1: Inventory audit — assigned roles for photographers, farmers, and event organizers.
Months 2–4: Farming rotation — alternating resource runs and expedition groups to farm named gear while generating steady gold.
Month 5: Community archive — launched a public Drive with categories and naming conventions.
Months 6: Memorial week — hosted a five-day festival with livestreams, a fashion show, and a final fortress defense event. All footage was uploaded to an unlisted YouTube playlist for posterity.

Result: Their server’s story is preserved, dozens of players reported closure, and they turned ephemeral in-game moments into permanent community assets.

Looking forward: where our memories go

MMO shutdowns are painful, but they also spark creativity. In 2026 we’re seeing more player-driven archives, community documentary projects, and cross-game reunions. Developers and other studios are watching — the conversation around preserving games for cultural memory has gained traction. Your documentation could influence how future MMOs handle end-of-life plans.

Final checklist — what to do before servers close

Capture: High-res screenshots (PNG), 60fps video clips (OBS), and livestream key events.
Archive: Two backups (local SSD + cloud), named folders, and metadata logs.
Farm smart: Prioritize named gear, trophies, crafting mats, and gold as needed.
Coordinate: Schedule community events and assign roles (photographer, streamer, moderator).
Share: Build a read-only community archive and publish highlight reels.
Be safe: Avoid third-party hacks, document trades, and protect sensitive account info.

Parting thoughts — make Aeternum matter

New World’s final year is more than a countdown. It’s an opportunity to craft a lasting community legacy. Whether you’re a crafter who wants to preserve your masterpiece, a PvPer planning one last war, or a company that needs closure, the steps above turn loss into a meaningful sendoff.

Actionable takeaway: This week — take 20 minutes and capture: a full-body screenshot, your house interior, and a five-minute video of your favorite expedition. Upload them to a shared folder and announce a “picture night” with your company. That small ritual begins your archive and gives everyone a moment to reflect.

Join the farewell — next steps

If you want help organizing memorials, building an archive page for your server, or learning how to record high-quality videos, we’re collecting community resources and volunteers. Share your screenshots and event plans on our New World preservation thread, or sign up for our webinar where we walk through OBS settings and cloud archiving step-by-step.

We’re here to help the community preserve Aeternum’s story—don’t let it vanish without a trace.

Call to action: Save your top three screenshots today, post them on your server Discord with #NighthavenFarewell, and sign up for our preservation guide newsletter to get templates for event planning, archiving, and montage production.

gamesonline

Contributor

Senior editor and content strategist. Writing about technology, design, and the future of digital media. Follow along for deep dives into the industry's moving parts.

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