It's not always easy - or fun - to play alone in an MMORPG like New World. Luckily, if you put enough preparation and effort into your planning, you can link up with friends and take on Aeternum as a group.
The game is best played either with friends or as part of a well oiled and social Company. That's not to say you can't play solo but you may be missing out on the full experience that Amazon Studios intended.
Here's how to play with friends in New World...
Friends, Assemble!
To add a friend in New World, you can head to the social tab and type in the in-game name of your friend. Do not use their Steam name as this is not the database you are searching through. When you track them down, simply send a friend invite.
Likewise, your friend can of course send you an invite instead. When you receive this you will be notified in-game and can hit F1 to accept. If you miss the initial notification, just head to your social tab, find the invite there and accept it.
The social tab's key bind is 'O'. This is where all invites can be found from friends to Company, Event and so on. You still need to make sure that your friends are on the same server and part of the same faction as you before you can play together.
This is where the preparedness factor comes into things. You can change your Faction allegiance but will be subject to a long cooldown period before you can do it again. It's easier just to arrange with your group which faction you want to be part of and possibly set up your own Company so you can keep track of everything.