Useful links:
Harvest plants, mine boulders, locate iron -> make armour, weapons, iron tools.
Even though you start on the same server, there are multiple starting beaches. How do you join up with your friends?
Make sure you join the same faction!
Watch a popular stream that has drops enabled, and after some criteria is met (example: watching them for an hour) you can get New World in-game items!
Twitch, Twitch Inventory, Drops.
You have to authorise both Twitch and Steam, and confirm collection of each drop while watching twitch before steam will acknowledge that you are eligible.