If you’re just getting into New World, Amazon Games’ swashbuckling supernatural MMORPG, don’t be discouraged by all the max-level characters in its world. As more and more players reach the level cap, they’ve been sharing useful tips and valuable information that new players can use to level more efficiently.

Here we’ve gathered all that knowledge into this handy ‘New World‘s Beginner Guide to Leveling’ to help you power through the murky, mystical island of Aeternum.

 

How Leveling Works in New World

There are three aspects to your character’s development: character level, trade skill level, and weapon skill level.

 

Character Level

Your character levels up by earning EXP (experience points), which are earned by killing monsters and completing quests. Every time your character goes up a level, you’re granted an attribute point, which can be put into one of five attributes:

• Constitution: Increases your character’s health pool.
• Dexterity: Increases the damage your character deals through ranged and one-handed melee weapons.
• Focus: Increases your character’s mana pool and reduces the cooldown time of spells.
• Intelligence: Increases the damage your character deals with magic.
• Strength: Increases the damage your character deals with two-handed melee weapons.

Each attribute also has six bonuses, which are unlocked by achieving specific attribute levels.

Weapons and armour also give you attribute points when you wear them. Slotted gear can be fitted with jewels that grant attributes, as well.

Generally, you want to put all your points into the attribute that enhances your weapon of choice (i.e. dexterity for muskets, strength for spears). However, most weapons also benefit from bonus effects gained by putting points into one other attribute, so it’s typically worthwhile to invest some points into a secondary attribute.

 

Trade Skill Level

There are currently three trades in New World: Crafting, Refining, and Gathering.

Every time you perform a trade skill, you earn some EXP that goes toward leveling up that skill. All three trade skills are closely related — you gather materials used to craft equipment that you can later refine. So we recommend taking any opportunity you can to level them up.

Just like character level, trade skills also grant bonuses at certain level thresholds. Unlike character levels, you don’t have to choose which skill to put points into, so you can eventually unlock all bonuses with time.

Leveling up your crafting and refining trade skills is pretty straightforward. Every time you craft or refine an item, you get some EXP for the relevant trade skill.

When gathering materials, the size of the resource affects how many trade EXP it’s worth. For example, chopping down a large tree gives you more EXP than a smaller tree. At lower gathering levels, you can only gather smaller resources. As you level up, you’ll unlock the ability to gather larger, more rewarding resources.

There are five types of gathering in New World, and each type (except regular Harvesting) requires a specific item:

• Fishing (requires Fishing Pole) – collect fish near bodies of water
• Harvesting – pick herbs
• Mining (requires Mining Pick) – collect minerals from rocks
• Logging (requires Logging Axe) – chop wood from trees
• Tracking & Skinning (requires Skinning Knife) – kill game and skin them

Since trade skills don’t directly affect your ability to beat down on mobs, most players won’t focus much gameplay time on leveling them up.

We’d recommend crafting and refining during the downtime between quests. Gathering can be done as you explore Aeternum. You should only interrupt your regular play to gather something if it’s particularly rewarding, such as a cluster of herbs or a river that contains high-value fish.

 

Weapon Mastery Level

Your weapon mastery level indicates your character’s proficiency with a weapon type. As you gain weapon mastery levels, you’ll earn weapon mastery points that can be spent to unlock passive buffs and new abilities.