How I Evaluate Gear and Loot in New World Aeternum Nighthaven

My inventory is a mess of "maybe" useful
items.

  As I've alluded to in posts about Nighthaven one of the big areas of focus for New World players post Nighthaven update is the plethora of legendary loot landing in our inventories and trying to understand what is good and what is not good in the new gearing system.  Like anytime I am faced with analysis paralysis I need to break things up into smaller chunks and most importantly, write them down.  But as y'all can't see my notebook I am digitizing my thoughts here on this blog post.

 It is worth noting up front that I am not an expert (yet) of this new system and some of this information could be wrong or misguided or there is nuance and bias to my current state that is driving me in a direction that may not work for you.  Feel free to comment on anything I get wrong or may not have considered.  This is very much a living document.

 I will break this post up into a few sections:

• How I am thinking about my builds
• A note on infixes and set bonuses 
• Evaluating armor
• Evaluating weapons
• Evaluating jewelry 

How I am thinking about my builds

 With the new gearing system you have to think of your gear as a whole vs individual pieces.  This is because a single piece could handle multiple needs.  In the old system gear was often limited to filling a single need.  For example; in the new system I could have a single item with two weapon skill perks on it so that means another item doesn't need a skill slot and thus could have another perk instead.

 With that in mind when I break down my main build I am thinking in terms of what perks I want across all gear.  From there I need to determine, of those perks, which can be slotted via perk charms and which are fixed perks (including infixes).  The fixed perks are the major limiting factor as we have no control over them.  We either get a drop with the right fixed perks + an infix or we don't (or we find one on the trading post).  

 For perk charms I just need to ensure I have the right type of slot for each charm and those slots can be on any piece of gear; for example armor piece one may have two defensive charm slots and another armor piece could have two offensive charm slots and then my shield may have two weapon skill perk slots.  So as long as my gear, in total, has the right number of slots I am good to go.  The only consideration is if you need a specific weapon perk on a weapon where it will be stronger than if it was on armor then you'd want to make sure to get a skill slot on your weapon.

 Lastly you need to consider gems and gem slots as they compete with offense/defense/skill charm slots. The general consensus at this point is that gem slots are a "best" option on weapons.  A gem will do more for a weapon than any other perk will do in terms of damage.  Gems on armor are up for debate as the % reduction gems offer was nerfed from 6% to 4% and other perks like conditioning offer 5% so in theory could be better than a gem slot (though a gem can be changed out if needed with another gem of a different type).  Runeglass gems may be a different decision to make because  they offer protection + other effects; for example I run 4x runeglass gems that increase my fire damage so am leaning more on gem slots in my armor.  Gem slots in jewelry are a hot debate so probably comes down to preference there.

 If I take this into account for my heavy flamethrower build here is what I am looking for on gear:

• I need 5x defensive slots for Enchanted Ward II
• I need 1x skill slot on armor for Accelerating Flamethrower II
• I need 1x skill slot on my sword for Contagious Upheaval
• I don't need many, if any offensive skill slots if I keep using my current artifact firestaffs which have them baked in
• I want slash conditioning, thrust conditioning, fire conditioning, and likely a few of the new perks that drop in the fixed perk bucket (I don't have a list together yet) 

 And if this wasn't enough; we have to consider that OLD perks and gear are still in the game and can be upgraded.  There may be a situation where that old armor piece with refreshing/wellness/health/<whatever> is a stronger option.  Note: not all old gear scales to 800 properly so check all stats like damage and armor values before committing to an upgrade.  For example; Frigid Dawn armor value does not scale to 800.

 So now that I have somewhat of an idea what I am looking for I can start sorting my inventory by the mandatory needs.   I know I am looking for X slots of Y type and the best mix of Z fixed perks/infix.

A note on infixes and set bonuses

 I am also paying attention to infix perks which are unique perks on specific items.  The rest of the item is still randomly generated for charm slots and fixed perks but the infix will always be the same for that item type.  Research the infixes you may be interested in and its worth likely saving any of them. 

 Then there are set bonus which are in addition to the other perks.  Set bonus trigger bonuses when you have the right number of set bonus gear equipped.  At this stage it's best to just keep any set bonus gear and assume it may fill a spot.  It is possible you will find unlocking a set bonus milestone is better than a gear item with better perks.

Evaluating armor

 For armor the mandatory need is that skill slot so I am going to be looking for pieces with a skill slot and looking at their fixed perks first.  I then set all of them aside (i.e. lock them in my inventory).

 Next I am looking for those armor pieces with defensive slots; whether it is one or multiple slots on a single item.  For example; I have a heavy glove with 3 defensive slots to fill.  Bonus points if I get skill + defensive slot together; that goes to the top of my list. 

 With what I've carved out I am then looking at fixed perks and finding the best combination of them between pieces.  This means a lot of items stick around in storage as the puzzle will evolve over time.

Evaluating weapons

 For weapons I will give some more general advice on what I think is best: right charm slots + gem slot + attunement (which are fixed perks).  I think an ideal weapon would be 3x attunements, gem slot, skill slot.  Again the gem slot and the skill slot are pretty much make or break.  This load out on a weapon basically makes it a "stat stick" and it is becoming evident that is going to be the meta on weapons that are not artifacts.  There are certainly viable other fixed perks but as most of us are after damage the attunements are going to be key.

 One thing you can consider, if you have a build like me, is that you may not need that gem slot on the weapon you use less.  For example; I rarely use my sword so it's damage is not a concern so when I got a sword that had flame attunement + 4 slots (2 skill, 2 offense) from the crafting fall out after the patch I started using it.  Now I have attunement, contagious upheaval II, empowering leaping strike II, and 2 offense slots to play with for a weapon that is only out when I am leaping striking or upheaving.

 Shields, which fall into weapons in the game, are a bit harder to evaluate because some perks slotted on a shield may apply even when that shield is not your current equipped weapon.  For example; when I swap to my firestaff from my sword/shield perks like keenly jagged II on my shield will still proc.  Since I have keenly jagged II on my firestaff I'd not want it on the shield but the situation could have been reversed and the shield could have covered for a firestaff that didn't have it.  It's not clear yet to me how you tell what perks work "when equipped" vs "when slotted" so more diligence is needed. 

Evaluating jewelry 

 I will admit I am stuck on how to best evaluate jewelry at the moment.  I need to spend more time with it but the core concept remains the same; look for the right fixed perks and the right slots needed to fill in your over all build.  A gem slot on a jewelry piece may be useful if you need more protection of a specific type or another of the new perks may be more interesting.  Then consider set bonuses and infixes and it gets complicated.  Needless to say the underlying rules remain of counting the slots/perks on your jewelry in your over all build. Jewelry can host offensive and defensive charm slots like armor and weapons.