Armor aptitude in New World is an important system for players looking to maximize the rewards they receive from their trade skills. When a player reaches the level cap for a specific trade skill, they can continue to gain experience and aptitude levels. Each aptitude level rewards the player with a crate of materials relevant to the trade skill. In this guide, LOLTANK will be focusing on armoring aptitude, which requires 1764,000 XP per level. To maximize XP gains while minimizing costs, the most efficient way to grind armor aptitude levels is by mass crafting and salvaging gloves.
Specifically, you should focus on crafting a subset of tier 5 gloves that only require four primary materials per craft. The reason these gloves are so efficient is that they require the least amount of primary materials while filling in the secondary materials with cheaper tier 2 mats. When it comes to crafting gloves, you have six options to choose from: normal infused silk, infused leather, and orichalcum complete gauntlets, or replica silk, replica leather, and replica plate gloves. Normal gloves give 6,075 experience per craft, while replica gloves give 12,825 XP per craft. However, replica gloves require special materials such as sticky vines and spectral dust, which adds significant additional cost.
The second choice you will have to make is between silk, leather, and orichalcum gloves. This will determine which tier 5 primary material you will need as well as which tier 5 material you will get back from salvaging. You will get two items back from salvaging: the first is a normal version of whichever type of primary material is used in crafting the gloves, and the second is infused armor scraps, which can be turned into the experience at the outfitting station. On average, you will gain 1.5 infused silk, leather, or orichalcum per glove from salvaging. Additionally, the amount of armor scraps gained per glove is slightly higher for replica gloves than normal gloves.
To reduce the total cost per aptitude level, you should craft with epic materials and sell the normal materials you get back from salvaging. Additionally, if your server is similar, you can buy epic materials such as blister weave and scar hide in large quantities for around 6 New World Coins apiece, while infused silken leather sell for 8 to 10 New World Coins a piece depending on the market conditions. This discount and price between epic materials and normal materials are the reason why crafting normal gloves can often be cheaper than crafting replica gloves.
You can expect to get one full armor aptitude level from salvaging replica gloves every thirteen levels and from salvaging normal-infused gloves every eight levels. To calculate the true cost per armor aptitude level, we can use basic crafting calculators in a spreadsheet. For example, the cost per aptitude level from replica gloves is close to 6000 New World Coins, while the cost per level from normal gloves is close to 8000 New World Coins. However, this is before subtracting the value you gained back from salvaging. When we subtract the value of the materials gained from salvaging, the cost per level is significantly lower. We can also account for the free experience gained from armor scraps by subtracting that from the total cost per level.
By opening 100 of each armor aptitude crate, we can get a better understanding of the expected profit. On average, you should expect to get 7 Asmodium, Runic Leather, and Phoenix Weave per aptitude level, as well as one Brilliant Animus Shard of Consecrated Iron and Squirming Vine every five levels. By comparing the expected return per level on your server with the average cost per level, you can determine for yourself whether armor aptitude crafting is profitable.
In conclusion, to maximize XP and minimize cost when grinding armor aptitude levels in New World, you should focus on mass crafting and salvaging a subset of tier 5 gloves that only require four primary materials per craft. Buy epic materials in large quantities and sell the normal materials you get back from salvaging to reduce the total cost per aptitude level significantly.
