Quote from paley.shelie on November 28, 2025, 12:09 PM

New World continues to thrive thanks to its deep crafting system, where trade skills remain one of the most important long-term progression paths in Aeternum. Among these, Arcana and Armoring stand out as two of the most frequently leveled and economically impactful crafting professions. Whether you want to craft potions, magical weapons, and tinctures through Arcana, or New World Coins produce gear sets and endgame armor with Armoring, your approach will depend heavily on how you gather, trade, or purchase your materials.

 

To make the process easier, this guide breaks down Arcana and Armoring using an infographic-style framework, focusing on two types of players:

 

Gathering Edition Players:

Those who want to farm most or all of their own resources with minimal reliance on the Trading Post.

 

Trading Edition Players:

Those who prefer to buy, trade, or exchange resources instead of spending hours gathering materials.

 

Both styles are completely viable. The right approach for you depends on your time, gold, and playstyle. Below is a detailed breakdown of how both editions work and how to level Arcana and Armoring as efficiently as possible based on your preferred method.

 

Understanding the Two Editions

Gathering Edition

 

The Gathering Edition is designed for players who want self-sufficiency. You will rely on your gathering skills—Harvesting, Mining, Logging, Fishing, and Skinning—to acquire most of your ingredients.

 

Key traits of Gathering Edition players:

 

Spend significant time in the open world farming herbs, ores, hides, and motes.

 

Avoid high Trading Post fees or inflated market prices.

 

Level multiple gathering skills at once.

 

Progress slower but save more gold overall.

 

Trading Edition

 

The Trading Edition caters to players who value speed and convenience. Instead of spending hours gathering resources, you buy them directly from the market or trade with other players.

 

Key traits of Trading Edition players:

 

Progress Arcana and Armoring faster.

 

Spend more gold but save significant gameplay time.

 

Profit by crafting high-value items instead of gathering.

 

Rely on Trading Post fluctuations and market timing.

 

Both paths can power-level Arcana and Armoring; the difference lies in where your time and gold are invested.

 

Arcana Guide: Gathering Edition vs. Trading Edition

 

Arcana deals with crafting magical weapons, potions, tinctures, and elemental reagents. Since Arcana draws heavily from motes, herbs, and elemental nodes, the difference between Gathering and Trading Editions is significant.

 

Arcana: Gathering Edition

 

To level Arcana using a self-sufficient route, your main focus is maximizing gathering skills tied to herbs, magical creatures, and elemental motes.

 

Primary gathering needs:

 

Herbs for Hyssop and common potion ingredients

 

Magical plants and creatures for motes

 

Elemental resources from Earthcrag, Shockspires, and Breezeblooms

 

Fishing for specific reagents (optional but helpful)

 

Recommended zones for herb farming:

 

Windsward for early-game herbs

 

Everfall and Monarch’s Bluffs for large herb loops

 

Edengrove and Mourningdale for mid- to late-game concentrations of magical plants

 

Core benefits of the Gathering Edition for Arcana:

 

Minimal gold cost

 

Access to high-volume motes

 

Ability to refine elemental motes into wisps, essences, and quintessences cheaply

 

Organic leveling of gathering professions

 

Downside:

 

Requires long farming sessions, sometimes 60–90 minutes per ingredient cycle

 

Leveling method example:

 

Early levels: Weak potions using water and herbs

 

Mid-levels: Elemental Wisps or Common Mana/Health Potions

 

Endgame: Quintessences, powerful potions, or crafted magical weapons

 

Arcana: Trading Edition

 

This version focuses on buying herbs, motes, wisps, essences, and reagents from the Trading Post to reduce time spent gathering.

 

Main purchased ingredients:

 

Hyssop

 

Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life, and Death motes

 

Wisps and essences during peak discounts

 

Olive oil, mushroom caps, and uncommon reagents used in potion recipes

 

Benefits:

 

Fastest way to level Arcana

 

No gathering skill investment required

 

Ability to instantly bulk-craft potions or magical components

 

Downside:

 

Expensive on high-pop servers

 

Market volatility can spike prices at peak hours

 

Most efficient Trading Edition strategy:

 

Track Trading Post price cycles

 

Buy motes in bulk when prices dip

 

Craft the highest XP-per-coin items such as mid-tier wisps or mass-craft health/mana potions

 

Resell crafted results if they are profitable

 

Armoring Guide: Gathering Edition vs. Trading Edition

 

Armoring includes crafting cloth and metal armor, shields, bags, and some specialty apparel. This profession relies heavily on raw hides, ores, cloth, and rare crafting materials, which makes the distinction between farmer and buyer extremely noticeable.

 

Armoring: Gathering Edition

 

A Gathering Edition Armor crafter spends most of their time farming:

 

Primary resources:

 

Iron, Steel, and Starmetal Ore

 

Rawhide from wolves and boars

 

Hemp for fibers and cloth

 

Linen, Sateen, and Silk

 

Leather tiers requiring tannin

 

Flux from chests

 

Best Gathering loops:

 

North Windsward for hemp

 

Monarch’s Bluffs for rawhide

 

Great Cleave or Edengrove for mid-tier ore

 

Shattered Mountain for high-tier ore (endgame)

 

Benefits:

 

Very low cost if you gather consistently

 

Access to high-value rare drops from animals and nodes

 

Storage and refining XP gained naturally

 

Downside:

 

Massive time investment

 

Competing over ore routes during peak times

 

Refining bottlenecks due to tannin and flux shortages

 

Leveling approach:

 

Early levels: Linen and coarse leather light armor

 

Mid-game: Iron or Steel medium armor

 

High-level: Silk cloak pieces, Starmetal armor, or high-tier bags

 

Armoring: Trading Edition

 

This version revolves around purchasing crafting materials or trading them in bulk with gatherers.

 

Most commonly purchased items:

 

Fibers, cloth tiers, and leathers

 

Iron and Starmetal ingots

 

Flux and Tannin during low-demand periods

 

Craft mods for perked armor pieces

 

Benefits:

 

Extremely fast leveling

 

Increased control over which items you craft

 

Ability to craft profit-oriented items like bags or specific gear sets

 

No node competition or farming fatigue

 

Downside:

 

High gold requirements

 

Dependent on Trading Post pricing and availability

 

Best Trading Edition method:

 

Buy bulk cloth or leather when the market dips

 

Sell finished armor pieces with meta perks

 

Take advantage of crafting tax-discount towns

 

Which Edition Should You Choose?

 

Choose the Gathering Edition if:

 

You enjoy open-world exploration

 

You prefer saving gold

 

You want your gathering skills to rise alongside your crafting

 

You do not mind farming loops for hours

 

Choose the Trading Edition if:

 

You value time more than gold

 

You enjoy market flipping and Trading Post strategy

 

You want to reach max Arcana or Armoring quickly

 

You plan to focus on profit crafting

 

Final Thoughts

 

Both Gathering Edition and Trading Edition paths provide strong ways to level Arcana and Armoring in New World. The Gathering Edition rewards patience and exploration, creating a self-sufficient character. Meanwhile, the Trading Edition offers speed and flexibility, letting you bypass long farming sessions buy New World Coins and dive directly into crafting. No matter which path you choose, both approaches highlight the depth and versatility of New World’s trade skills and the freedom players have to shape their own crafting journey.