New World Aeternum Levelling Tips and Tricks 2025

Whether you are a new or returning player, here are some tips and tricks to help you on your levelling journey in New World Aeternum. The later part of this guide also includes some useful general gameplay tips.

Note – You can click on any image in this guide to enlarge it.

[Returning Players] Should I start a New Character in New World Aeternum?

If you have previously played the game and feel completely lost on your old character, it may be worth levelling a new character to refamiliarise yourself with the game. You can also now have multiple characters on the same server too. So once you’ve familiarised yourself with the game, you can always go back to your main character or transfer items from your old character to your new one. Keep in mind the main story quest line (MSQ) has also be revamped and progressing through it is required to access some endgame content.

Make Gathering/Survival Tools ASAP

All you need to do is gather extra Flint and Wood from bushes when you’re on the ‘Basic Needs’ quest (at least 4 Flint and 4 Wood). Then you can go to the Watcher’s Campfire and craft a Flint Skinning Knife as well as a Flint Mining Pick, Flint Harvesting Sickle and Flint Logging Axe. Make sure you equip them.

Now that you have all four gathering tools, you can start levelling your gathering skills. Crafting is an integral part of the game so the sooner you can level your Crafting Professions the better. Gathering and Crafting is also a great source of XP.

Even if you are not interested in Crafting in New World, I would strongly recommend levelling Gathering Skills at least so you can make Gold off the raw materials you gather.

The Main Story Quest is the Fastest Way to Level in New World Aeternum

If your goal is to get to max level as soon a possible, simply doing the MSQ will get you almost to but not quite max level (around level 62).

I would advise doing some other key activities such levelling crafting skills and faction reputation as you level to help you get to 65 and so you don’t have to spend as much time on them once you do get to 65.

All Sources of XP in New World Aeternum

There are a few ways to earn XP while levelling in New World Aeternum besides doing Quests. Here is a list of different ways you can earn XP.

• Quests
  • Main Story Quest (MSQ)
  • Side Quests
  • Faction Quests
  • Town Board Missions
• Exploration
  • Discovering Locals (POIs)
  • Lore Books
  • Spirit Shrines
• Crafting
  • Gathering Materials
  • Refining Mats
  • Crafting Items
• Killing AI Mobs

Quests and Town Board XP

While your focus should be on the MSQ, I recommend doing some side quests alongside the MSQ, especially in your first zone. Side Quests in low-level zones are almost always located close to the MSQ or are in the zone’s Settlement so you will very rarely have to go out of your way to complete them. Plus it gives you the opportunity for more gear and XP.

Completing Town Board Missions will give you Territory Standing and XP. Increasing your Territory standing allows you to choose perks that can be incredibly useful such as increased Storage Capacity. Higher Territory Standing will also allow you to buy a higher-tier house later on. More info about Territory Standing can be found later in this guide.

Exploration XP

Any POI you discover will reward you with XP, including Spirit Shrines. It is important to discover Spirit Shrines and Settlements as you level for faster travel and to gain more storage. For example, whether you are starting out in Monarch’s Bluffs or Windsward, take the time to travel to the Cutlass Keys Settlement, Spyglass Ridge. The MSQs for both regions will take you somewhat close to Cutlass Keys.

More often than not, POIs will have at least one Lorebook lying around and Settlements will usually have a few. So keep an eye out! Clicking them gives a nice little bump of XP.

Crafting XP

Anything you do in regards to crafting will give you XP. Whether it be chopping down a tree, harvesting herbs, refining rawhide or even crafting a Potion (crafting and refining will also give you territory standing). I would strongly recommend taking the time to gather materials as you’re going from place to place doing the MSQ. The rule I follow when levelling alts is to try to go back to the Settlement I’m questing from with a full bag of materials. Once you get back to Settlement take the time to refine the materials you gathered. Refined materials take up less space in Storage than raw ones so this will help you manage your Settlement Storage.

Loot all Mobs and Chests

My general rule of thumb is if I aggro something, I kill it. Whether it be a Beast or a humanoid mob at a POI there’s a good chance it will drop something useful and if it’s Beast, you can Skin it (plus you get XP!). Occasionally, Mobs will also drop items or gear. Chests can contain materials or schematics that are valuable and desirable (eg. perk items, furnishing plans) for endgame players which you can put up on the Trade Post. This will give you a head start on accumulating gold. 

If the gear drops you’re getting aren’t that great or useful, you can salvage them for a small amount of gold (and sometimes get materials).

Get your Mount ASAP

Make sure you go and do the Mount Quest ‘My Kingdom for a Horse’ as soon as you get to level 20 and/or Everfall. This will make traversing around Aeternum much faster! The quest is in northern Everfall so make sure you discover the Settlement then head up north to get the Mount.

If you are a PC player who has previously played the game and can’t see this quest, you will need to purchase the Rise of the Angry Earth Expansion to gain access to Mounts. Console Players (including PS+ players) will have the Mount quest automatically.

Be sure to gradually do the Mount Quests (the races) to level your Riding Trade Skill to increase your Mount Speed and get other rewards as you level.

Pick a Faction so you can start Levelling Reputation

When you get to Everfall, you will see the initiation quests for all three factions on the Map (they appear on the Map at Level 17). You can play through the initiation quests for all three factions for the XP (if you want) and then pick the one you want to go with. Once you pick a Faction, you will have to do faction quests to level your Reputation with your Faction. Each settlement has a faction representative where you can pick up PvE and PvP quests that will level your reputation as well as access the Reputation Store to purchase items.

Joining a Faction will give you access to more repeatable Quests (so more ways to get XP), open-world PvP, faction based Bonuses (territory ownership, fort capture bonuses) and various unique items on the Reputation Vendor such as Gear and items for Crafting, Transmog etc.

I would recommend getting some gear from the Faction Vendor as you level, even if it’s just weapons, as it’s generally better than the gear drops you get questing.

Choosing Territory Perks

Think long-term when picking Territory Standing Perks. I would recommend picking increased Storage Perks & Increased Territory standing over other perks. You may not need the storage room now, but eventually, you will. There is little point to picking the XP gain perk as you only get limited use out of it and you don’t really need it anyway with the plethora of easy ways to gain XP. As you get to higher territory standing you may want to pick Trading Tax or Crafting Fee reductions. Otherwise, go with the Housing-related Perks.

Buying a House in New World Aeternum

What are the benefits of owning a House?

• Increased Storage Capacity – Depending on the size of the house, you can place Storage Chests in your house to increase storage capacity in the settlement your home is located in.
  • Tier 1 House – 1 Storage Chest
  • Tier 2 House – 2 Storage Chests
  • Tier 3 House – 3 Storage Chests
    Tier 4 House – 4 Storage Chests
• Free Teleportation to Settlement (without Spirit Shrine) – cooldown varies based on the size of the House (you can use Azoth to teleport sooner).
  • Tier 1 House – 4 hours
  • Tier 2 House – 3 hours
  • Tier 3 House – 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Tier 4 House – 2 hours
• Trophies – you can put up to 5 trophies in a house regardless of it’s tier. Trophies provide bonuses to crafting, gathering, combat (damage) and luck.

I would recommend saving up for Tier 3 and 4 Houses to maximise your storage potential in the future. The first House you purchase will be discounted by 50%. So keep this in mind when buying your first Home.

Additional New World Aeternum Tips

• Free Musical Instruments – There is no need to craft musical instruments to start with. You can get a set of musical instruments for free by doing the ‘The Magnum Opus’ Questline in Everfall. You will find the quest in the Everfall Inn.
• Town Board – Hold on to fish bait, low-level food and potions. All of these items are commonly Town board turn-in items so again, easy territory standing and XP!
• Crafting – if you don’t have the resources needed to craft an item, you can click on the material dropdown menu and untick ‘Owned’ to see the materials you can use.

• Start Organising your Storage Early – this will make things so much easier once you reach endgame. Start by choosing which settlement to store which mats. Once you get three houses it will be easier to keep materials needed for particular crafting together.
• Important Alchemy Crafting Tip – Store your Alchemy materials and do Alchemy crafting in a settlement that has a stream or a body of water in it. This way, you will have unlimited access to water when needed for crafting. Eg. Windsward, Brimstone Sands, Mourningdale and Ebonscale Reach.
• You are Not Bound to Your Starting Archetype – New World does not have a Class System, instead you can pick any two weapons. You can go with any combination of weapons you like but keep in mind that different weapons scale with different stats. The Attribute Page (Character Menu) will show you what weapons scale with each of the Attributes. Hovering over the question mark icon will give you specific details.

• Get your Gathering Professions close to 100 by the time you’ve finished in Brightwood – It’s not super necessary but a good idea to be at least close say 80+ by the time you’re finished in Everfall. The next zone Brightwood is where you start to see more of the next tier of materials (Silkweed, Starmetal and Wyrdwood) more frequently. These materials require you to be level 100 in the appropriate gathering skill to gather them. Note Skinning 100 isn’t needed until the zone after, Weaver’s Fen, as beasts level 31-50 will drop the next tier of hide, Thick Hide (level 51-62 beats drop Iron Hide). 

One Final Tip

One final tip I will leave you with is to occasionally stop and take in the beautiful scenery and vistas. New World Aeternum is a beautiful game and there’s plenty to see as you level and explore the game.

Thank you for reading this New World Aeternum guide! If you have any questions about any of my tips or something I didn’t mention, you are more than welcome to leave a Comment and I will respond as soon as I can.