Is New World Faction Gear Worth It in 2024? An In-Depth Look

The quick answer: Yes, faction gear is absolutely still worth grinding for in New World. While best-in-slot gear comes from mutations and PvP tracks, faction sets remain competitive into 2023. The meaningful bonuses and efficient acquisition make faction equipment a valuable stepping stone for fresh 60s.

As a territory control enthusiast and self-proclaimed faction gear connoisseur, I‘ve tested all the sets extensively. There‘s no doubt the perks and attributes justify spending tokens – once you unlock the top reputation tiers.

Key Reasons Faction Gear Remains Viable

Before explaining the nuances across armor and weapon types, let‘s recap why faction gear remains relevant:

Powerful gear sets. The faction shop offers set gear you can‘t get anywhere else. This includes useful 2-piece and 3-piece bonuses tailored to popular builds.

Efficient acquisition. Compared to repetitive dungeon farms or shelling out piles of coin to gear crafters, faction rep presents a reliable path to upgrades. Just doing daily/weekly missions and some PvP milestones unlocks new gear benchmarks.

Competitive attributes. Faction gear scales up to 590-600 gear score at the higher reputation levels. The random attribute rolls and gem slots make for pieces usable until mutations or crafted gear.

Faction Armor Still Packs a Punch

While resilient armor has fallen behind Ward sets from mutations and PvP rewards, faction gear remains extremely viable for a few reasons:

Encumbrance values – Particularly on medium armor, faction sets provide efficient encumbrance to mobility ratios that work in both PvE and PvP contexts. This allows strength or dexterity users to stay nimble.

Strong 2/3-piece bonuses – Between damage conversions, ability CD reductions, and additional damage absorptions, the armor passives grant noticeable bumps in survivability and DPS.

Gem slot flexibility – Having empty gem slots means gear can be configured based on build needs. Want more elemental damage? Slide in an elemental gem. Need more crowd control resilience? Add an onyx.

Best Faction Gear Sets to Target

While all the armor and weapons have niches, a few sets shine as smart long-term targets:

Armor

• Faction Medium Explorer (Dex) – Great mobility combined with set bonuses catering to bow users. Works for glass cannons or precision ranged fighters.
• Faction Heavy Warden (Str) – Reliable 3-piece boosts health while still enabling retaliation damage. Ideal for tanky strength brawlers diving into the fray.
• Faction Medium duellist (Dex) – Strong synergy with spear users thanks to rend damage buffs and CD reduction. Great for staying slippery on point.

Weapons

• Faction Fire Staff (Int) – Solid Int scaling with an excellent 3-piece boost to burnout and scorched status effects. Essential for dominating clumps with AoE spells.
• Faction Spear (Dex) – Second to none spear with a devastating 3-piece bleed damage amp. Top choice for slippery harassment builds utilizing poison and perforate skills.
• Faction Warhammer (Str) – Brings the pain with high base strike damage, shockwave bonuses from 2-piece, and extra health regeneration from 3-piece to reinforce sustainable disruption.

And while resilient Ward gear now reigns for mutants and wars, faction heavy and medium selections still make for excellent bridging sets at the 600 expertise mark.

Grinding Faction Rep Is Surprisingly Manageable

I know prospectively leveling yet another reputation track sounds miserable after the expertise climb. But thankfully, faction rep builds faster than players expect once they buckle down and focus it.

Here are my tips for efficiently maxing faction through PvE and PvP:

Always grab faction missions from the war boards in your territory settlements. Look for easy supply turn-ins or quick PvE kills whenever you pass through.

Get credit for faction objectives in invasions and wars (even if you lose). Just participating gets you rep, so always volunteer to defend or assault.

Spec gear with faction point boosts. Equipping mastery points in faction % bonuses and utilizing faction luck food/trophies all help speed the process.

Band together for fort raids. Big battles over the forts in contested zones make for target-rich environments to also rack up credit. Bring AoE weapons and go to town!

With daily focus, reaching maximum reputation can take just a few vigorous weeks of play. And from there, sustaining top rank just requires keeping on faction missions and periodic PvP battles.

Approximate Faction Grind Duration

Est days based on reasonably optimized gain rate

Cashing in Faction Tokens on Sweet Sweet Loot

The best part of the whole rep climb is peering into the glittering faction shop once reaching higher ranks. By rank 8, juicy 600+ gear score items unlock for just 1,000-3,000 tokens a pop.

And remember all those sweet, sweet tokens pile up from doing missions and PvP along the way. So expect to walk out with multiple pieces from your elevated standing.

Here‘s what I recommend eyeing up first:

Beyond just spending tokens directly, also take advantage of the faction shop discounts at higher ranks. These help stretch resources further when pursuing difficult gear crafts.

And pro tip: Don‘t sleep on the Novus and Genesis craft mods at ranks 9 and 10. These exceptionally rare items imbue overpowered damage, resistance, and freedom perks onto items. Well worth the investment for min-maxers and crafters.

Conclusion – Worthy Progression Until Mutations & Expertise

While the exciting newer PvE challenges and PvP rewards add gear ceiling, faction sets remains firmly in the mix for level 60 progression. Taking two or three sets to 600 helps bridge the grind to mutations and expertise upgrading.

The unique attributes, efficient token spending, and strong set bonuses make faction equipment accessible and powerful. Dedicating a month or so to hit max rank provides long-term versatility and stepping stones. Especially for players without piles of gold or luck finding crafted gear.

So in summary: Should you grind faction rep? My verdict as an endgame vet is absolutely yes! The meaningful unlocks justify focusing daily faction missions and fort skirmishing until max rank.

Let me know if this guide helps you pick the best faction set to elevate your build! I‘m always happy to dig into questions on min-maxing gear or perfecting playstyle.