How is Gear Score calculated? What does it represent?

I was under the impression that Gear Score was just an overall quality number for a piece of gear, that takes everything into account. But then I came across these two pieces:

The one on the left has significantly lower stats, but still a higher gear score. The only benefit to the one of the left is that it weighs 2.1 less. Why is the weaker gear rated higher in its Gear Score?

How is Gear Score calculated? Does it actually affect the gear? Can I use it to determine which piece of gear is better?

Solution 1:

tl;dr: You can determine which equipment is best by a combination of Gear Score and Perks.

After some research:

• https://www.newworld.com/en-us/news/articles/items-in-new-world
• https://nwdb.info

I have come to the following conclusion...

Gear score does not take rarity/perks into account. So two items that are identical, except one will have more/better perks, will still have the same Gear Score. Rarity is determined by whether there are 0, 1, 2, or 3 perks.

Light, Medium, and Heavy armor affect mobility and damage/healing. They also affect armor rating. So given two armors with identical gear scores, the light armor will have significantly less protection, but increased mobility/damage/healing. Think of light, medium, and heavy armor being different, in the same way that a warhammer and a hatchet are different. You may want to keep the best of each one for whatever the case. The class of armor is determined by the weight of all your armor, including your shield, whether or not you use it. In this image, notice the vertical bar at the left showing your weight class, as well as the details of each weight class. 4x the armor is not 4x damage reduction - its closer to 20%. So it all balances out.

Your tier is just an indicator of the range of the gear score. You can ignore this.

Q&A

Why is the weaker gear rated higher in its Gear Score?

It is not weaker. It is just different. It has increased mobility, and reduced protection.

How is Gear Score calculated?

It is determined by the damage/protection of equipment, which is randomly rolled. Different types of weapons/armor will provide different relative damage/protection. But the Gear Score is still an excellent indicator of their values. Gear Scores do not account for perks/rarity.

Does it actually affect the gear?

It does not affect the gear. It is just an indicator of the gear's quality.

Can I use it to determine which piece of gear is better?

Yes, but you must also take perks into consideration, which are not included in the gear score.