Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, I’m newish to GW2 and I’m starting to gear up for lvl 80.
I really dislike crafting, specially because I don’t have much time to play the game.
Is it possible to ignore crafting and still do well at GW2? I mean, will I have an alternative access to all the gear/equips?
Thanks!

You can play the entire game without having to craft. There is currently only 1 thing exclusive to crafting right now: ascended weapons (you can also add legendary weapons if you don’t want to grind out thousands of gold).

Besides ascended weapons, which require 500 crafting (mostly a big gold sink from 400-500), you can get full exotics from drops, the mystic forge, the tp, dungeons, karma at temples, etc.

You can also get ascended rings from either fractals (even lvls 10+)/laurels (fractals is the better bet if you like it), ascended amulets from laurels (and I think for less laurels & badges too) and ascended earings from laurels & ectos/ guild commendations.

It also comes down to which stats you’d like on your gear, some would be cheaper to get with crafting, but you can buy any gear (except for ascended) that is craftable.

As for “doing well” that comes down a lot to player skill. Just about everything can be done in rares (very, cheap to get via tp and also fairly regularly as drops), some would even argue masterwork (green) items. But getting a set of exotics shouldn’t take “too long”, again depending which stats you want.

No it is not.

You DO need to do a bit of research on working on the Trading Post however. If you are not going to craft, you should STILL gather resource nodes you come across as the raw materials can be sold on the Trading Post for a decent income. You will also most likely be using the TP to gear up your characters once you reach 80 (I would not suggest buying any equipment other than jewelry until you reach LVL 80).

If you want to do WvW then you’d better start crafting now. Ascended gear and stat progression in general is an arms race where you don’t want to fall further behind than you already are. Ascended armor is coming in a few months to further escalate this arms race.

Better to slowly craft now for a few minutes each day than to have to do it all in one enormously tedious session.

No you don’t need to craft but I do recommend that you at least pick up cooking since you only need 2-3g to level that one up to max and so can get a few levels up from it.

The difference between ascended and exotic weapons are really small. Its something like 4 power and 3 precision on a one handed weapon. I’m not sure if that’s going to change or not. I’m also unsure what the stats are of the upcoming ascended armour are but if its anything like the weapons I wouldn’t bother with crafting. Exotic gear isn’t hard to get so stick with that until you find you have enough time and money to invest into crafting.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Better to slowly craft now for a few minutes each day than to have to do it all in one enormously tedious session.

I disagree. If you do want to get into ascended gear, it would be far better to collect all the material first, pop a Crafting Booster when you have it all and craft from 0-400/500 in one hour.

Wallace MacBix.2089:

There is currently only 1 thing exclusive to crafting right now: ascended weapons

Not true. Crafting is the only reliable way of getting them, but it’s not exclusive. Ascended weapons also drop from Fractals, Tequatl and champion loot bags.

Larkir.6502:

Wallace MacBix.2089:

There is currently only 1 thing exclusive to crafting right now: ascended weapons

Not true. Crafting is the only reliable way of getting them, but it’s not exclusive. Ascended weapons also drop from Fractals, Tequatl and champion loot bags.

Okay….technically you can get ascended weapons from any world boss, champ bag, dungeon, jumping puzzle, etc. (anything that drops ascended mats). But this is no where near reliable.

I got an ascended weapon drop on day 1 of that patch from killing the old Teq (I was very lucky), but doing ~80-90% of the world bosses every day and ~5 jps a day since then I haven’t received another. And there are plenty of other people who have never even gotten one. Plus if one drops, it may not have the stats that you like (that may matter to some).

So to rephrase, ascended weapons are only reliably obtained from crafting.

Lord Kuru.3685:

If you want to do WvW then you’d better start crafting now. Ascended gear and stat progression in general is an arms race where you don’t want to fall further behind than you already are.
……..

I tend to think this “arms race” mentality exists only in some players minds. There is no way in WvW you could ever tell (by looking or performance) that someone was using Exotics vs Ascended…. WANTING BiS is not the same as NEEDING it.