Guild Wars 2

First off, I’m not against the idea of ascended gear, but a few facts irked me, somewhat. I thought a little about it, so I came up with this…

The upgrade slot stats are already built into the item, great. But when I look at the example ’Yakkington’s Ring’, something feels off:
https://d2vn94glaxzkz3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ascended-EN.png

Here’s what I think could set ascended items apart, but keep them in check.
Allow the stats to be higher than the exotic values, but don’t repeat the same stat. Using the ring as an example, power and precision are repeated. Rather replace those stats with something else, like toughness or condition damage. The item will have a better overall potential, but not force a single stat over the edge.

Basically, the functionality of an ascended item would be to have an all round stronger value. An exotic item will have lower stats, but you can upgrade it to raise one or two stats beyond ascended values, thus making them specialized.

Meaning ascended items are overall stronger items, on the other hand exotics will be a bit more flexible and build specific, while lacking the infusion property. Thus ascended will still have a bit of an edge, while not completely eliminating the usefulness of exotics.