Is it worth making a full asc set for raids?
get trinkets and weapons, then earn ascended armor by doing the raid.
the first boss, which is the only one you need to beat to use the vendor, doesn’t require ascended. (none of the bosses do in fact).
for reference, I beat VG in exotic armors/weapons and rare trinkets.
addendum: it is worth getting ascended for the sake of getting it though.
Druid main, 80 on all, Legendary ranked, Eternal and all that jazz (I go by Feyris in game)
The bosses are already being finished with minutes to spare. I think with a few more weeks of experience, pugs will easily be able to do them in full exotics.