Guild Wars 2

Hi!

I’m thinking of crafting myself a set of ascended light armor. I’m a mesmer (currently berserker build, but that might change if i get bored and want something different).

Currently i have a full flame legion set of armor, and i was wondering if ascended armor is way better or just slightly better… I mean, is it worth it?

And how much gold would that cost when all is said and done? I already know i need to put about 50 gold into tailoring to get it to lvl 500, and not to mention other materials that i actually need to craft the armor, get recipes and such… I have a feeling it’s a hefty sum…

Also, how much better are the weapons compared to the exotic ones?
And how would i get one? I can’t craft it myself since i don’t have the weapon crafting profession. I use swords and greatswords, and i can’t craft that. I can craft staffs with artificing and a focus, but not much else i could use. Not to mention, getting artificing to 500 costs a hell of a lot! So how would i go about acquiring ascended weapons?

I mostly do dungeons, some WvW and Eotm, and general PvE. I haven’t tried fractals yet, but i’m in no hurry to do so.

So, is it worth it? Is the defense from ascended light armor so much better than the exotic light armor? And is the damage form an ascended weapon so much better than the exotic one? Does it justify the cost? And what is the cost exactly?

It really depends on what content you’re playing in the game. In all honesty, it’s only around a 10-15% stat boost when fully geared. You don’t need it to run all of the content in the game (I’ve done everything in exotics) however it does make a difference in WvW, albeit slight. So unless you are hellbent on getting stat cap it isn’t that worth it. It costs a lot and takes up a lot of time.

I’m very slowly and gradually working on incorporating ascended into my main (I have 2 rings and a amulet). So is it worth it? That’s up to you. Do you want to do the max damage possible or are you fine with not being as strong as you can be, but still able to contribute and play everything just as well as someone in full ascended?

From what I’ve heard, it’s only about a 5% total increase in stats for a full set of Ascended armor. The general consensus is that it’s something you can do without unless you intend on doing high level Fractals or really, really like having BiS gear.

Ascended weapons do a base 10% more damage than Exotic weapons though, so getting one for your primary weapons as a long term goal is a good idea. (Although bear in mind Exotic weapons are more than sufficient to do every single content in the game, so it’s not a must-have either.)

Its more worth it to upgrade into Ascended weapons before armor. The stat boost for Ascended vs. Exotic armor is very small and doesn’t make much difference outside of high level fractals where you want the infusion slots. The cost of max out crafting and collect the materials can be pretty expensive. I haven’t had the need to max out Artificer for staffs/scepters, but I’d assume its cheaper than how much it cost me for Weaponsmithing which was (200g+) from 0-500. The typical cost of crafting any piece of ascended gear is around (50-70g). If you are lucky you might come across an Ascended Chest in either Fractals (lvl 10+) or in WvW/PvP bonus chests. Theres still the risk of getting a bad prefix though. I’d only recommend going for Ascended once you reach endgame and really have the gold to spare.

Ascended armor is only worth it if you fall into one of the following catagories:

1. The type of person who feels they absolutely MUST have best in slot, even if it is an insignificant boost when compared to the effort involved, in order to remain “competitive” in PVE/WvW

2. You run fractals at a high level (think 40-50)

3. You like the look of ascended gear or simply wish to complete your wardrobe and thus wish to use it for the looks, the stats just being a bonus.

4. You have absolutely nothing left to do, don’t plan to make any new characters and so on.

If you do not fall into either of those four groups, then Ascended gear is a complete waste of time and resources.

Ascended light armor is going to take you a minimum of 36 days to craft if you dont spend any gold on it. That’s how many bolts of damask you need. Alternatively, you can pay 36*15g and be able to craft it much more quickly as long as you have the 30 laurels necessary for the recipes.

Yes, it’s expensive, and the stat boost on armor is only 5%.
However unattractive this may sound, keep in mind that there are also infusions which are not counted in the aforementioned 5%, and that most stats actually multiply. To put in perspective, going from 2000 power to 4000, from 50% crit chance to 100% and from 200% crit damage to 250% is going to do much more than doubling your damage(before DPH – 3000, after – 10000, 3.(3) times the damage increase) – by getting twice as much power, critical chance and critical damage(because 150 is base, going from 200 to 250 is doubling, yes), we got a massive increase in damage output, beyond tripling it. Same logic applies to defensive stats – of course, Vitality and Healing Power are multiplied on toughness.
As such, full ascended(berserker) gear set will provide a damage advantage of roughly 20% over non-exotic one, and slightly higher defense as well. Same is true of all other sets, of course.
Is it worth it? I don’t know, you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Stat increase is about 5%, but often overlooked is the ~5% increase in armor and weapon-damage of Ascended armor and weapons.

I have a bunch of ascended armor and weapon and I agree with Celestina’s post.

However, the dps increase is very nice. Work on weapons first and slowly work on your armor.

frans.8092:

Stat increase is about 5%, but often overlooked is the ~5% increase in armor and weapon-damage of Ascended armor and weapons.

Its mostly not even 1% in stats if you look at your total stats and not only compare it to exotic.

For example, a character with main-stat STR has normally around 2000 STR, a full set of ascended armor gives +15 (? or maybe 17) more STR, so thats not even 1%

With the old Crit-Damage we got +1% more crit-damage. For a zerker with 100% that was also 1% more.

So personally for me it is absolutely not worth the 500-700g or whatever it costs, as long as there are any nice skins out there that i don’t have

Weapons however i made a lot for nearly all my alts, since they at least bring 5% more damage for “just” 50 gold or whatever.

Celestina.2894:

1. The type of person who feels they absolutely MUST have best in slot, even if it is an insignificant boost when compared to the effort involved, in order to remain “competitive” in PVE/WvW

2. You run fractals at a high level (think 40-50)

3. You like the look of ascended gear or simply wish to complete your wardrobe and thus wish to use it for the looks, the stats just being a bonus.

4. You have absolutely nothing left to do, don’t plan to make any new characters and so on.

This is very accurate. I fall into category 4 personally. Been playing since early release and finally decided, you know what, I need my main character to have BiS.

Started working on it, have 5/6 armor pieces complete at this point.

To OP: I can’t speak for tailoring, but I can for armorsmithing. Ascended armor is expensive, any way you look at it. Leveling crafting to 500 took significantly more than 50g (for armor smith). I would estimate, at this point, I’ve spent close to 210g on components to level up craft + getting my 5/6 armor pieces (actually stuck on Dragonite Ore atm, thought I had saved up enough, but ended up 200 short for a full set).

Just make sure you do your daily ascended mats crafting each day and you’ll be on track.

Oh and start grinding Dragonite Ore. You will blow through that stuff fast. At least in armorsmith it requires 200 dragonite ore per armor piece essentially. So 1200 Dragonite Ore for a full set. If you don’t have that on you, you will hit a brick wall eventually.

Not just the stats are nice, but the pieces themselves have higher ARMOR than exotic, so even in Ascended Zerker you have increased defense.

Beldin.5498:

frans.8092:

Stat increase is about 5%, but often overlooked is the ~5% increase in armor and weapon-damage of Ascended armor and weapons.

Its mostly not even 1% in stats if you look at your total stats and not only compare it to exotic.

For example, a character with main-stat STR has normally around 2000 STR, a full set of ascended armor gives +15 (? or maybe 17) more STR, so thats not even 1%

Per piece? Ascended major is 1087, ascended exotic 1003. The difference is 84, or 4% if you use a 2000 total power.

Leveling Leatherworking from 400-500 didn’t cost me much, as I had, and have, a lot of materials. The Ascended gear itself looks like a lot more mats to collect. And then there’s the timelocks on the ascended materials

Still collecting ori for huntsman, used to much on trinkets, back when they were kewl.

frans.8092:

Beldin.5498:

frans.8092:

Stat increase is about 5%, but often overlooked is the ~5% increase in armor and weapon-damage of Ascended armor and weapons.

Its mostly not even 1% in stats if you look at your total stats and not only compare it to exotic.

For example, a character with main-stat STR has normally around 2000 STR, a full set of ascended armor gives +15 (? or maybe 17) more STR, so thats not even 1%

Per piece? Ascended major is 1087, ascended exotic 1003. The difference is 84, or 4% if you use a 2000 total power.

I was talking about just the 6 armor pieces, not complete ascended gear.
Trinkets give a higher boost in stats, and weapons give at least 5% more damage on the weapon skills, but the amount from stats from armor is really really low.

Well, you all make a pretty convincing pro and con arguments.

According to this: http://www.gw2crafts.net/tailor_400.html
tailoring is not so expensive to get to 500… About the materials and stuff, idk, but the leveling itself is cheap (compared to other professions).

Now, i assume that, if i want a weapon, i need to craft it myself and level weaponsmith (for swords and greatswords) form 0-500? That seems a little extreme… There’s no other way? I need to craft all ascended gear i wish to use myself?
I guess i can level up my alts with other crafting professions and then make them with those? I mean, it’s soulbound on use so i can make it with any character then transfer it in the bank…

As for the gear.

I guess i will make it a long term goal or something since it takes long to make and i’m not doing anything in the game right now where such gear would matter (however slightly), like fractals or WvW… Plus, the gear looks really ugly to me, especially for a charr armor (but then again, most charr armors are kinda ugly and clip into themselves)…

That and i’ll need lots of gold for that judging by the responses.

So, with that in mind, i guess my current goal is to get tons of gold. :P Then after that i’ll think about crafting ascendeds…

Ah, I see. True, where trinkets get stats, weapons get +damage the armor gets +armor, probably the least attractive yet most expensive investment.

Yes, for ascended gear, you have to craft it yourself – weapons and armor.

A little extreme? Yeah, I can see that. I mean, not everyone likes crafting, or even finds it useful. I think they tried (and failed) to make crafting desirable through this addition. Personally, I think there are other ways to make it desirable, but that’s neither here nor there in regards to this conversation.

Anywho, the only exceptions to the ‘craft it yourself’ at this time (through a reliable acquisition method) are trinkets, which you can purchase with laurels.

To me, ascended is a loooong term goal. I just made my first weapon (a staff) in the past week, after getting artificing to 500. Since I use crafting as part of my leveling process, I have at least one on every character (since I have more then 8 chars, I have duplicates). So to me, it’s not a huge deal to level to max at least one of each of the crafting professions. Although, for people with only a couple characters, which are already max, I can see how it could be annoying to do at this stage.

If you don’t have a lot of gold, or haven’t horded your materials as you played, crafting ascended is going to be a pain. Now, whether its better to gather materials, or farm gold is going to depend on the player. Personally, I do a bit of both. I mean, it’s not really hard to simply gather materials that are in your path as you play. Sell what you don’t need, horde what you do. Beyond that, pinch coppers.

The upside is that with the recent feature patch, ascended is no longer soulbound after using it. I can take the staff from my ele, and pass it to my mesmer… or my necro…or my guardian (as long as they are 80 too). Which saves some cost / time / effort / space since I no longer need to make one for everyone, unless they need a different stat combination. However, the downside to this, is that each character has her own look, and I have to either transmute repeatedly or standardize their looks.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Yes, for ascended gear, you have to craft it yourself – weapons and armor.

A little extreme? Yeah, I can see that. I mean, not everyone likes crafting, or even finds it useful. I think they tried (and failed) to make crafting desirable through this addition. Personally, I think there are other ways to make it desirable, but that’s neither here nor there in regards to this conversation.

Anywho, the only exceptions to the ‘craft it yourself’ at this time (through a reliable acquisition method) are trinkets, which you can purchase with laurels.

To me, ascended is a loooong term goal. I just made my first weapon (a staff) in the past week, after getting artificing to 500. Since I use crafting as part of my leveling process, I have at least one on every character (since I have more then 8 chars, I have duplicates). So to me, it’s not a huge deal to level to max at least one of each of the crafting professions. Although, for people with only a couple characters, which are already max, I can see how it could be annoying to do at this stage.

If you don’t have a lot of gold, or haven’t horded your materials as you played, crafting ascended is going to be a pain. Now, whether its better to gather materials, or farm gold is going to depend on the player. Personally, I do a bit of both. I mean, it’s not really hard to simply gather materials that are in your path as you play. Sell what you don’t need, horde what you do. Beyond that, pinch coppers.

The upside is that with the recent feature patch, ascended is no longer soulbound after using it. I can take the staff from my ele, and pass it to my mesmer… or my necro…or my guardian (as long as they are 80 too). Which saves some cost / time / effort / space since I no longer need to make one for everyone, unless they need a different stat combination. However, the downside to this, is that each character has her own look, and I have to either transmute repeatedly or standardize their looks.

That is your choice – not the game (looks I mean). if you want different looks, it costs – that is the way it was in GW1 also. I never did graft FoW armor in GW1 – just took too much.

Ascended armor is not needed to play the game other than high level Fractals. You can be competitive w/o Ascended Armor or Legendaries. They are totally optional – people keep acting like they aren’t optional but they are and since they are (optional) these items take longer to craft than others. If you want them – do the work.

Dusty Moon.4382:

That is your choice – not the game (looks I mean). if you want different looks, it costs – that is the way it was in GW1 also. I never did graft FoW armor in GW1 – just took too much.

It’s still a downside, considering one of the main points of the game is cosmetics. I did point out what my options were in regards to addressing that downside. I did not say it needed to be changed in any way, either. Although I know others have asked for some feature that allows for a character’s look to be ‘remembered’ when upgrading or changing armor, but that sort of makes the trans system semi-moot, imo. I was simply pointing it out.

Ascended armor is not needed to play the game other than high level Fractals. You can be competitive w/o Ascended Armor or Legendaries. They are totally optional – people keep acting like they aren’t optional but they are and since they are (optional) these items take longer to craft than others. If you want them – do the work.

And no where did I say it was a requirement. (I’ve been one of the loudest voices saying ascended is optional since it’s release.) Hell, as far as I’m aware, even high level fractals can be done without the additional ascended gear, so long as you have the upgraded rings / back piece to which you can add higher agony infusion values.

Nor did I say anywhere that I wasn’t willing to do the work. In fact I pointed out that I have no issues leveling all of the crafting to max, and that I was treating ascended as a ‘long term goal.’

So why the hell are you getting kitteny with me?

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Dusty Moon.4382:

That is your choice – not the game (looks I mean). if you want different looks, it costs – that is the way it was in GW1 also. I never did graft FoW armor in GW1 – just took too much.

It’s still a downside, considering one of the main points of the game is cosmetics. I did point out what my options were in regards to addressing that downside. I did not say it needed to be changed in any way, either. Although I know others have asked for some feature that allows for a character’s look to be ‘remembered’ when upgrading or changing armor, but that sort of makes the trans system semi-moot, imo. I was simply pointing it out.

Ascended armor is not needed to play the game other than high level Fractals. You can be competitive w/o Ascended Armor or Legendaries. They are totally optional – people keep acting like they aren’t optional but they are and since they are (optional) these items take longer to craft than others. If you want them – do the work.

And no where did I say it was a requirement. (I’ve been one of the loudest voices saying ascended is optional since it’s release.) Hell, as far as I’m aware, even high level fractals can be done without the additional ascended gear, so long as you have the upgraded rings / back piece to which you can add higher agony infusion values.

Nor did I say anywhere that I wasn’t willing to do the work. In fact I pointed out that I have no issues leveling all of the crafting to max, and that I was treating ascended as a ‘long term goal.’

So why the hell are you getting kitteny with me?

I was just saying to the OP – not picking on you (got a guilty conscience?).

People get so defensive then they flag immediately – I was just pointing out. Don’t have to be aggressive about anything.

I’d do it in this order:

FIRST Ascended amulet: you should already have this. If not, go get it right now.

FIRST AND A HALF Ascended rings and accessories: these are relatively easy to get through Fractals (RNG or 20 runs) and Guild Missions (4 weeks of guild missons)

SECOND Ascended weapons: craft these for most/all of your characters. It’s tough for Mesmer because it stretches across quite a few disciplines if you use Sword/Pistol+Focus like I do.

MAYBE THIRD Ascended armor, including back piece. The stat boost for these is low, 4-5% not counting the ridiculously expensive infusions. Do this if you’re bored and have run out of toons to do the previous steps.

For me, I have 7 80s (and a Ranger I could Tome up if I weren’t waiting for Tengu). They all have Ascended amulets. 5 or 6 have their rings and accessories. 3 or 4 have Ascended weapons. None have Ascended armor. I stage out my progression kind of like that.

Dusty Moon.4382:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Dusty Moon.4382:

That is your choice – not the game (looks I mean). if you want different looks, it costs – that is the way it was in GW1 also. I never did graft FoW armor in GW1 – just took too much.

It’s still a downside, considering one of the main points of the game is cosmetics. I did point out what my options were in regards to addressing that downside. I did not say it needed to be changed in any way, either. Although I know others have asked for some feature that allows for a character’s look to be ‘remembered’ when upgrading or changing armor, but that sort of makes the trans system semi-moot, imo. I was simply pointing it out.

Ascended armor is not needed to play the game other than high level Fractals. You can be competitive w/o Ascended Armor or Legendaries. They are totally optional – people keep acting like they aren’t optional but they are and since they are (optional) these items take longer to craft than others. If you want them – do the work.

And no where did I say it was a requirement. (I’ve been one of the loudest voices saying ascended is optional since it’s release.) Hell, as far as I’m aware, even high level fractals can be done without the additional ascended gear, so long as you have the upgraded rings / back piece to which you can add higher agony infusion values.

Nor did I say anywhere that I wasn’t willing to do the work. In fact I pointed out that I have no issues leveling all of the crafting to max, and that I was treating ascended as a ‘long term goal.’

So why the hell are you getting kitteny with me?

I was just saying to the OP – not picking on you (got a guilty conscience?).

People get so defensive then they flag immediately – I was just pointing out. Don’t have to be aggressive about anything.

Guilty? Not in the least. Tendency to be annoyed with the people on here for being idiots? (not you specifically necessarily, but in general, as we’ve seen in many, many threads) Oh yes, yes indeed.

Back on topic:
In cosmetically heavy game, the downside exists. Whether it applies specifically to person A or person B isn’t the point. Only that is does exist. I was simply highlighting it, since no one else had (and options, at least by my own thoughts, on how to address that downside). I hadn’t seen anyone else point out that with the April 15th patch, ascended become account bound either. ‘Minor’ details that I felt worth noting to the OP.

Considering you quoted my post, when you swapped from talking to ‘me’ to talking to the ‘op,’ you might have called it out. Otherwise it can be interpreted as responding wholly to the post you opted to quote. (Thus the ‘I never said…’ section of my response)

So, the general consensus seems to be that ascended stuff is optional. Nice if you can make it, and doesn’t matter if you can’t.

I have to say, this thread has been enlightening. I can’t remember when i saw someone doing dungeons with me trough LFG that didn’t have a legendary weapon or an ascended set. So i though, “hey, everyone has that, wtf, it’s mandatory”…

But if it really isn’t that big of a deal, then i’ll just make it my long term goal… I mean loooong term… There’s still a hell of a lot in the game that i didn’t do and are planning on doing.

I will craft it eventually but now i’m in no hurry to do so.

Thx for replying everyone!

Beldin.5498:

frans.8092:

Stat increase is about 5%, but often overlooked is the ~5% increase in armor and weapon-damage of Ascended armor and weapons.

Its mostly not even 1% in stats if you look at your total stats and not only compare it to exotic.

For example, a character with main-stat STR has normally around 2000 STR, a full set of ascended armor gives +15 (? or maybe 17) more STR, so thats not even 1%

With the old Crit-Damage we got +1% more crit-damage. For a zerker with 100% that was also 1% more.

So personally for me it is absolutely not worth the 500-700g or whatever it costs, as long as there are any nice skins out there that i don’t have

Weapons however i made a lot for nearly all my alts, since they at least bring 5% more damage for “just” 50 gold or whatever.

Looking at the difference while wearing it is faulty. Characters have a base power, vitality, toughness, and precision of 916.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Dusty Moon.4382:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Dusty Moon.4382:

That is your choice – not the game (looks I mean). if you want different looks, it costs – that is the way it was in GW1 also. I never did graft FoW armor in GW1 – just took too much.

It’s still a downside, considering one of the main points of the game is cosmetics. I did point out what my options were in regards to addressing that downside. I did not say it needed to be changed in any way, either. Although I know others have asked for some feature that allows for a character’s look to be ‘remembered’ when upgrading or changing armor, but that sort of makes the trans system semi-moot, imo. I was simply pointing it out.

Ascended armor is not needed to play the game other than high level Fractals. You can be competitive w/o Ascended Armor or Legendaries. They are totally optional – people keep acting like they aren’t optional but they are and since they are (optional) these items take longer to craft than others. If you want them – do the work.

And no where did I say it was a requirement. (I’ve been one of the loudest voices saying ascended is optional since it’s release.) Hell, as far as I’m aware, even high level fractals can be done without the additional ascended gear, so long as you have the upgraded rings / back piece to which you can add higher agony infusion values.

Nor did I say anywhere that I wasn’t willing to do the work. In fact I pointed out that I have no issues leveling all of the crafting to max, and that I was treating ascended as a ‘long term goal.’

So why the hell are you getting kitteny with me?

I was just saying to the OP – not picking on you (got a guilty conscience?).

People get so defensive then they flag immediately – I was just pointing out. Don’t have to be aggressive about anything.

Guilty? Not in the least. Tendency to be annoyed with the people on here for being idiots? (not you specifically necessarily, but in general, as we’ve seen in many, many threads) Oh yes, yes indeed.

Back on topic:
In cosmetically heavy game, the downside exists. Whether it applies specifically to person A or person B isn’t the point. Only that is does exist. I was simply highlighting it, since no one else had (and options, at least by my own thoughts, on how to address that downside). I hadn’t seen anyone else point out that with the April 15th patch, ascended become account bound either. ‘Minor’ details that I felt worth noting to the OP.

Considering you quoted my post, when you swapped from talking to ‘me’ to talking to the ‘op,’ you might have called it out. Otherwise it can be interpreted as responding wholly to the post you opted to quote. (Thus the ‘I never said…’ section of my response)

Very understandable reaction – no worries mate!

Not worth the time sink, game is free take your time.

Veprovina.4876:

So, the general consensus seems to be that ascended stuff is optional. Nice if you can make it, and doesn’t matter if you can’t.

I have to say, this thread has been enlightening. I can’t remember when i saw someone doing dungeons with me trough LFG that didn’t have a legendary weapon or an ascended set. So i though, “hey, everyone has that, wtf, it’s mandatory”…

But if it really isn’t that big of a deal, then i’ll just make it my long term goal… I mean loooong term… There’s still a hell of a lot in the game that i didn’t do and are planning on doing.

I will craft it eventually but now i’m in no hurry to do so.

Thx for replying everyone!

Yep, take your time. I’m not even bothering because I don’t do any of the really high level content that requires it. I’m not even bothering with the Laurel Ascended, because I’d rather get gold with my Laurels.

Light Ascended is by FAR the most expensive simply due to the cost and quantity of Damask involved. If you look strictly at the material costs (and assume 0 cost for 500 crafting), Light is nearly 3 times more expensive than Medium and 4 times higher than Heavy. The unfairness of this disparity has been beaten to death on these forums.

@OP

Yes it’s a great long term goal. I made my full set of ascended armor and love it! Yes it is totally optional, but to me a stat increase is a stat increase, even if it is ~5%. Throw on some infusions and you can get an additional stat increase, +30 if you are focusing on 1 paticular stat for a full set of armor. Haven’t gotten around to making my weapons yet, but I’m focusing on my legendary first. Mine took me about 3 months playing casual. I farmed most of it, so saved some money that way.

Dulfy breaks it down quite well so you can see the difference between exotic and ascended to see if thats the route you want to go. Ascended stats.

I just had a thought. I would probably care more about Ascended, and the relative stat increase, if there was something on armor that denoted it’s relative goodness. Think iLvL in WoW. What WoW does is to average the iLvL of all your gear, and give you an average iLvL. Then, you really want to increase your iLvL.

I think this should be implemented in GW2. An extra stat on armor that shows it’s overall worth. I could then use this to report how geared up my characters were in my blog too.

Ascended is less than 5%. Only the OP can decide if the work is worth it. Then, if you decide the work is worth it, suck it up and just do it – others have done the same.

Lankybrit.4598:

I just had a thought. I would probably care more about Ascended, and the relative stat increase, if there was something on armor that denoted it’s relative goodness. Think iLvL in WoW. What WoW does is to average the iLvL of all your gear, and give you an average iLvL. Then, you really want to increase your iLvL.

I think this should be implemented in GW2. An extra stat on armor that shows it’s overall worth. I could then use this to report how geared up my characters were in my blog too.

Only horizontal progression in this game – you are asking for vertical progression and that is something that A.Net said they would not do. It would turn the game into a forever gear grind which is not totally voluntary.

Armor already has a minimum level for a type then there are the colors of the armor White, Blue, Green Gold, Dark Gold, Red – I think that is fine now.

Dusty Moon.4382:

Lankybrit.4598:

I just had a thought. I would probably care more about Ascended, and the relative stat increase, if there was something on armor that denoted it’s relative goodness. Think iLvL in WoW. What WoW does is to average the iLvL of all your gear, and give you an average iLvL. Then, you really want to increase your iLvL.

I think this should be implemented in GW2. An extra stat on armor that shows it’s overall worth. I could then use this to report how geared up my characters were in my blog too.

Only horizontal progression in this game – you are asking for vertical progression and that is something that A.Net said they would not do. It would turn the game into a forever gear grind which is not totally voluntary.

Armor already has a minimum level for a type then there are the colors of the armor White, Blue, Green Gold, Dark Gold, Red – I think that is fine now.

No, I’m not asking for Vertical progression. Legendary would have a Level, and that would be the max, period. Ascended would be just below it.

So, there are colors. But what’s my average color if I have 6 Dark Gold, and 6 Red?

Let’s say Ascended was 450 and Exotic was 420, then my average would be 435. Replacing the Exotics with Ascended would take it towards 450.

Lankybrit.4598:

Dusty Moon.4382:

Lankybrit.4598:

I just had a thought. I would probably care more about Ascended, and the relative stat increase, if there was something on armor that denoted it’s relative goodness. Think iLvL in WoW. What WoW does is to average the iLvL of all your gear, and give you an average iLvL. Then, you really want to increase your iLvL.

I think this should be implemented in GW2. An extra stat on armor that shows it’s overall worth. I could then use this to report how geared up my characters were in my blog too.

Only horizontal progression in this game – you are asking for vertical progression and that is something that A.Net said they would not do. It would turn the game into a forever gear grind which is not totally voluntary.

Armor already has a minimum level for a type then there are the colors of the armor White, Blue, Green Gold, Dark Gold, Red – I think that is fine now.

No, I’m not asking for Vertical progression. Legendary would have a Level, and that would be the max, period. Ascended would be just below it.

So, there are colors. But what’s my average color if I have 6 Dark Gold, and 6 Red?

Let’s say Ascended was 450 and Exotic was 420, then my average would be 435. Replacing the Exotics with Ascended would take it towards 450.

Gear score and other such ilk dont mean much. You’re perfectly able to run fractals in BLUE rarity gear if you’re an intelligent player. Running fractals with ascended gear is not possible if you’re a putz.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Light Ascended is by FAR the most expensive simply due to the cost and quantity of Damask involved. If you look strictly at the material costs (and assume 0 cost for 500 crafting), Light is nearly 3 times more expensive than Medium and 4 times higher than Heavy. The unfairness of this disparity has been beaten to death on these forums.

Um… I have no idea what you’re taking in your free time, but that is not right at all. Light armor requires 36 BoD. Heavy requires 25 BoD (over HALF as much as Light), and 36 is in no way four times greater than 25. Also, with the relative cost of Deldrimor vs Elonian, Heavy armor is actually much closer in price to Light armor than Medium is.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Lankybrit.4598:

Dusty Moon.4382:

Lankybrit.4598:

I just had a thought. I would probably care more about Ascended, and the relative stat increase, if there was something on armor that denoted it’s relative goodness. Think iLvL in WoW. What WoW does is to average the iLvL of all your gear, and give you an average iLvL. Then, you really want to increase your iLvL.

I think this should be implemented in GW2. An extra stat on armor that shows it’s overall worth. I could then use this to report how geared up my characters were in my blog too.

Only horizontal progression in this game – you are asking for vertical progression and that is something that A.Net said they would not do. It would turn the game into a forever gear grind which is not totally voluntary.

Armor already has a minimum level for a type then there are the colors of the armor White, Blue, Green Gold, Dark Gold, Red – I think that is fine now.

No, I’m not asking for Vertical progression. Legendary would have a Level, and that would be the max, period. Ascended would be just below it.

So, there are colors. But what’s my average color if I have 6 Dark Gold, and 6 Red?

Let’s say Ascended was 450 and Exotic was 420, then my average would be 435. Replacing the Exotics with Ascended would take it towards 450.

Gear score and other such ilk dont mean much. You’re perfectly able to run fractals in BLUE rarity gear if you’re an intelligent player. Running fractals with ascended gear is not possible if you’re a putz.

This is the key that people forget.

Dusty Moon.4382:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Lankybrit.4598:

Dusty Moon.4382:

Lankybrit.4598:

I just had a thought. I would probably care more about Ascended, and the relative stat increase, if there was something on armor that denoted it’s relative goodness. Think iLvL in WoW. What WoW does is to average the iLvL of all your gear, and give you an average iLvL. Then, you really want to increase your iLvL.

I think this should be implemented in GW2. An extra stat on armor that shows it’s overall worth. I could then use this to report how geared up my characters were in my blog too.

Only horizontal progression in this game – you are asking for vertical progression and that is something that A.Net said they would not do. It would turn the game into a forever gear grind which is not totally voluntary.

Armor already has a minimum level for a type then there are the colors of the armor White, Blue, Green Gold, Dark Gold, Red – I think that is fine now.

No, I’m not asking for Vertical progression. Legendary would have a Level, and that would be the max, period. Ascended would be just below it.

So, there are colors. But what’s my average color if I have 6 Dark Gold, and 6 Red?

Let’s say Ascended was 450 and Exotic was 420, then my average would be 435. Replacing the Exotics with Ascended would take it towards 450.

Gear score and other such ilk dont mean much. You’re perfectly able to run fractals in BLUE rarity gear if you’re an intelligent player. Running fractals with ascended gear is not possible if you’re a putz.

This is the key that people forget.

Also, I should clarify that, you can run up to fractal 19 in blues. 20 and higher you truly do need Ascended for the AR.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Lankybrit.4598:

Dusty Moon.4382:

Lankybrit.4598:

I just had a thought. I would probably care more about Ascended, and the relative stat increase, if there was something on armor that denoted it’s relative goodness. Think iLvL in WoW. What WoW does is to average the iLvL of all your gear, and give you an average iLvL. Then, you really want to increase your iLvL.

I think this should be implemented in GW2. An extra stat on armor that shows it’s overall worth. I could then use this to report how geared up my characters were in my blog too.

Only horizontal progression in this game – you are asking for vertical progression and that is something that A.Net said they would not do. It would turn the game into a forever gear grind which is not totally voluntary.

Armor already has a minimum level for a type then there are the colors of the armor White, Blue, Green Gold, Dark Gold, Red – I think that is fine now.

No, I’m not asking for Vertical progression. Legendary would have a Level, and that would be the max, period. Ascended would be just below it.

So, there are colors. But what’s my average color if I have 6 Dark Gold, and 6 Red?

Let’s say Ascended was 450 and Exotic was 420, then my average would be 435. Replacing the Exotics with Ascended would take it towards 450.

Gear score and other such ilk dont mean much. You’re perfectly able to run fractals in BLUE rarity gear if you’re an intelligent player. Running fractals with ascended gear is not possible if you’re a putz.

Not debating that at all. Just saying that I’m not motivated to get Ascended now, but might be if there was Gear Score. Might not be the same for others. Anyway, I’ll stop talking about it now, because we don’t want this thread locked for going off topic.

Do Fractals, then you’ll be motivated to go for Ascended. After all, without Ascended, you have no Agony Resist and can get dropped by Agony Checks (which last up to 10 seconds) and a weak boss attack that applies Agony.

This thread sure is informative!

Actually more informative than the wiki. I learned more about ascended here than i did when getting lost in the wiki looking up ascendeds and links to everything related to them. :P

It’s cool that they’re no longer soulbound. I know that i’ll apreciate this when i make some gear, as i’m not known to be a particularly rich person when it comes to any mmo i play, so not needing to make more than one (say) greatsword is a big plus for me!

I’m also kind of a person that doesn’t mind the grind for materials and whatever i need.
I mean, i used to play Dekaron back when it took 6 months of grinding the same 2 maps to get to level 30. And that is a game with a lvl cap of 150 or something. :P

Guild Wars 2 is nothing compared to that!

I’m also kind of a crit kitten when it comes to the characters i play, so any stat boos however slight is a good thing. Even if i have to use transmutation charges to change how the armor or a weapon looks. :P

And i’m in no hurry so i can work at this goal as long as i need.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Beldin.5498:

frans.8092:

Stat increase is about 5%, but often overlooked is the ~5% increase in armor and weapon-damage of Ascended armor and weapons.

Its mostly not even 1% in stats if you look at your total stats and not only compare it to exotic.

For example, a character with main-stat STR has normally around 2000 STR, a full set of ascended armor gives +15 (? or maybe 17) more STR, so thats not even 1%

With the old Crit-Damage we got +1% more crit-damage. For a zerker with 100% that was also 1% more.

So personally for me it is absolutely not worth the 500-700g or whatever it costs, as long as there are any nice skins out there that i don’t have

Weapons however i made a lot for nearly all my alts, since they at least bring 5% more damage for “just” 50 gold or whatever.

Looking at the difference while wearing it is faulty. Characters have a base power, vitality, toughness, and precision of 916.

I said TOTAL stats, so Base + traits + gear.

Ascended armor is definitely not NEEDED. Since you are clearly finishing content without it you know that, but if you intend to do higher level fractals then it is necessary to get higher AR without spending a fortune on crafting agony infusions. If you are just doing it for the stat increase then it is really not worth it because the base stats are not that much better and the infusions necessary to craft the +5agony +5 stat increases are expensive.

However I completed my heavy ascended set for my warrior and it was a goal that took me a little over 2 months to complete. I crafted my materials and bought most of my stacks of wool, linen, and cotton for the damask. I am by no means a rich player with limitless gold, I actually limit the lowest amount of gold I am willing to drop to and never drop below that. It was a goal I set for myself on what I wanted in game and slowly worked towards it without farming like crazy. Just craft your daily materials and you really won’t notice a gold drain and it gives you something to work towards.

You could also try some level 10+ reward level fractals to see if you get an ascended armor chest to eliminate one or more pieces to craft. This is what I am doing for my ele since light armor requires the most damask, one less piece of armor to craft is always nice, but it relies on that stupid RNG.

Yeah, i need a plan, since i’m also not that rich. 75 gold is not much. I can waste all that in a second if i wanted to. I better set up my daily routine for crafting and gathering so i don’t spend so much gold on it.