Guild Wars 2

As a potential returning player, the prospect of levelling up a new character sounds great – until I remember that I will need something like 500g for the crafting professions I already had on my main, another ~360 or so for the armor, and 200g or so for weapons.

Not so bad if all you want to do is roll an alt, because you can always give up and be happy with your main… but how do new players feel about this? If it’s enough to put me off rolling a new character for HoT surely it’s enough to put off new players?

Ascended armour (and to a lesser extent, ascended weapons) is a long-term goal. It’s not required for any content except high level fractals. Don’t stress about not having it – just work towards it at your own pace (assuming you even want it).

As above, it’s a long term goal. I made weapons for 8 chars. I started when ascended weapons were announced shortly after launch and I only just finished a couple of months ago.

And then they announced a new profession and one new weapon for each of the old professions. >.>

The stat difference between exotic and ascended gear is not that much. Exotic armor is also part of the updated reward system for leveling, map and story completion rewards. You can also play in rare or master armor. The old PvE server system was condensed so all servers share the same maps meaning there should be help completing a lot of PvE tasks from others on the same map.

PvP provides players with the same equipment stat, rune, and sigil selection so you will automatically be at the same level as the other players.

Game gold is a problem for most players. It can be spent on convenience items, skins, and many other things so everyone has to deal with the grind for gold. You will not be the only one.

ascended armor has use in t1(,2,3) wvw servers and in lvl39+ fractals maybe…

ascended weapons and trinkets only matter in l80 content.

in all content lower rank armor (exotics) will suffice… most content can be done wearing Rare armors,…

stats are capped:
till level 29 everything is downscaled to masterwork
till level 44 everything is downscaled to rare
till level 59 everything is downscaled to “unknown”
till level 79 everything is downscaled to exotic
lvl 80 ascended present area’s:
WvW: BL’s,EBG,EotM,
PvE: Cursed Shore ,Southsun Cove,Dry Top, Silverwastes, small area’s of Frostgorge & Malchor’s Leap
Dungeons: Arah(all), HotW (expl.), CoE (expl.)

All other content will make asc and exotic effectively the same

you can get crafting up to lvl 80 for a decent price with regard to jeweler, cook and all weapon crafting professions, all armor crafters(tailor, leatherworker and actual armorsmith) are more expensive due to the need for t2,3,4,5 cloth. But while being lvl 17+-lvl 63 you’ll get way more wool/cotton/linnen…, if you salvage, and you can level crafting those proffessions quite cheap….

Makes me laugh when players say ascended are not worth it. I like the spreadsheet this guy made.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/159ml1oahEyM6zWQ-oD4XQcHsk1mI5G6tVnjk_FOeinA/edit#gid=348011649
MMO’s have trained us all to be MIN/MAXers. That 2-4% i gain from ascended armor/infusions is more then enough to make it worth it.

Ballads.2509:

Makes me laugh when players say ascended are not worth it. I like the spreadsheet this guy made.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/159ml1oahEyM6zWQ-oD4XQcHsk1mI5G6tVnjk_FOeinA/edit#gid=348011649
MMO’s have trained us all to be MIN/MAXers. That 2-4% i gain from ascended armor/infusions is more then enough to make it worth it.

People usually don’t even use potions (10% damage increase) for 1-2s let alone omni infusions for 150g/ea.

ascended is a long term goal, so don’t rush into it, but there are also loads of places that drop/offer ascended weapons/armour as a reward

It only gives about 5% more effectiveness on level 80 content. Under that level it does less.

The only problem I have with ascended gear is that it isn’t truly account-wide.

Yeah, you can use it with all characters, but you’d have to constantly switch it in the bank, with is nothing but annoying. When an item is account-bound, each characte should be able to use it without constantly put it in the bank to switch.

But having each character geared with their own ascended gear is not worth the full price of ascended gear. You already did the crafting once. And it was really expensive. You should not have to pay the entire full price to get the same ascended item. Getting more of it for other characters should be either free or with a greatly reduced cost, but it isn’t.

Because of it, players who buy lots of character slots will have a much harder time gearing them with ascended than a character merely favors 2-3 characters. With exotics that’s not nearly as hard. It takes also time to gear all with exotics, but trying to gear all with ascended would be insane.

But the items are already account-wide! You already paid for ther ability to use them with all characters. You already have that. So any extra price for each character to have their own ascended should be equivalent to the work it takes to switch it in the bank, not to the work it takes to craft new ones.

So I’d rather have away to make more copies of an ascended piece of equipment for a greatly reduced price once it has been obtained. For example, by paying with a tradable item that requires dark matter to craft, so making ascended replicas for alts still takes exotics, in a vendor or panel in the bank that gets each ascended item unlocked once obtained.

With truly account-unlocked ascended, players will be less reasons not to get more character slots and transmutation charges, as after obtaining it once, each other character of the account can get their own gear without paying the exorbitant full price again.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/330rkg/is_crafting_asc_gear_too_expensive_for_new_players/

here you go. another topic about this on reddit posted today… oh w8…its you…gr8 b8 m8.

how many times will you get the same answer i wonder?

Ballads.2509:

Makes me laugh when players say ascended are not worth it. I like the spreadsheet this guy made.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/159ml1oahEyM6zWQ-oD4XQcHsk1mI5G6tVnjk_FOeinA/edit#gid=348011649
MMO’s have trained us all to be MIN/MAXers. That 2-4% i gain from ascended armor/infusions is more then enough to make it worth it.

Decent infusions are 35-70+ gold each (need 8 expensive ones) depending if they need to be normal or omni, this in addition to your 275-425 gold armor, making your 2-4% cost 1000+ gold.

I rather have the ppl buy a second ascended weapon for dungeons and fit it with night and force (AC,TA,CoF,SE,CoE) or force and undead(Orr, Arah) next to their normal GS’s gain 15%-25% dmg for 40 gold each spend.

min maxing is not useful in 90-95%+ of -present- Tyria, and a 1000 gold will allow for ascended weapons on 5 or 6 characters for basic sets….

Lol even after 600 hours in the game I had only 3 ascended drops (all jewelry), witch on it’s own seems to be to grindy even for grind games. Still missing accessory items, even with 100+ laurels spent. And I still on my way to 500 in weaponsmith. I don’t think that I ever even bother with lvl other profs to 500. To get final 10-15% on several chars you need spend thousands of hours. Witch by its nature is sign that Anet abandoned their concept of game.

Yakez.7561:

Lol even after 600 hours in the game I had only 3 ascended drops (all jewelry), witch on it’s own seems to be to grindy even for grind games. Still missing accessory items, even with 100+ laurels spent. And I still on my way to 500 in weaponsmith. I don’t think that I ever even bother with lvl other profs to 500.

Meanwhile, I have every crafting discipline to its max level, have received a handful of ascended drops, have enough ascended trinkets for my “main” characters, etc.

I’m still in the process of finishing my first full ascended armor set (for my necro). I’ve taken my time to avoid grinding my brain into oblivion (ugh silk). I just have to do the shoulders and legs now.

To get final 10-15% on several chars you need spend thousands of hours.

What are you referring to here?

I have 2 ascended armors for my S/S war 1 older Rabid and a newer Sinister and a full light zealot for a Necro. the necro I use in WvW and I noticed the 5% difference i stats, the warrior is for Fractals and wvw scouting for fractals I do not notice the difference and in wvw I last a bit longer….

Regarding my mains, having 8 I all bought then ascended weapons, except 2, due to the fact I swap weapons and gear way to often, but I started gearing my alts in ascended weapons as well, all except 3 have ascended trinkets….

The zealot (keeper) armor was 500+ gold +350 gold for the recipe’s, just so you know.

6000 hours played. I have ~12 more chars to go, 13 if you count in the revenant…

Trust me it is not needed for a starter until he is above rank 230 in WVW on a t1,2,3 server, or above rank 39 in fractals or unless he has some OCD regarding maxing out gaming chars.

First work on trinkets and weapons, which could be done in 2-3 months if you are a true fanatic and then take the next part of the first year to figure out if this is the character you want armor on, and try out some other classes…

Tthen make your decision: you could have easiliy earned enough mats to go a long way. you could have enough to craft your pieces instantlty….

fadeaway.2807:

until I remember that I will need something like 500g for the crafting professions I already had on my main

Ascended items are account bound. If you have the craft maxed on your main, have the main craft the item and bank it, then pick it up on the new character. I see zero reason to max a craft on more than one character per account.

As to the rest… Ascended was meant to be a massive time sink. That’s its purpose (really, its only purpose beyond FotM agony infusions). ANet and some players like it that way.

fadeaway.2807:

As a potential returning player, the prospect of levelling up a new character sounds great – until I remember that I will need something like 500g for the crafting professions I already had on my main, another ~360 or so for the armor, and 200g or so for weapons.

Not so bad if all you want to do is roll an alt, because you can always give up and be happy with your main… but how do new players feel about this? If it’s enough to put me off rolling a new character for HoT surely it’s enough to put off new players?

First off let me say that this is a bogus argument.
1) You do not need any money to get the stuff you want.
2) You do not need it today.
The only reason it costs so much is because of players like you that have to have it right now and have to buy it. It is a rather simple solution. I have crafted all 3 sets armor and all weapons for all 8 of my characters. I might have spent, oh, 20 gold maybe, to top off a material need or two.
If you cannot play the game the way it was intended to be played (IE harvest your own materials) then, you get what you get, a large hole in your wallet that drains all your money.
This constant whining on these forums about how much gold it costs to craft ascended is just bogus.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

ascended armor has use in t1(,2,3) wvw servers

Sure, as all wvw players below T1 (2,3) are potatos and basically just spam 1 and have no clue about wvw or the game or their class or anything.

Jana.6831:

Sure, as all wvw players below T1 (2,3) are potatos and basically just spam 1 and have no clue about wvw or the game or their class or anything.

It’s true. We’re definitely all potatoes here in the T4 and lower. How do you auto-attack again?

RoseofGilead.8907:

It’s true. We’re definitely all potatoes here in the T4 and lower. How do you auto-attack again?

Don’t ask me, I’m T5 and we currently don’t even have a commander at EU prime, the 60 of us are beyond lost!

Edit: Commander just arrived and he said: “Click control and then the left or right mouse button on your #1 skill, he wasn’t sure which one, and then click your mouse button once…” I hope I’ll remember this.

You guys are doing better than T6 which doesn’t even have a WvW portal/icon/keyboard command to bring up the prompt.

Jana.6831:

RoseofGilead.8907:

It’s true. We’re definitely all potatoes here in the T4 and lower. How do you auto-attack again?

Don’t ask me, I’m T5 and we currently don’t even have a commander at EU prime, the 60 of us are beyond lost!

60 at EU prime? on a NA server? If you are not on T1 then on of them really want your forces.

eithinan.9841:

Jana.6831:

RoseofGilead.8907:

It’s true. We’re definitely all potatoes here in the T4 and lower. How do you auto-attack again?

Don’t ask me, I’m T5 and we currently don’t even have a commander at EU prime, the 60 of us are beyond lost!

60 at EU prime? on a NA server? If you are not on T1 then on of them really want your forces.

No, sorry I’m on an EU server, I should have specifically stated that I’m on an EU server as I also said that it was EU prime which clearly was confusing as only people from NA servers are writing on these forums. So one is left to wonder why I stated it is EU prime time when I’m clearly talking about an NA server.
So what was your question?
We have been 80 EU prime on an EU bronze server (T9 back then) as well – but that can’t be as only the gold league is worth playing.

The most valuable things about ascended armor and weapons are the skins you unlock and being account bound instead of soul bound. All PvE and WvW can be played with lesser armor.

Ascended armor is account bound. You only have to do it once if you want.

it’s definetely too expansive for the tiny stats boots they give

Full ascended, even with 0 infusions, is still more than a 10% increase in damage compared to full exotic.

i think the expense is sort of fine, i mean it is bis gear.

What’s bad about ascended crafting is the time gate on mats, the requirement to max out all crafts, and the fact that you need ascended for fractals. Ascended crafting is an extremely annoying grind that is not only gated, but also gates end game content. A lot of people say you dont need it so who cares that its a expensive and to most pretty annoying. Thats not really a good reason to not try and improve ascended crafting.

Atm i have crafted two sets of armor, have not yet made weapons but it is my new goal. The problem im having is deciding whether to craft weapons which will cost the most in leveling crafting or to craft my warrior gear so i can finally play a heavy class in fractals….

Nyx.7342:

i think the expense is sort of fine, i mean it is bis gear.

What’s bad about ascended crafting is the time gate on mats, the requirement to max out all crafts, and the fact that you need ascended for fractals. Ascended crafting is an extremely annoying grind that is not only gated, but also gates end game content. A lot of people say you dont need it so who cares that its a expensive and to most pretty annoying. Thats not really a good reason to not try and improve ascended crafting.

Atm i have crafted two sets of armor, have not yet made weapons but it is my new goal. The problem im having is deciding whether to craft weapons which will cost the most in leveling crafting or to craft my warrior gear so i can finally play a heavy class in fractals….

You should do the weapons. TBH you should have done the weapons first. One weapon set has a larger impact on your characters overall performance than full armor.

eithinan.9841:

Nyx.7342:

i think the expense is sort of fine, i mean it is bis gear.

What’s bad about ascended crafting is the time gate on mats, the requirement to max out all crafts, and the fact that you need ascended for fractals. Ascended crafting is an extremely annoying grind that is not only gated, but also gates end game content. A lot of people say you dont need it so who cares that its a expensive and to most pretty annoying. Thats not really a good reason to not try and improve ascended crafting.

Atm i have crafted two sets of armor, have not yet made weapons but it is my new goal. The problem im having is deciding whether to craft weapons which will cost the most in leveling crafting or to craft my warrior gear so i can finally play a heavy class in fractals….

You should do the weapons. TBH you should have done the weapons first. One weapon set has a larger impact on your characters overall performance than full armor.

I know but idc about the stat improvement, i wanted to do fractal 50s, and im pretty sure you need more than weapons to get 70 ar. might be wrong tho

Crafting ascended gear is not so hard nor so long. I crafted my first piece which was a chest after 3 weeks, and I don’t think I am an outsider, I started the game with a friend and we both crafted our ascended gears together.

What is very funny is when I got level 80 and bought all my level 80 green stuff for few pa, then got full exotic armor from crafting when leveling up armorsmith and also dungeons. I told him “oh ascended gear is so close to exotic and so expensive, I’ll never get that and anyway I don’t want it” few days after I was doing it.

Few tips : use your money, don’t stock it for your dreams : make them happen. And also have a look at all your currencies, they can be used or converted. Some people don’t really know how money they really have.

Altair.8402:

Full ascended, even with 0 infusions, is still more than a 10% increase in damage compared to full exotic.

But most of that is from weapons and jewlery. Armor gives by far the least damage,
it mostly gives you that +5% armor .. but we all know how much berserker players
care about armor.

And jewlery also is the only part that keeps that damage boost when downscaled
below level 80.

fadeaway.2807:

As a potential returning player, the prospect of levelling up a new character sounds great – until I remember that I will need something like 500g for the crafting professions I already had on my main, another ~360 or so for the armor, and 200g or so for weapons.

Not so bad if all you want to do is roll an alt, because you can always give up and be happy with your main… but how do new players feel about this? If it’s enough to put me off rolling a new character for HoT surely it’s enough to put off new players?

Ascended items are account bound you don’t need to level crafting on other characters ever again, you just need 1 character to be at 500 and he can craft all the items for your other characters.

Ballads.2509:

Makes me laugh when players say ascended are not worth it. I like the spreadsheet this guy made.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/159ml1oahEyM6zWQ-oD4XQcHsk1mI5G6tVnjk_FOeinA/edit#gid=348011649
MMO’s have trained us all to be MIN/MAXers. That 2-4% i gain from ascended armor/infusions is more then enough to make it worth it.

Yet that spreadsheet is about level 80 content, doing anything lower makes ascended useless as both the stats and the armor rating / weapon strength are capped at exotic levels (and even lower at lower levels)

That 2-4% gain is nothing compared to:
A) proper might stacking in the team
B) proper build, traits and positioning
C) using the appropriate sigils and potions for the content you are doing

All of the above will result in far more damage (or defense) than a 2-4%
So the actual change to Ascended armor for that extra 2-4% is only worth it if you have everything else already. It’s the very last thing on the list.

Finally look at the Achievement collection that reward armor. Luminescent armor collection is a doable one and gives you a free Ascended armor piece with stats of your choice, the Ambrite collection is better for newer players because it’s available without purchasing anything (for the Luminescent you must purchase LS2) but it takes considerably longer to get, unless you get them from PVP.

Beldin.5498:

Altair.8402:

Full ascended, even with 0 infusions, is still more than a 10% increase in damage compared to full exotic.

But most of that is from weapons and jewlery. Armor gives by far the least damage,
it mostly gives you that +5% armor .. but we all know how much berserker players
care about armor.

And jewlery also is the only part that keeps that damage boost when downscaled
below level 80.

you’d get +5% weapondmg from the weapon (not +5% dmg as damage also scales with power)
you’d get +5% armorrating from the armor( not +5% armor as total armor also includes toughness)
from the complete ascended set you’ll get +5% stats, compared to the same sets stats, unbuffed values will not rise.

depending on the chosen statset this also means damage could be 1.05*1.05 higher for a total increase of 10.25%, it could also mean an armor value could be10% higher…
The loser here would be condition dmg as the maximum will only rise 5%no matter what due to the fact conditions only scale with condition dmg…

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

Beldin.5498:

Altair.8402:

Full ascended, even with 0 infusions, is still more than a 10% increase in damage compared to full exotic.

But most of that is from weapons and jewlery. Armor gives by far the least damage,
it mostly gives you that +5% armor .. but we all know how much berserker players
care about armor.

And jewlery also is the only part that keeps that damage boost when downscaled
below level 80.

you’d get +5% weapondmg from the weapon (not +5% dmg as damage also scales with power)
you’d get +5% armorrating from the armor( not +5% armor as total armor also includes toughness)
from the complete ascended set you’ll get +5% stats, compared to the same sets stats, unbuffed values will not rise.

depending on the chosen statset this also means damage could be 1.05*1.05 higher for a total increase of 10.25%, it could also mean an armor value could be10% higher…
The loser here would be condition dmg as the maximum will only rise 5%no matter what due to the fact conditions only scale with condition dmg…

What especially does that change on the facts that armor gives by far the least
+damage ?
Out of that 10% armor does give around 2% if not even less.

Also the +5% weapondamage is only applied when playing on level 80, at 79 its
the same as exotic weapons. And 5% weapondamage is the same kitten damage
since both is multiplicative.

IndigoSundown.5419:

fadeaway.2807:

until I remember that I will need something like 500g for the crafting professions I already had on my main

Ascended items are account bound. If you have the craft maxed on your main, have the main craft the item and bank it, then pick it up on the new character. I see zero reason to max a craft on more than one character per account.

As to the rest… Ascended was meant to be a massive time sink. That’s its purpose (really, its only purpose beyond FotM agony infusions). ANet and some players like it that way.

^This

Before this whole discussion descended into if ascended stuff if worth it at all…. the main point of your post was missed by a lot of people.

You only need 1 weaponsmith on your whole account, or 1 artificer, or 1 tailor… etc. etc .

Whatever ascended equipment (or even all the other rarities !) they make will be account bound, so you can make an ascended weapon or piece of armor and use it for any characters on your account.

So making another alt should means you don’t need to invest any crafts on them at all if you’ve already got that craft on another one of your chars.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

you’d get +5% weapondmg from the weapon (not +5% dmg as damage also scales with power)
you’d get +5% armorrating from the armor( not +5% armor as total armor also includes toughness)
from the complete ascended set you’ll get +5% stats, compared to the same sets stats, unbuffed values will not rise.

depending on the chosen statset this also means damage could be 1.05*1.05 higher for a total increase of 10.25%, it could also mean an armor value could be10% higher…
The loser here would be condition dmg as the maximum will only rise 5%no matter what due to the fact conditions only scale with condition dmg…

You have to remember that 5% boost in stats compared to exotic level doesn’t mean you now have 105% of your old power, precision and ferocity.

rotten.9753:

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

you’d get +5% weapondmg from the weapon (not +5% dmg as damage also scales with power)
you’d get +5% armorrating from the armor( not +5% armor as total armor also includes toughness)
from the complete ascended set you’ll get +5% stats, compared to the same sets stats, unbuffed values will not rise.

depending on the chosen statset this also means damage could be 1.05*1.05 higher for a total increase of 10.25%, it could also mean an armor value could be10% higher…
The loser here would be condition dmg as the maximum will only rise 5%no matter what due to the fact conditions only scale with condition dmg…

You have to remember that 5% boost in stats compared to exotic level doesn’t mean you now have 105% of your old power, precision and ferocity.

You are correct as the base power and precision isn’t taken into the consideration. My mistake.

To me , i was playing since launch and as far as I could tell . Ascended gear was added when they upped fractals and added all that AR and debuff damage later on . Now , you need that gear to run high level fractals to get increased chances at good drops . And as far as that goes it is worth it . I like them and run them daily . I have full rings earrings and ammys on 8 classes with a near full light and full heavy armor set . I have a bank with 45 extra rings all infused with 2 slots because I get them so much , I just swap out the regular for infused . You wont get them without running the higher levels , and the time spent getting that gear will be rewarded later on . I have also gotten precursors dropped there and ascended armor chests. I havent gotten a weapon chest there yet but I see them daily from party members as well as armor chests and every 2-3 weeks or so a precursor .

That being said , I also think they added this gear to fix the market for mats a long time ago . Anything under t-6 was worthless and t-6 were ridiculously overpriced due to legendary crafting .Adding this gear to crafting fixed the market and made all mats worth gathering and selling . Its not meant for new players and requires work to get it . What RPG have you played where end game crafting was cheap and easy ? I now have a reason for having leveled all my crafting to max other than saying I did it . I am glad it is the way it is and dont get this argument .

Nyx.7342:

I know but idc about the stat improvement, i wanted to do fractal 50s, and im pretty sure you need more than weapons to get 70 ar. might be wrong tho

Yes you are wrong about the 70 AR thing. Weapons have 2 slots for infusions. With them and a couple infused trinkets/backpack you can pull 70 AR without any ascended armor.

Someone did the math and it was substantially cheaper to make a couple +7-9 infusions than a full set of ascended armor.

Wait what? How is expense brought into it when you can farm all the mats for free….? You even get a free vision crystal from a few achievements, you also get ascended mats from the loyalty chest at the end of the month. There is Silverwastes where ascended mats drop like rain in Seattle, boss trains that do the same. There are so many avenues in game which you can actually play that provide free mats, but if just sounds like you don’t want to do them. :\

JackSpacer.4320:

Wait what? How is expense brought into it when you can farm all the mats for free….? You even get a free vision crystal from a few achievements, you also get ascended mats from the loyalty chest at the end of the month. There is Silverwastes where ascended mats drop like rain in Seattle, boss trains that do the same. There are so many avenues in game which you can actually play that provide free mats, but if just sounds like you don’t want to do them. :\

The only mats that can be farmed in a reasonable span of time are those required for the vision crystal. Everything else, especially the damask, will take several weeks of dedicated play to obtain through salvage and gathering. Most people just try to get enough gold to buy what they need, and it is somewhat expensive compared to the other endgame goals.

There are a couple of other items you can’t reliably farm:

Thermocatalytic reagents (which cost you 15s per 10) and spools of thread, both of which are only available from the crafting masters (or the TP).

Globs of dark matter (closest non-gold way is to farm dungeon tokens and then have RNG on your side).

maddoctor.2738:

A) proper might stacking in the team
B) proper build, traits and positioning
C) using the appropriate sigils and potions for the content you are doing

All of the above will result in far more damage (or defense) than a 2-4%
So the actual change to Ascended armor for that extra 2-4% is only worth it if you have everything else already. It’s the very last thing on the list..

This is not comparable, and even if it was, this is only your opinion. You can have all together and you can get them in the order you want.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

you’d get +5% weapondmg from the weapon (not +5% dmg as damage also scales with power

wiki:

Damage done = (Weapon strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)

So +5% weapondmg = +5% dmg (sharp)

Exun.7825:

maddoctor.2738:

A) proper might stacking in the team
B) proper build, traits and positioning
C) using the appropriate sigils and potions for the content you are doing

All of the above will result in far more damage (or defense) than a 2-4%
So the actual change to Ascended armor for that extra 2-4% is only worth it if you have everything else already. It’s the very last thing on the list..

This is not comparable, and even if it was, this is only your opinion. You can have all together and you can get them in the order you want.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

you’d get +5% weapondmg from the weapon (not +5% dmg as damage also scales with power

wiki:

Damage done = (Weapon strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)

So +5% weapondmg = +5% dmg (sharp)

But you also have the power increase:

wiki:

Damage done = (Weapon strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)

power increase is increased as well…. by 5% when wearing full asc. but you should keep base in mind., you’ll also get 1-2% crit chance and a flat 5% buff on ferocity points.
so you’ll get (1.05 (=asc mod) * Weapon strength(=exotic) * (((Power-926(=old exotic stats-base)) * 1.05 (=asc mod) + 926 (+base))

for an ~ 5
5(no power) – 8.5 (max power) % increase in dmg value.

Olvendred.3027:

Ascended armour (and to a lesser extent, ascended weapons) is a long-term goal. It’s not required for any content except high level fractals. Don’t stress about not having it – just work towards it at your own pace (assuming you even want it).

Lol. Everywhere where it provides a stat bonus is it also required to be maxed out. Your argument is invalid. Just cus Anet throws more dmg in high lvl fractals doesn’t necessarily mean it is the only place where ascended gear is needed.

As a WvW roamer it is just as important, although not very noticeable.
Ascended gear was a stupid mistake that has ruined build diversity and do encourage people to keep the same build forever. By removing ascended gear people could afford to main different gear types with different specs on different characters. GG Anet.

Well nobody forces you to make ascended zerk now do they?

I own 3 full ascended armors and 2 chestpieces, and only 1 armor piece is zerk.
the armors are verata, ferratus and keepers, the other chest is Gobrech (valkyrie)

then again looking at the weapons:
I own 4 tateos clerics weapons
I own 9 keepers zealots weapons
i own 15+ zojja’s berzerker weapons
I own 3 verata’s sinister weapons
I own 4 ferratus’s rabid weapons
I own 3 forgemasters rampager weapons
i own 1 Wup Wup weapon

Its easy to farm this gear with the SW farm,there is no gear requirement to farm there and you get all the gold + mats you need fast.

yes. As BiS should be and are in most games of the genre.

They’ve announced that in HoT Ascended will still be best in slot, not only that but Ascended Gear has been out since before I even played the game, which has been over a year. This is an incredible long time for a game to not introduce a new tier of gear, so I only find it natural it’s a long term goal for newer (or even experienced) players.

Secondly, the difference is minimal, I notice a difference, but not a major one between accounts that are full Exotic and those who are full Ascended. More importantly, there’s very little content that’s not play-able in full Exotics (higher level Fractals.) This doesn’t mean Ascended Gear isn’t worth it, but it’s not a must in any way. On top of that there other ways to increase your performance that a lot of players simple avoid; Potions (10% damage increase / 10% damage reduction vs certain foes) for a measly dungeon token and Food (+100 +70 is a lot of stats, but even +80/60 or +60/50 for a few silver/copper make a considerable difference.)

Lastly, patience/research can save a lot of gold. Look at items you can craft for a profit and still gain some crafting-experience. Do your daily refinement on items you need for your gear (unless it’s cheaper on the tp) which can all easily be found on websites such as gw2spidey.

I’ll admit, the first time I decided to go for Ascended I felt overwhelmed, it seemed like a huge investment, but 8 armorsets, 40+ weapons and ~12 trinket sets further… It’s really not that bad, especially now Dragonite Ore isn’t such a pain to obtain. One dungeontour or three hours in Silverwaste and you already got yourself enough gold for another Ascended Weapon.

Exun.7825:

maddoctor.2738:

A) proper might stacking in the team
B) proper build, traits and positioning
C) using the appropriate sigils and potions for the content you are doing

All of the above will result in far more damage (or defense) than a 2-4%
So the actual change to Ascended armor for that extra 2-4% is only worth it if you have everything else already. It’s the very last thing on the list..

This is not comparable, and even if it was, this is only your opinion. You can have all together and you can get them in the order you want.

How is it “my opinion” if in reality any of the above I mentioned offer much higher boosts than ascended armor? Ascended armor over Exotic provides a very limited boost compared to might stacking, traits/build and sigils/potions. That’s a simple fact, not an opinion.

Sure you can get them in any way you want, but only one of the options has a very high gold or time cost to acquire. You have to choose between getting something nearly for free for a great boost, or pay a huge amount of gold for a much smaller boost.