Guild Wars 2

I am planning on obtaining the Beta Fractal Capacitor soon but I have an issue.
The “Prototype Fractal Capacitor” has I believe two options. One is to give the back item an infusion slot (Offensive or Defensive), the other is to just upgrade the back item to the Beta version.

My question is, does it require you to give the back item an infusion slot? or can you skip that and get the Beta anyways?

But if you can skip that, does it mean you will miss out on having an infusion slot?

On the “Beta Fractal Capacitor (Infused)” and final “Fractal Capacitor (Infused)” wiki pages it implies that the first item needed to be infused.

If that’s the case a simple note saying “The Prototype Fractal Capacitor must first gain an infusion slot before being used in the Mystic Forge.”

But if anyone knows either way, I’d appreciate it!

Azurem is correct. The only choice you make is whether you want your back piece to have the offensive or defensive slot.

There is no skipping of steps:
Prototype fractal capacitor (exotic) – no slots
V
Prototype fractal capacitor (ascended) – off or def slot
V
Beta fractal capacitor (infused) – off or def slot AND agony infusion slot
V
Fractal capacitor (infused) – cosmetic change only

I don’t think you can upgrade straight from the exotic-rarity Prototype to the Beta.
The only recipes on the wiki are to upgrade to the ascended-rarity Prototype (one recipe for offensive slot, one for defensive slot).
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Prototype_Fractal_Capacitor
The ascended Prototype isn’t actually infused, it just has the offensive or defensive slot that a normal ascended item has. The Beta Fractal Capacitor is the infused version of the ascended Prototype (you get the agony infusion slot when you upgrade to Beta). I don’t think it’s possible to have a non-infused Beta, so if you did manage to upgrade straight from the exotic you probably wouldn’t miss out on anything.
The final Fractal Capacitor is just a skin upgrade (to get the glow), it’s the same stat-wise as the Beta.