Guild Wars 2

I’ve been looking on the wiki but the crafting chain is sooo confusing. Is it worth trying to build or what? I currently have a non infused ascended prototype fractal capacitor with zerker stats but I was thinking of trying different stat combos for wvw.

The wiki can be a little difficult to understand sometimes since it condenses all the info. Here’s a detailed guide from Dulfy’s site.

http://dulfy.net/2014/08/13/gw2-mawdrey-ascended-backpiece-and-pet-crafting-guide/

Note that there are 3 phases (each one gives you a backpiece). You must create them in this order to get the ascended back, see the links in the article I linked to make each one:
1. Mysterious Vine
2. Cultivated Vine
3. Mawdrey

Don’t bother starting unless you already have a few of the unique items from the living story chain.

The grind is absurd and tbh you’re better off making a cheaper ascended backpiece if you just want the stats.

The bloodstone converter is non essential – not much gain over simply deleting excess dust in the first place.
The backpiece skin looks great – one of my favourites – however it is not a quick or easy crafting process.

While making Mawdrey isn’t quick, I’d say it’s still worthwhile to pursue. Not just for the ability to consume Bloodstone Dust.

This is the sort of effort that’s going to be required for the upcoming Precursor “mastery” collection/scavenger hunt come Heart of Thorns. If anything, Mawdrey is going to be quicker and easier to get than whatever lies ahead for people wanting to get a precursor. So getting some practice with Mawdrey, and other similar time-intensive collections like the Luminescent set, is going to prepare you for what is to come.

Thanks, I have the pet seedling so I guess I did some of it before but not all the way (I don’t play often). Will it be much more expensive to keep going?

It’s fairly inexpensive if you craft all the food yourself, if you want to powerlevel through the time gating and buy the food off the TP it will of course be more expensive.

Good thing about learning the recipes however is that you can sell plant foods after you make your Mawdrey, I’m still making good gold from these months after creating it

Xiahou Mao.9701:

While making Mawdrey isn’t quick, I’d say it’s still worthwhile to pursue. Not just for the ability to consume Bloodstone Dust.

This is the sort of effort that’s going to be required for the upcoming Precursor “mastery” collection/scavenger hunt come Heart of Thorns. If anything, Mawdrey is going to be quicker and easier to get than whatever lies ahead for people wanting to get a precursor. So getting some practice with Mawdrey, and other similar time-intensive collections like the Luminescent set, is going to prepare you for what is to come.

Hopefully the drops required for precursors won’t be like what you need for Mawdrey. I tried and gave up on it.

I just finished mine today, it was quite a feeling of accomplishment and I am glad I have it, even though the visual is disabled on my character as I personally think it looks fairly ugly.

Is it worth it? Nope, the items it grants with Maudrey II are not of value, the stats of the back piece are not spectacular, the quantity of resources required are also extremely high as you need high levels of crafting or plenty of money. As for the visual look of the item, it is.. an acquired taste.

That said if you have plenty of time and money I say go for it, especially if you were suffering in bank space because your bloodstone dust is taking up two full tabs.

It’s worth making but I’m still waiting for an alternative to obtaining pristine fractal relics…like selling the item you buy them with for laurels+gold – come on Anet Fractals has nothing to do with this part of the living story.

azurrei.5691:

It’s worth making but I’m still waiting for an alternative to obtaining pristine fractal relics…like selling the item you buy them with for laurels+gold – come on Anet Fractals has nothing to do with this part of the living story.

Pristine Fractal Relics are only required for the last stage of upgrading Mawdrey. That makes Mawdrey into an Ascended tier item. Ascended tier equipment exists in the game because of fractals, fractals are the only place where it’s necessary. As such, being expected to do some fractals in order to obtain an Ascended item is not a really far-fetched concept.

If anything, you’re being spoiled by being able to get Ascended trinkets so easily outside of fractals.

I finished my Mawdrey earlier in the month, and I’m pretty satisfied with the experience. It was expensive and somewhat confusing, but I had fun with the scavenger hunt, it cleared a lot of items out of my inventory, and it gave me some incentive to get my tailoring up to 500. I don’t expect to get much value out of Bloodstone conversion, but I don’t feel like I have to keep ALL of my dust anymore, either. Plus, it’s my first Ascended back item. The whole process gave me a goal, like Ascended Crafting or (in theory) making a Legendary, and it was a fun experience for me.

Whether it’s worthwhile depends on what you like doing, and what you want. If you just want an Ascended back item, you can certainly find less complex options, whether you go with Fractals or the Grenth/Dwayna/Lyssa back pieces. Not sure if they’re cheaper than Mawdrey or not, given how involved Mawdrey is to craft, but they’re definitely simpler.

I would not count on Mawdrey II ever providing a meaningful return on investment. I think it’s kinda fun to feed it Bloodstone Dust, and there are some interesting items on its reward table, but it’s definitely a bonus toy, not the main attraction. If the rewards are what you want, save the gold and just buy what you want.

I really, really wanted the pet for my bloodstone dust….

….and then I saw the part about fractals.

I have no idea what fractals are, but I know I’m way behind in gear for them, so I gave up on making the pet, and threw away 4-7k worth of bloodstone dust.

I’m not saying what I did was the right thing to do… just saying what I did…

Ezeriel.9574:

I have no idea what fractals are, but I know I’m way behind in gear for them

You can handle fractals. Low level fractals are no more difficult than normal dungeons. It just takes willingness to find a group and attempt them. If you’re at a point where you can participate in Season Two and complete those instances, you’re more than capable of contributing to your group in doing a set of fractals.

Xiahou Mao.9701:

azurrei.5691:

It’s worth making but I’m still waiting for an alternative to obtaining pristine fractal relics…like selling the item you buy them with for laurels+gold – come on Anet Fractals has nothing to do with this part of the living story.

Pristine Fractal Relics are only required for the last stage of upgrading Mawdrey. That makes Mawdrey into an Ascended tier item. Ascended tier equipment exists in the game because of fractals, fractals are the only place where it’s necessary. As such, being expected to do some fractals in order to obtain an Ascended item is not a really far-fetched concept.

If anything, you’re being spoiled by being able to get Ascended trinkets so easily outside of fractals.

Spoiled? Really? Since when does Ascended = Fractals only? oh right, it doesn’t. Infusions, since those are mostly worthless outside the gimmick called agony resist? Sure. But Ascended in general? Nope. Just because Ascended items were introduced with Fractals doesn’t mean that is where they belong.

Ezeriel.9574:

I really, really wanted the pet for my bloodstone dust….

….and then I saw the part about fractals.

I have no idea what fractals are, but I know I’m way behind in gear for them

Well, you really really don’t know about fractals then. I would really encourage you to reconsider if that’s your stumbling block for Mawdrey as they’re probably the bit that requires the least effort.

Any level 80 in any gear can do the level 1-10 fractals, they are really that easy. It’s just about getting someone to explain some of the encounters or reading a bit online about them beforehand for some of the funky ones (the cliffside hammer, the jade maw…). Each complete run gives you one pristine relic, and you only need 5 for the mawdrey ingredient. So it would be 5 runs if none of your runs happens on a ‘fractal daily’ day, as the fractal daily chest also contains a pristine relic, making it faster to get 5.

And after enough easy mode runs (level 1-10), you’ll know all the low level encounters and be able to run them pretty much eyes closed. Which means it’ll be a very easy way to equip your characters with account bound ascended rings at 10 pristine relics each, as well as almost free 20-slot bags (75 normal relics i think, which you won’t use for much else anyway).

I’m speaking from first-hand experience, as Mawdrey was the reason i started running fractals.

I got as far as the bloodstone bricks, saw I needed around 500 in certain crafting, and then the fractal requirement. That last part was the proverbial straw. I sold what was left over. Won’t say I never looked back because I have. Almost five full tabs of Bloodstone dust sometimes makes me wish I hadn’t given up.

But is Mawdry worth it?

I still say no. I believe, eventually, there will be another way to use, sell, exchange the dust. I hope there will be. But if the incentive is to just be rid of the dust, in exchange for some random item, then no. It’s too expensive for a lay person, much less someone who hates crafting like I do, to drop that much gold into a glorified garbage disposal.

Again, not worth it.

cafard.8953:

Any level 80 in any gear can do the level 1-10 fractals

Just to clarify before someone has a bad experience, it should be ‘any level 80 in any gear can do the level 1-9 fractals’. Level 10 is where Agony comes into play, and that’s going to shred a player who’s unprepared for it.

Beyond that nitpicking, the cafard’s post has it nailed. That’s the kind of thing Arenanet was hoping to do by including the Relics for crafting Mawdrey, getting people to try new things they haven’t tried before. You can’t say you won’t enjoy it without even giving it a try.

As far as Fractals go, I didn’t have a terrible time with them. I rarely do Fractals, or Dungeons, for that matter, but I was able to find a group for low-level Fractals, and while I didn’t know what I was doing at parts, it was reasonably fun.

Best advice: Now that we have the new Daily rewards system, wait for a day when one of the options is Daily Fractal or Daily Scale 1-10 Fractal. You’ll have an easier time filling a group, even with Fractal newbies (like me!), and you’re guaranteed a bonus Pristine Fractal Relic. (You need five for the Mists Stone.) You’ll also earn +1 agony infusions that way (16 for Mawdrey.)

Just don’t go above 9, find a good group (either to carry/teach you or learn with you,) and it can be fun. Really!

(As Xiahou says, agony will trash you if you’re not prepared for it. My party (very kindly) carried me through the fight with Mai Trin, because I just couldn’t take the agony damage. I’m going to prepare better next time.)

Xiahou Mao.9701:

cafard.8953:

Any level 80 in any gear can do the level 1-10 fractals

Just to clarify before someone has a bad experience, it should be ‘any level 80 in any gear can do the level 1-9 fractals’. Level 10 is where Agony comes into play, and that’s going to shred a player who’s unprepared for it.

Oh yes, my bad. It’s the unfortunate lumping 1-10 together for the daily scale that gets me confused. Stay at 1-9 for the easy runs.

ugh. I just noticed I can’t have ventari (toughness/healing/vitality) stats on mawdrey or ANY back piece for that matter kind of annoying.

It’s only worth it if you want the unique skin, or if you want the Mawdrey II to eat up bloodstone dust. Other than don’t, i wouldn’t bother, since you can obtain other back pieces which are far easier.

azurrei.5691:

Spoiled? Really? Since when does Ascended = Fractals only? oh right, it doesn’t. Infusions, since those are mostly worthless outside the gimmick called agony resist? Sure. But Ascended in general? Nope. Just because Ascended items were introduced with Fractals doesn’t mean that is where they belong.

no, it means that fractals are what ascended gear was made for (apart from the generic-mmorpg-crowd that won’t shut up as long as they don’t get that carrot on a stick every few months or so). i don’t get the whining about fractals. up to level 20 most fractals (yes, there are a few tougher ones, f.e. volcanic aka the pug killer) are even easier than a good part of the dungeons. if you’re not willing to play content required for something that is, at least partially, designed for that content, then you’re just not supposed to have that particular item. you need to play 3-5 (depends on if you wait for daily or not) level ~10 fractals. i don’t think that is too much to ask for for a ascended backpiece given the alternatives (at some point the only asc backpiece was the fractal capacitor, i wonder how much you would have cried back then).
lemme guess, you’re the type of guy that tries to order a vegetarian steak and rages and cries if he’s not able to get it.
tl:dr: not willing to play some fractals for mawdrey? you don’t deserve it, you won’t have it. go cry by yourself, nobody cares.

Redenaz.8631:

I finished my Mawdrey earlier in the month, and I’m pretty satisfied with the experience. It was expensive and somewhat confusing, but I had fun with the scavenger hunt, it cleared a lot of items out of my inventory, and it gave me some incentive to get my tailoring up to 500. I don’t expect to get much value out of Bloodstone conversion, but I don’t feel like I have to keep ALL of my dust anymore, either. Plus, it’s my first Ascended back item. The whole process gave me a goal, like Ascended Crafting or (in theory) making a Legendary, and it was a fun experience for me.

Whether it’s worthwhile depends on what you like doing, and what you want. If you just want an Ascended back item, you can certainly find less complex options, whether you go with Fractals or the Grenth/Dwayna/Lyssa back pieces. Not sure if they’re cheaper than Mawdrey or not, given how involved Mawdrey is to craft, but they’re definitely simpler.

I would not count on Mawdrey II ever providing a meaningful return on investment. I think it’s kinda fun to feed it Bloodstone Dust, and there are some interesting items on its reward table, but it’s definitely a bonus toy, not the main attraction. If the rewards are what you want, save the gold and just buy what you want.

Can you even obtain the recipes for the grenth/lyssa/dwayna backpieces now?

crafting mawdrey can be quite confusing. the wiki guide is also a bit confusing at first. i didn’t bother at the beginning, but after getting the concept of “growing a plant from a seed”, it makes more sense.

it is i can say the cheapest ascended backpiece to craft. totally worth it.

Paffus Piffus.9430:

Can you even obtain the recipes for the grenth/lyssa/dwayna backpieces now?

Recipes on the Trading Post…

Grenth: 6.19 G
Dwayna: 89.8 G
Lyssa: 350.99G

-whistle-

Is the Shadow of Grenth really that unpopular, or what?

Mawdrey is substantially more complicated than the god-themed back items, and probably cheaper, too, considering how many Bolts of Damask are required to make one. I haven’t run the numbers, and it’s cheaper to make Damask than to buy it, but I’d be surprised if you could come in under 200 G for Shadow of Grenth, 250 if you bought the Damask.

Mawdrey is very handy to have, as is the Star for Empyreal fragments. At least now there is a way to make use of the excess stuff without just wastefully throwing it away. Just build up a small store of bricks against any ascended crafting you want to do then have mawdrey and the star eat the rest.

The foxfire clusters can be a pain if you harvest for them as you need a lot.

I’m now waiting on the dragonite eater…

Is it worth for stats? No. But is it “worth” to get? IMO absolutely!
I had tons of fun doing the easter egg hunt to gather all the pieces and it led me to places I haven’t even heard of! It was bit costly tho, since I have only 500 armorsmith, so I had to buy pots, food and lamps… But it was still worth it!

About the fractal requirements: Its kitten easy! I was bit afraid about them, but in the low tier fractals run is easier than in most dungeons! And in the end, you just need to run them 5 time to get the pristine relics.

I say: treat it as a hobby, a long term goal, not something you have to make by tomorrow’s noon. Pure satisfaction from completing something unique is worth the effort.

Crafting Mawdrey is worth it more so you can say “I crafted Mawdrey” than anything else. It’s a very long chain of events and lots of time gated crafting – it took me six months to finish but doing that final step had me cheering. I do use Mawdrey II quite a bit because I have 192 Bloodstone bricks, no need to craft more from dust, so I suppose that’s a nice reward. Oh and the backpiece but the sylvari it’s for isn’t level 80 yet.

Don’t do it unless it’s for the skin, bragging rights, or something to do because you’re bored.

Absolutely do not craft it for the rewards from eating bloodstone dust. Mawdrey is horribly expensive to craft while the rewards from eating dust is roughly: a blue, a green, and a couple pieces of “sell junk” items — you will never even come close to recovering your investment.

The thing that sucks the most is that even if you have 2 Mawdrey II you’re not able to feed twice as much bloodstone dust…