Guild Wars 2

The difference between Exotic and Ascended gear/weapons are only, i don’t know, maybe 3 -5% increase in stats? So my question is: is it worth spending so much time with crafting, just to get that very small increase?
I know Ascended gear can also be dropped (i would take that:)) and bought for Laurels (amulets, rings, accessories) and such, but other than that is it worth to spend time crafting or farming it?
For WvW, pve or open world, soloing champions?

You don’t really need them, except for high level fractals.

Ascended weapons are about 5% more damage dealt as they have higher stats and base damage values, and trinkets are a good boost compared to their exotic counterparts, you can also buy rings with Perfect Fractal Relics and accessories with Guild Commendations if you want to save your Laurels.

Armor boost is pretty small, so they are not really required for anything but high level fractals as you will need those infusion slots for additional agony resistance.

Overall, the boost from weapons and trinkets might be noticeable so I think they are worth, but not needed.

Actually the boost is bigger with the new infusion changes. You can get up +90 boost to one stat from infusions, which is something you can’t ignore!

For WvW you definitly want them espeically as a roamer. While the bonus doenst seem much every small advantage in pvp enviroments will help you. And as the other said for pve you only really need that gear for high level fractals for the infusion slots (ar). For raids you currently dont need them but it is advised you have ascanded gear since thats the end gear they balance raids around but i think you can do them with exotic just fine.

Ascended weapons and trinkets are very important in raids and high level fractals and they offer a rather large dps boost because of the base damage increase. Armor is not really worth the effort/gold to make.

Muchacho.2390:

For WvW you definitly want them espeically as a roamer. While the bonus doenst seem much every small advantage in pvp enviroments will help you. And as the other said for pve you only really need that gear for high level fractals for the infusion slots (ar). For raids you currently dont need them but it is advised you have ascanded gear since thats the end gear they balance raids around but i think you can do them with exotic just fine.

I don’t use Ascended in WvW, as a roamer. When I get beat, it’s because the other player was better than I, not because of a difference in gear. (Although, to be sure, the better players tend to have superior gear, too.)

I find it only matters when I’m in a squad against superior enemy tactics and/or numbers. In those cases, a little extra seems to help.

I dropped a buttload of gold on ascended upgrades on my Reaper. It’s a noticeable difference, but not overwhelmingly so. Was it worth the money? Not really for PVE or WvW for me. I don’t run fractals or raids, so maybe more useful there. But in general gameplay, exotics are fine. You’re not missing much, but if you’re trying to squeeze out the best you can do, you should see an improvement. Whether or not it was worth the effort to get that edge…ultimately up to you.

Why did I do it? Eh, I had the money and it was something I wanted to do. haha.

Ascended weapons and trinkets are very important for WvW

Armor is expensive and not worth it unless you are doing fractals

However, it is not essential

If you don’t look at the gold cost of it and instead look at it as something to do, it’s absolutely worthwhile. There’s a lot of time-gated mats so on a daily level there may be gathering and crafting. It’s really straightforward, you’re not suddenly going to find you need a random drop from a critter or some RNG mystic forge item or to travel to a temple that nobody does on your server. Yes I know.. multi-server.. I’m just making the point it’s really straightforward.

Plus if you get a lucky drop from fractals or Teq or whatever, that saves you making a piece, just convert to your preferred stat. And use the monthly choice to get ascended mats, that helps speed up the crafting.

Ascended trinkets are a good use of your laurels if you have some and don’t know what to do with them. There are other ways to get them, so pick your way.

But still.. it can be a nice goal if you’re short of things to do.

If you have plenty of alts like me it can be worth it to do the elite specialization collections to unlock the ascended weapons they give. The first collection is going to be a huge demoralizing pain if you are casual. But after it is done, further collections are a fraction of the time since you already have the masteries unlocked and should have plenty of the HoT map currencies.

full ascended is not only wanted buy required to do raids. do you need it to complete it? no you need it to find a group.

Weapons are good but not essential to have. They’re not too expensive relative to the boost they give so honestly I don’t see why not to get them.

Armor is by and far a luxury item. A single ascended piece can cost almost as much as a weapon but with less benefit.

I’d craft ascended weapons and hope the armor drops in the meantime.

https://gw2efficiency.com/crafting/ascended

NOTE: All the cheap ascended weapons (less than 40g) are collection items so they take a bit of running around and getting masteries to get. If you’re doing loads of HoT content anyways, these may be worth a look.

I think weapons are worth the boost, armor – not so much.
I made a set of asc armor for my fav and it wasn’t such a big deal. BUT, I will get to add more infusions for AR.
This toon will now be my fractal toon. Unless something changes, I won’t make another set of ascended armor.
Ascended weapons are still attractive.