Guild Wars 2

So they’ll be extra effective against the remaining mursaat once they come out of hiding, right?

In Prophecies, Ascension only helped in seeing the mursaat. It was infusion that aided against Spectral Agony.

Now, despite the naming, there is nothing to tie Ascended gear to Ascension in GW1, nor is there anything to link Agony and Infusion in GW2 to Spectral Agony or Infusion in GW1. The Infusion in GW1 was taking the spectral essence of a spiritual beast (Eidolons) and “infusing” that essence into the players’ armor. The Infusion in GW2 is taking… something from the Mystic Forge and infusing it into players’ weapons/jewelry/backpieces.

Only if that “something” from the Mystic Forge happens to be the spiritual essence of a creature born of malice and hate – or of torment (akin to Titans) – would it be effective against Spectral Agony. However, whether that would be effective against Agony is unclear, since we don’t know what Agony is, except a mechanic to artificially make content harder in a similar manner that Spectral Agony did.

I don’t think the materials are to be taken as lore-tied. In the latest video stream the developer -Lindsay Murdock (SP?)- said (paraphrasing) she’s a big fan of GW1 and thought it’d be cool to name it like that.

So far, ascended only seems to be a mechanic.

Yes. Unless they add some sort of lore behind the weapons, or something of the sort, there’s no conclusion to be made. The vision crystal used in the rite of ascension was used to bring the god’s gaze onto you. We don’t even know if this is possible anymore because of their total dismissal from Tyria, plus being gazed on by the gods doesn’t necessarily mean that it would be imbued by some magical power. I always took it as a situation where as you fought the vision crystal had the gods watch you, and should you succeed, you would be welcomed to the Hall of Heroes and given the gift of true sight.