Guild Wars 2

So i don’t have loads of people to talk to in-game, i’m not even in a guild yet. The odd few people i have talked to, well one guy mentioned he was doing fine in dungeons with rares, while another guy said he was told exotics were a must, and two other guys had bought themselves rare 80 armors upon reaching level eighty.
When i look at the trading post, i see that 80 exotics are selling for two or so gold, while 78 exotics don’t seem to have much stats difference, are going for easily 1/3 the price.
I’m currently leveling up a warrior to eighty, already have two others there already. I could purchase a full 80 exotic set, but i can’t help but feel as if 78 exotic sets are just as good, and i would ultimately be able to gear my alts up, buy alternative gears (magic find), and still have money left.

Yes they are nearly as good and as you said, much cheaper. If you’re getting several sets then yes, it might be worth to go for the lvl 78 exos (or even lvl 80 rares).

When I hit 80 that’s what I did. Then slowly replaced each part by level 80 ones as soon as money income increased. Don’t notice that much difference, just feel better wearing a full level 80 set.

And your level 78 exotic is better then a level 80 rare =)
You can get a full suit for the price of 2 pieces. Then when you Can afford lvl 80 exotics, you can then salvage the others for hopes at ecto and rare mats =)

Ive done most explorable paths in blues and greens. Finished them too. With PuGs. And I was usually the last one alive in the room, kiting the boss until my team got back.

as far as dungeons go, being able to kite is generally better than your gear in terms of preventing damage. I wouldnt worry about full exotics until CoF+ Where it might actually matter for some paths (the extra DPS on say the superweapon is pretty vital. and in HoTW you will want to fall asleep unless you can DPS the bosses down in under 10 minutes. And well, Arah is just Arah.)

By the time your at COF, you should already be past 70 to even do the storyline let alone 75 to do the explorer mode. Not far off from the lvl 78 the OP Asked about.

I began running dungeons in L80 masterwork gear (Green). Have had no problems with damage output or survivability and now have over half my L80 exotics sorted.

If you play smart then greens can work fine, though it may depend on the dungeon…

I’ve run CoE, HoTW, and Arah explorables without any major hiccups, and I’m wearing only one level 80 exotic (SE leggings). The rest of my armour is made up of greens and blues, and my gloves are still level 65 because I liked the design, even. I’m working on a full set right now, of course, but take the armour advice more as a recommendation than a must when considering running dungeons – it just makes things easier. Knowing what to do and having a competent team are both more important than having full exotics.

In CoF gear doesn’t make a huge difference.

Only part that it might matter on is in path 2 where you’re doing death row (taking turns kiting as long as you can before dying) but even then you’re probably just buying a second or two, though sometimes that is the difference between going down and having your heal up to kite another 15 seconds.