Guild Wars 2

I have no idea how people already have full sets of exotic gear.

I’ve been 80 for just about a week now, have been running around 100%-ing zones cause I was told that’s a great thing to do in order to get crafting materials (weaponsmith 393, woo) and globs of ectoplasm, which are apparently important.

I have participated in every event I’ve come across, often running long distances to encounter them. I have more karma than anyone I know @ 50K, and more gold @ 7. I have a full-time job and a real life that I’d like to not see fade into obscurity, but feeling smug I went to see what I could afford when it comes to exotic gear. That was a nice stiff slap in the face.

42K karma per piece?! 20g per piece?! Was I ever humbled. Yet when I come over to read these forums, countless people suggesting they have a full set of exotics, including exotic weapons – it feels like most of the world already has their full set of exotic items, many of which I assume are ‘best in slot’ or equivalent.

Am I doing something wrong? Did I miss the express route to exotic wonderland? I’m not suggesting that’s all I want out of the game, of course, but it’d be nice to understand how to correct my focus.

It’s a lot easier to just craft your own exotics or buy them outright on the TP. Seriously, they aren’t difficult to make. You could probably farm the mats you need in a couple/few hours in Orr for a single piece.

The stuff you’re referring to (karma sets) require a lot of karma, which players dedicate themselves to farming. Unless you are doing the same (and you’re not), there’s no reason to expect to have a similar amount of karma available to you.

Craft it or buy it. You can have your own full set of exotics in short order. Worry about karma-bought skins later.

Preface: I work at least a 40-hour week. I have 3 children, my wife works very long weekends and, during this time, I am of course tasked with watching our 2-year-old. In my spare time I am learning to play the bowed psaltry and sculpt. So, I have a life, and preserving my life has been very important to me while I play.

When I 100%ed the level 80 orr zone, I received 2 exotics. One was a sword, which I currently use, the other was a pistol which I salvaged for ecto.

I’m an armorsmith/JC, so I can craft everything except weapons for myself (which made that sword a particularly lucky find). I have not looted any exotics and have had very bad luck looting 70-80 rares (I think 3 total).

I have 5 crafted peices of exotic armor and an exotic ring, each costing 5 ectos. I needed another 3 ectos to get my JC to 400. I’m pretty poor (I tend to have under 1g) but do have a large stockpile of materials. I am 3 ectos and a little gossamer away from my 6th piece.

Of the 33 ectos I have consumed for crafting, 8 were from the TP, the remainder salvaged. I use the gold salvage kits on crafted level 80 rares. These cost ~20s to craft (and I have a lot of the material for them on hand already) and, on the average, have yielded more than 1 ecto each.

Orihalcum and Gossamer I have had to purchase more often than not—I salvage what I can, but I have needed to supplement quite often.

I haven’t priced the completed armor, but I do know a friend of mine bought an armor pack off the TP for his full set (hes an armorsmith, so the cost to buy the kit couldn’t have been too bad relative to the cost of crafting, which is often in the 2g/piece range).

So it sounds like ‘crafting’, or perhaps buying crafted stuff from the TP, is the answer here. Guess I should get my armorsmith up from 221.

With my lack of anything exotic and being sub-400 in both crafting skills, sitting at only 50K karma and 7g, makes me wonder just what the heck I have to show for my time!

W/o question crafting is the way to go. I crafted like a maniac but I have made pieces for other people in my guild as well. There are numerous way to get exotic armor but the fastest and cheapest is crafting

@Leper

It sounds like you’re playing the game as intended and in normal doses. The people sporting gear like you mentioned typically aren’t playing at a leisurely pace. They’re farming and slogging. Don’t get the impression that just because some folks are already decked out in the coolest in Tyrian finery, that you’re doing something wrong. Just make sure what you’re doing stays fun and the rest will fall into place on its own.

Fair enough, thanks!

20 gold per piece?? I buy em off the TP for 2.5-3.5. 20gold would get you almost a whole set. I did a combination of tipping for someone to craft me pieces, and buying them outright.

20g is the price of T3 cultural armors, they’re not even exotic. Most exotics are a tenth of that.

this is good to know.. : ))) as i’m slowly nearing max level (though still a ways to go just hit late 60’s last night). looking forward to being able to craft / buy. been slowly upgraded my armorsmith as i go for 100% maps, and progress the story and farming occasionally. mainly at a leisurely pace. methinks.

so for the cultural armors / karma sets, i’m assuming people mainly get these for the skin? while using stats of exotic pieces of gear?

20g for t3 cultural? The bloody chest piece is 30g…figure the chest piece is the only piece I even want out of my cultural armor… >.<

I believe 20g is for the t2 cultural set (more or less).
With the going price of exotics, I think it would be more economical to simply buy them of the TP instead of leveling the crafting skills given the cost of leveling to 400 IF your only purpose for leveling a crafting skill is to make your own exotics. Of course, you may not have a choice for legendary, but that is another story .
But then, I have not tested this for every exotics in the game.

Yeah at the moment at least I know you can buy the Knight’s gear (Which takes armored scales) For way cheaper than the material costs…better off selling the mats and buying the armor the way things are right now. Only like 2g per piece when it takes close to 3g just to make them if you bought the mats. Even if you farm the mats you can just sell them, buy the armor piece and still have some extra money, its like wtf?

depends on what set you want and what not. for me, crafted sets, plus weapon skins, runes, dyes, etc. cost a little over 120g. but i’m sure you can get what you need for under 30g.