Guild Wars 2

Right. Ok… I will put a tl;dr at the bottom of this post.

Basically I recently hit level 80 with my Ranger. I’m new to this club, but I enjoy doing lots of reading around gear, builds, ect. However the advice out there is seriously variable and confusing. I think I’ve made my decision though. I’m not concerned over meta builds, just playing what I enjoy as I still have a lot of the world to explore (so my build is PvE focused) and I’m way off any ascended gear so I’m focusing on exotics.

I have bought my exotic weapons, and I am going to buy a set of exotic armour (Berserker) but one of the things I love about games is aesthetics. I want to collect skins to transmute my exotic armour into something pretty (I am easily amused!) because the pretty stuff DOESN’T HAVE THE STATS I WANT [raaaage]. I think the skins I’m going to focus on getting for now are the cultural Sylvari armours (Grove vendor) and the Nightmare Court Armour (Twilight Arbor).

[tl;dr] – So here are my questions, then:

1. What is the best thing to do with soulbound rares/exotics if you do not want to keep them? (Especially the ones I mentioned above?)
Been answered with salvaging – so what is worth a Black Lion kit?

2. What is the best way to collect skins (both those that you can apply with and without a Transmutation Charge)?

3. Do you have any advice you wish someone would have passed on to you when you hit Lv. 80?

Oh also – if you know of a really awesome looking medium armour set please link me!

Thanks guys

1. Salvage, for ectos and (depending on stat combination) inscriptions/insignias.

2. Get the skins? oO I mean, honestly, since you don’t seem to have any specific skins in mind here, there’s no specific tips you’ll get (for example, along the lines of “that skin costs 5 gold in the trading post but is available for karma, too” or whatever).

3. Go to your bank. Select the wardrobe tab on the left. Pick armour class. Go nuts with the entirety of the skins available in the game. Also, this: http://argos-soft.net/GW2/ArmorGallery/

4. Do not, I reapeat, do NOT ever put freakishly expensive runes in karma gear or gear purchased in WvW with Badges of Honour. You cannot salvage those armour pieces and won’t get the runes back.

Cool medium armour skins… Inquest and Whispers^^ Though for the Whispers one you’ll need to be a member of the Order of Whispers (obviously).

Red Queen.7915:

1. Salvage, for ectos and (depending on stat combination) inscriptions/insignias.

2. Get the skins? oO I mean, honestly, since you don’t seem to have any specific skins in mind here, there’s no specific tips you’ll get (for example, along the lines of “that skin costs 5 gold in the trading post but is available for karma, too” or whatever).

3. Go to your bank. Select the wardrobe tab on the left. Pick armour class. Go nuts with the entirety of the skins available in the game. Also, this: http://argos-soft.net/GW2/ArmorGallery/

4. Do not, I reapeat, do NOT ever put freakishly expensive runes in karma gear or gear purchased in WvW with Badges of Honour. You cannot salvage those armour pieces and won’t get the runes back.

Cool medium armour skins… Inquest and Whispers^^ Though for the Whispers one you’ll need to be a member of the Order of Whispers (obviously).

You can preview skins without owning them? Arrrrghhhh! See this is why I needed to make this post. Thanks so much for all your advice!

As for skins then it’ll be about specific ones and the alternative options you have to get them, then? Ok, thanks again!

1. Generally you only want to use a black lion kit on exotics with runes/sigils that sell for a lot on the tp. For most white/blue/green just salvage with a basic salvage kit. For rares you want to check there price on the tp. if they are worth more then 30silver sell them, if they are worth less then salvage them with a Mystic Salvage Kit

2. As mentioned before there is no real good way to collect skins. Its kind of just a preview with wardrobe and then find out how to acquire them kind of deal. However you can receive transmutation charges by map completing the 5racial cities, and Lion’s arch.

skyhawk.5149:

1. Generally you only want to use a black lion kit on exotics with runes/sigils that sell for a lot on the tp. For most white/blue/green just salvage with a basic salvage kit. For rares you want to check there price on the tp. if they are worth more then 30silver sell them, if they are worth less then salvage them with a Mystic Salvage Kit

2. As mentioned before there is no real good way to collect skins. Its kind of just a preview with wardrobe and then find out how to acquire them kind of deal. However you can receive transmutation charges by map completing the 5racial cities, and Lion’s arch.

Okay, thanks for your advice!

1. Answered
2. Use the galleries on the wiki. A lot of skins have multiple sources.
3. Karma and Badge of Honor gear cannot be salvaged.

….
2. You can unlock a LOT of skins with Karma these are mostly generic skins (nothing flashy or fancy….tho some of the weapon skins are some of my favorites)

I think Dulfy.net has a fairly good guide on unlocking Wardrobe skins but keep in mind I think I spent over 1.5 million karma when Wardrobe came out and I didn’t unlock them all (I still need about 40 to get to the 1000 unlocked skins Achievement).

Sagramor.7395:

…..
3. Karma and Badge of Honor gear cannot be salvaged.

Adding to this….Note that you cannot TELL by looking at the item (once you purchase it) that it’s not salvageable……ALWAYS check (enable a salvage kit and see if the item turns red or not) before putting an (expensive) upgrade on any item you are unsure of.