Q:
Just hit 80. What should I do with my gold?
I’m almost 80 as well. I plan on decking out in some Priory Order armor and and Norn cultural armor. In addition, buying up a six piece rune set for each of them. Continue to do world events to save up karma pts for the exotic sets. 42k a piece! That will take some doing…
Theres also legendary armor I think you craft at lions arch but I don’t know what that all entails.
42k for the whole set? Would the karma exotics be better than the ones I can get from TP with gold?
No. 42k per item. Click this link to see a comparison between different karma armor sets : http://dulfy.net/2012/09/08/gw2-templegod-karma-armor-sets/
As they said 42k per piece of the karma gear, which may not have the runes you want. Overall, a full set of exotic 80 gear, with the right runes, trinkets, and weapon sets can cost upwards of 50g. depending of course. my sets cost me close to 100g, but that’s mostly just for the skins. cultural tier 3 is also at least about 100g.
I would not buy the cultural armor since this is not exotic. Use your gold to buy or craft a good exotic set first, then worry about making that armor look the way you want it! Especially the highest tier cultural is veeeeery expensive for rare armor.
Buy yourself exotic weapons and a set of rare farm gear (the gear is a great investment). Weapon should depend on what you plan on doing (longbow for wvwvw, shortbow/sword for just about everything else).