I gotta say, as much as I was looking forward to ascended weapons, I am really disappointed with their execution. As a casual player (once or twice a week), I have enjoyed that I don’t have to participate in a gear grind to stay at the peak of the game. Ascended weapons unfortunately have killed that. It will take me months to craft even one ascended weapon at my rate of play, not to mention what it will take in time and resources to outfit several characters with several weapons.
This to me seems a major departure from the kind of game Anet has told us they intend to make for their players. No gold stars from me on this one.