I’m beginning to wonder if Anet has even considered the impact of all of this “vertical progression”(read: time sink). Ascended weapons will no doubt have higher stats than normal weapons, but they will also probably have higher base damage. This has an even greater impact on the differences between someone geared in full exotics vs full ascended gear.
The issue with this is what happens when you want to change your build? What happens if you dual wield 2 sets of weapons so you need 4 for just 1 build? What happens if you play more than 1 character? 2 characters? 3 characters? There have been other changes that haven’t been alt-friendly and that’s fine, but I think this is becoming too much. I can’t keep up with gearing all of the characters or builds that I play.
I realize people are just going to say “you don’t HAVE to get ascended gear”, but I like to play WvW and it’s silly to think that people are running around in gear that is 10-20% more effective than mine just because they play 1 character and I play 7.