Badges of honor

I have yet to enter WvW though eventually I will at least give it a try. However, despite never playing it, I have somehow acquired 2k badges of honor. Login rewards I assume.

I heard that the skritt trader (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skritt_Trader) in WvW can sell you cultural armor for half the price in gold if you add some badges. I love cultural armors and think very few skins compare to them even remotely. The question is, how valuable are those badges?

I see that for badges you can get a few skins which aren't that hard to acquire anyway in PvE. Also there is a bit of discount on laurel ascended trinkets and exotics with core Tyria stats which aren't that useful anyway. If you want berserker exotics the TP will do nicely.

Is it a waste to save gold by getting cultural armor with badges? Is there anything worthwhile to purchase with them like exclusive skins or possibly exotics with HoT stats that aren't listed in the wiki?

The badges don't come from login rewards, but they do come from achievement chests, so early on you'll probably get them quite quickly that way but as you progress it gets harder to complete achievements (because all the easy ones are gone) so getting new chests is harder.

If you were never going to play WvW I'd say bear that in mind and maybe save the badges until you're sure you'd rather spend them than get the same thing another way because it will get progressively harder to get more. But if you're willing to play WvW that's not an issue because you can easily get more. I rarely play WvW and I use badges periodically for ascended trinkets, cultural armour and other things and I always seem to have thousands left over.

There are some exclusive items, but they're fairly specialist. The Commander tag (and Catmander tag) cost 250 badges each (in addition to 300 gold for the first tag and 150g if you buy a second one), and there's the Badge of Tribute which is used to make some guild upgrades. I assume some are needed for WvW legendary armour and the backpack too but I'm not sure.

But like I said if you're willing to play WvW then you don't need to worry about holding onto them because you can get more easily.

As a PvE player who occasionally putters around in WvW, I'd say the cultural armor skins is some of the best ways to spent BoH for a non WvW-er.

Do keep the commander tags in mind, so you can get them if you want to at some point.

Keep at least a handful of Badges in your wallet, as they are used for the Daily WvW Big Spender. If you have 30 Badges and access to a Guild Hall with a WvW Proprietor, you can complete one of your three daily achievements within minutes by buying Badges of Tribute. These Badges of Tribute can either be donated to your guild(s) for WvW Tactics, or sold on the Trading Post.

You also can choose 20 badges from each pip chest but that can take a while with lower ranks and you have to be T3 on participation.

Edit: Just keep in mind EVERYTHING in WvW is time gated!!!

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:As a PvE player who occasionally putters around in WvW, I'd say the cultural armor skins is some of the best ways to spent BoH for a non WvW-er.

Do keep the commander tags in mind, so you can get them if you want to at some point.

Don't forget bags.

To craft an 18 slot bag you need someone with high enough crafting skill, mats and 2G for the Rune of Holding.From the WvW vendor you can buy 18 slot bag for 75 Badges of Honor + 1G 50s.So right off the bat you're saving 50s + mats + need for someone with high enough crafting.

To the OP: Give it a try, you may find you like it, and before you know it you'll be zerging for hours at a time, at which point the badges roll in. I've got about 2000 in my wallet, and I barely WvW anymore as I'm too busy with PvE stuff.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:As a PvE player who occasionally putters around in WvW, I'd say the cultural armor skins is some of the best ways to spent BoH for a non WvW-er.

Do keep the commander tags in mind, so you can get them if you want to at some point.

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:As a PvE player who occasionally putters around in WvW, I'd say the cultural armor skins is some of the best ways to spent BoH for a non WvW-er.

Do keep the commander tags in mind, so you can get them if you want to at some point.

would rather buy the 20 slot bags for fractal relics then instead.

I wish badges had more use, once you play long enough they just become karma2.0

If you play enough WvW to rank up your provisions master (1 point) you can purchase a portable provisions merchant from the outfitter (1 gold). With rank 3 (10 points) you can buy food and utilities from it for badges (5 each), which is very convenient. The food isn't as potent as good quality crafted stuff, but it means your characters are never without food buffs.

As an almost exclusive WvW player I will chime in - you will be swimming in badges if you start playing the mode, I have spent tens of thousands of these in the last years. As for your question regarding cultural armor, I highly suggest you buy them in WvW, as they get considerably cheaper and the badges are a replenishing currency. You don't lose out on anything by spending them, the only timegate for their aquisition is the time you are willing to invest in WvW, and with the provision master mastery + choosing badges from pip chest you are looking at (with 3 hours WvW primetime following a commander) at about 2000+ badges a week. They trickle in steady as you make lootbags.

The provision master thing is pretty useful with the food buffs, basically free food and spending them on it also counts for the daily wvw big spender.

Provision master we've trait is awesome. Gives you autoloot for wvw and when killing players or guards the loot / badges add up fast.

You can also buy 20 or 18 slot bags in a wvw provisions vendor as well as commander tag and cultural armor and cheap exotic gear for pvp / pve. Badges are also needed for certain materials to craft legendary pvp armor.

Save your badges because they can be useful. You can also buy seige and superior seige and sell them in trade post for 6-40 silvers per seige.

Good stuff. Badges of honor are nice.