Ascended Gear confusion

I've been playing GW2 on and off since release, and have dabbled in most of the aspects of the game (PvE, PvP, WvW) and enjoy it across many alts. However, other than a few pieces that have dropped from just playing the game, and accessories purchased with laurels, I've never obtained ascended weapons or armor. The improvement is only 5%, so I've never thought it a huge deal, but a major benefit would be having sets that I can swap between alts. Over the years I've watched and read numerous guides and walkthroughs for how to craft or earn ascended gear, but as I'm not much of a crafter (even though I do have a level 500 in every crafting profession), the whole thing is so confusing, and my head is spinning that after finishing watching or reading a guide I'm just massively confused and table the issue. Does anyone have a resource that is basic, step by step and easy to follow for crafting or earning ascended gear? In particular I like Minstrel's.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_craftingDon't know if you looked at that guide yet. If you're going to craft them from scratch, the components are time gated, you can only craft one a day. If you have some gold to spend you can purchase the final components off the TP instead.Minstrel's is going to be an expensive set due to the requirement of the "Pearls" (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Minstrel%27s_Intricate_Gossamer_Insignia) to make the Inscription/Insignia. You have to craft this part as it's Account Bound on acquire.Good Luck...

This whole site is an amazing resource (especially if you set up your account API), but this is a link directly to the crafting section (for which you don't need an API, unless you want to track what materials you actually have/don't have):https://gw2efficiency.com/crafting/calculatorWhenever I'm making something, I always refer to the gw2efficiency materials list for it (it's especially helpful for Legendary crafting).

If you have existing drops that you'd prefer with different stats, this might also be useful:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stat_changing

These links might also be helpful to you:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_craftinghttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_armorhttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_weaponhttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Attribute_combinations

Cheers~TGedit: added more links

Thanks for the shares! I'll dive into them.

I second using GW2Efficiency. It gives you a shopping list of materials that you need, and then leads you through a step-by-step process of crafting items.

FYI, I thought crafting Ascended was laborious and expensive.... until my first Legendary. Now Ascended is a piece o' cake!! ;)

When you're crafting ascended, don't forget to consider the option of making an alternative, cheaper item that can be converted in the Mystic Forge. Minstrels for example has some expensive mats. The process uses a lot of spirit shards, but in many cases it's more than worthwhile.

@Biff.5312 said:When you're crafting ascended, don't forget to consider the option of making an alternative, cheaper item that can be converted in the Mystic Forge. Minstrels for example has some expensive mats. The process uses a lot of spirit shards, but in many cases it's more than worthwhile.

It's hardly ever financially worthwhile these days because the pricier mats required for ascended are also required for the exotic inscription/insignia needed for replacing the old gear with a new one.

What you can save are mats that cannot be acquired on the TP. Specifically if you transform gear in the forge, you won't need to acquire fulgurite to make Jeweled Inscriptions/Insignia (which reduces the need to grind map-bound currencies or could be saved for other uses, including crafting and selling those items yourself).

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Biff.5312 said:When you're crafting ascended, don't forget to consider the option of making an alternative, cheaper item that can be converted in the Mystic Forge. Minstrels for example has some expensive mats. The process uses a lot of spirit shards, but in many cases it's more than worthwhile.

It may also be worth it for things with expensive recipe sheets like commander's unless you are planning to craft 20+ sets ...

Minstrel's is definitely not worth it.

Also keep in mind you can simplify the crafting process by only crafting grandmaster tokens and then trading those in for ascended gear.

The benefit of this method is the material cost is fairly stable as most of it is reliant on daily drops and timegated items. Not to mention all specific gamemodes (Fractals, Raids, WvW and sPvP) help you progress your endeavour in various ways. You can also cut some costs by using gamemode-currency you get from playing your favourite thing, in order to reach your goal faster.

I will note however that crafting the tokens require 500 in each respective discipline (no problem for you) and might end up costing you a few gold extra per piece, but the process as a whole and feeling of progression makes it a much more enjoyable experience in my opinion.

Best way to get started is to play for a week, salvage all your loot (reg kit for anything below rare, and mystic/master kit for anything equal or above) and sell all exotics you get worth more than 1g on the tp. At the end of the week, list all materials you have on the trading post as high in price as possible without directly selling, and use that money to put in orders on the items that are timegated (once per day) in token crafting. Do this for a 2-3 weeks and should be very close to having a full set.

@Khisanth.2948 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Biff.5312 said:When you're crafting ascended, don't forget to consider the option of making an alternative, cheaper item that can be converted in the Mystic Forge. Minstrels for example has some expensive mats. The process uses a lot of spirit shards, but in many cases it's more than worthwhile.

Good point.(I usually mention recipe sheets, too.)

So for a more concise rule of thumb:Stat transformation isn't financially viable except if:

• You lack the necessary account bound mats (such as fulgurite)
• You want to avoid buying recipes (which cost laurels or other account bound currencies).

I've only crafted a single set, the other ascended armor sets on my other toons were all from dropsnever crafted a single core game ascended weapon, got all from drops

the game will eventually reward you with so many ascended armor and weapon boxes the longer you play, that you will be salvaging them for materials for crafting legendaries

@crepuscular.9047 said:

the game will eventually reward you with so many ascended armor and weapon boxes the longer you play, that you will be salvaging them for materials for crafting legendaries

This depends a lot on what content you play!

The only content that reliably drops Ascended gear is fractals, raids, and to a much lesser extent WvW. It can absolutely be argued that these modes/areas are also the only content that requires Ascended, but plenty of people will never see more than maybe a single ascended drop or two (not counting achievement rewards), no matter how long they play.

@crepuscular.9047 said:I've only crafted a single set, the other ascended armor sets on my other toons were all from dropsnever crafted a single core game ascended weapon, got all from drops

the game will eventually reward you with so many ascended armor and weapon boxes the longer you play, that you will be salvaging them for materials for crafting legendaries

in my 6 years i got only 1 ascended armor drop and zero weapons.

@Stalkingwolf.6035 said:

@crepuscular.9047 said:I've only crafted a single set, the other ascended armor sets on my other toons were all from dropsnever crafted a single core game ascended weapon, got all from drops

the game will eventually reward you with so many ascended armor and weapon boxes the longer you play, that you will be salvaging them for materials for crafting legendaries

ouch... i played for 4.5 years, lost count how many I got for free; majority of them I got from doing Tequatl once a day almost everydaydefinitely over 20 Tequatl weapon boxes, as I have all the Sunless skins unlocked