Is the grind worth it for Ascended Gear?

[Danikat.8537]

Getting a full set of ascended equipment is intended to be a medium/long term goal. Originally exotic was the top tier, but Anet found that some players got a full set much quicker than they'd expected (and they expected it to be quick), so they added ascended for people who wanted something to aim for after getting to level 80, and started adding optional harder areas of the game like Fractals, to encourage using it.

But for most players, especially if you're focusing on the story and map completion, ascended is an optional extra. It's a good idea to have it in mind as something to aim for, but you don't need to stop what you're interested in doing or go out of your way to make time to grind it ASAP if you don't want to.

[Widebody.5071]

If you have SOTO that's one the the easiest ways, just by doing  meta, dailies, weeklies and specials.

If not crafting isn't to bad or expensive, for the price of a case of cold beverage you can suit out 5 toons in no time. If you play wvw it'll be faster, much faster then grinding out for legendaries. Which I think is too flashy anyways, but what others choose is none of my concern.

[kharmin.7683]

19 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

I'm still playing thought the story off all seasons and dlcs 🤣 having exotic gear for all slots yet, after finished the story my goals are to get better gear, skyscale and map complettions + masteries.

Having the goal of getting "better gear" isn't something that is really needed in GW2 beyond Exotic gear as has already been pointed out unless you plan to run fractals.

The only ascended I have are a few weapons, but I only did those for their appearances.  I have some trinkets as well, but I find that overall for my experience the bump in stats is not really noticeable.

I guess what I'm suggesting is to not dedicate a lot of time/effort in to acquiring ascended just because you want "better gear".  If it's a grind, you may find it more fun to play the game with exotics.

[Danikat.8537]

1 hour ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Having the goal of getting "better gear" isn't something that is really needed in GW2 beyond Exotic gear as has already been pointed out unless you plan to run fractals.

The only ascended I have are a few weapons, but I only did those for their appearances.  I have some trinkets as well, but I find that overall for my experience the bump in stats is not really noticeable.

I guess what I'm suggesting is to not dedicate a lot of time/effort in to acquiring ascended just because you want "better gear".  If it's a grind, you may find it more fun to play the game with exotics.

Agreed. I have 2 characters in full ascended (some crafted, mostly stuff I acquired from various places over the years) and several other level 80 characters in either a mix of ascended and exotic or full exotic and I don't notice a difference when I switch between them.

There's other differences of course which mean it's not a 1:1 comparison, they're all different professions and some are more damage focused than others etc. but the only time I worry about making sure I'm on one of those characters is when I'm doing Fractals, because they're the only ones with agony resistance.

[Tinker.6924]

23 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

Thanks, did they have fixed stats? Maybe they can be changed on mystic forge?

Ascended Weapons and armor can be stat changed in the mystic forge and only some trinkets can be stat changed. 
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stat_changing#Ascended_weapons_and_armor

 

8 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

how long will this take to get this 100 blood ruby's and maybe the needed magic unbound?

Not long, less than a week just hitting nodes.  The real issue is the unbound magic currency which may take longer. Buy unbound harvesting tools for karma from the unbound magic vendors in each lw3 zone and they will give you extra unbound magic no matter where you use them

 with the exception of winterberries in bitterfrost, all the lw3 and lw4 nodes have account-wide limit and character limits for farming. You will hit the account limit with 2 characters and then you won’t see any more of the nodes until the next reset regardless of the character you farm with.

 Winterberries can be farmed as much as you want with all your characters exhausting all the winterberry nodes in the zone every time with each character BUT they have a 24 hour reset timer that is completely separate from the normal gw2 reset timer  

Winterberry farming is one of my personal gw2 dailies  

 

Edited February 7 by Tinker.6924

[Padrion.7382]

On 2/6/2024 at 5:02 PM, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

Is it worth the grind for Ascended Gear? You need a lot of different things and you have to invest a lot of materials and gold.

Yes, it is expensive but on the other hand it is best in slot forever. The question is: what else are you going to put that time and effort in? Equip another character with Exotics? Buy Cosmetics in the Gem Store? Play a different game? All viable alternatives depending on what is most fun for you. If you want to have Ascended gear, the Wizards Vault rewards can get you started as mentioned above. These are almost free, just need to complete your dailies a couple of times.

[Ashantara.8731]

• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_trinket#Trinkets_with_selectable_prefixes
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_back_item#Back_items_with_selectable_prefixes
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_armor#Armor_with_selectable_prefixes
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_weapon#Weapons_with_selectable_prefixes

All of these have selectable stats, and most don't need to be crafted.

All details on acquisition methods can be found under each subsequent item link.

Edited February 8 by Ashantara.8731

[Buran.3796]

9 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

I'm not at home for few days, but for example I need 100 blood ruby's to buy trinkets how long will this take to get this 100 blood ruby's and maybe the needed magic unbound?

It's gonna be a heavy grind for this?

   Originally farming in Bloodstone Fen was fast but ANet nerfed it; you still can progress well doing some farming there but for that specific map I just chose to purchase the home node (50 gold coins) to get a bit every day. There's other maps much faster to farm, I would say Bitterfrost Frontier > Dragonfall/Bjora Marches > Sanswept Isles > everything else. This is an example of a fast farm from a couple of characters in Bitterfrost Frontier (as was explained, this map allows to farm x 24h x character, and you can consume the winterberries to gain magic):

 

 

[Lucy.3728]

Quote

Is the grind worth it for Ascended Gear?

No.

Ascended gear isn't worth any grind.
(Unless you're after a certain skin, then it's your choice how much you want it)

[Perrin Wolfgard.8157]

No. Go for legendary then you're set. Long run to get it but worth it. I have made a lot of ascended sets and wished I had set my sites higher. In my opinion.

[DeanBB.4268]

1 hour ago, Perrin Wolfgard.8157 said:

No. Go for legendary then you're set. Long run to get it but worth it. I have made a lot of ascended sets and wished I had set my sites higher. In my opinion.

Considering you can outfit a character for free via the WV, I'd start there. When you're ready, have maxed crafting, and have collected lotsa stuff - including gifts of battle and exploration - then go for legendary.

Neither are needed for you to get through the story, which is where you're at now. Plus (OP), you're aiming for Vipers gear, which has additional requirements compared to core stats.

[DoNotAimAtMe.3510]

And what is better with legendarys? And how to aquire them? In my build nothing mentioned for legandarys:

https://hardstuck.gg/gw2/builds/necromancer/condition-scourge/

[DeanBB.4268]

Legendary gear has the same stats as ascended gear, there is no higher gear level than ascended/legendary. But if you unlock a piece of legendary gear, say a sword, then any character that can equip a sword can use that legendary sword. You can change appearance on legendary armor and weapons free of change, and can change stats and upgrades any time when not in combat.

[RavensSorrow.6128]

3 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

And what is better with legendarys? And how to aquire them? In my build nothing mentioned for legandarys:

https://hardstuck.gg/gw2/builds/necromancer/condition-scourge/

Legendaries are more of a luxury item. Same stats as Ascended but account wide access. So you craft say Bolt the legendary sword then every character you have that wants a sword can equip it from the Legendary Armory. There is also a "legendary starter kit" in the Wizards Vault, which can give you a great boost forward in making one. These can be long projects but are so worth doing if you have multiple characters.

As for ascended don't grind it. As you push into Fractals and Strikes and even Raids, all which can be started in Exotics, you'll get drops or currency to buy the items rather than grinding out crafting mats. Unless it's a cool skin you want or collection to complete don't worry so much about it.  Also look up in your achievements "Guide for the Lost" it's an ascended torch for your specialization you can get by just doing a few things. You can track the achievement by clicking the eye and it will appear next to your story in the top right so you can track it. Just do a piece of this every day/week and you'll eventually have a powerful item for your build.

Edited February 8 by RavensSorrow.6128
Acended

[Nash.2681]

As mentioned already, legendary is just a QoL upgrade to ascended. However, I don't see aquiring asc. gear grindy nowadays, especially if one does instanced content, which you seem to be interested in since you look up builds at hardstuck. Do some fractals, strikes and raids and soon you'll drowning in bank tabs full of asc. gear.

[Danikat.8537]

13 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

And what is better with legendarys? And how to aquire them? In my build nothing mentioned for legandarys:

https://hardstuck.gg/gw2/builds/necromancer/condition-scourge/

Build guides recommend ascended because it's the top tier and it would be weird to recommend less. They don't show legendaries because the stats are identical to ascended and it might mislead inexperienced players into thinking they have to get legendaries to use the build.

In reality you don't even need ascended, you could make exactly the same build using exotics and it would function the same, the only difference would be slightly smaller numbers. Although viper's is an expansion stat combination (added with Heart of Thorns) which means it's actually likely to be easier/cheaper to get ascended trinkets than exotic ones.

[evilcat.6817]

With full set exotic WvW could be a good method to acquire stat selected including trinkets. And it could be even faster than winterberries. However maybe you dont like WvW. It is just very reliable way of getting stuff.

There could be some detail of how much you crit chance is, with just exotic your precision may be a bit off, and you need one or two assasins gear to reach that golden number, in similar manner you could pursuit golden value of concentration.

[Widebody.5071]

Ascended is account wide also you can't adjust the stats all willy nilly but they can be adjusted with the proper tools. I've once changed stats on my armor and that was because it was a duplicate set of one i already owned.

Legendaries are okay I guess but for me they add too much to the screen. I like running at best appearance but legendaries are a bit over doing it (too flashy for my taste).

[Danikat.8537]

1 hour ago, Widebody.5071 said:

Ascended is account wide also you can't adjust the stats all willy nilly but they can be adjusted with the proper tools. I've once changed stats on my armor and that was because it was a duplicate set of one i already owned.

Legendaries are okay I guess but for me they add too much to the screen. I like running at best appearance but legendaries are a bit over doing it (too flashy for my taste).

Ascended is account bound so you can pass it between characters, but legendaries can be equipped on multiple characters at the same time. I have 3 characters who 'share' The Bifrost and I don't need to put it in the bank to transfer it from one to the other like I would with an ascended staff, they've just all got it in an equipment template, as if I've got 3 legendary staffs.

Also you can change the skin on legendaries (it doesn't even cost transmutation charges). Originally they were purely cosmetic 'upgrades' so a lot of people do get them for the skins, but if you wanted the functionality without the skins and effects it is an option. (More than once I've reskinned a legendary as it's own precursor, like using The Legend instead of The Bifrost to have the ornate staff without the glow.)

[Widebody.5071]

Actually ascended can also. with extra armor slots I preload them for use later.. I have a Warrior and Guardian that shares armor haven't set it up on my revenant yet, haven't seen the need to yet. The only reskin I do is mostly dyes or backpacks, don't want to run around with a waterfall on my back especially in Silverpeaks.

Legendaries have their place, no doubt, I'm just good with ascended.

[Widebody.5071]

Actually before i started crafting I threw away all kinds of material I deemed unnecessary cause i was too lazy to read the wiki (more likely i was too tired). Materials, coins luck all kinds of things, ex: a bank tab full of different types luck, almost two full bank tabs of platinum when platinum was fazed out was fazed out (or was it gold, naw ...platinum) and various other items. No bodies fault but my own mind you.

It's just that pay attention to the wiki, the wiki's our friend. for strong armor make your own, always hit the nodes never pass up few materials, that stuff will stack up before you know. Drizzlewood Coast is a good spot, just do the meta and watch the material pile high (make sure you have plenty of keys). 🙂

 

[DoNotAimAtMe.3510]

I have take one wizard reward for Amory all good but to get a full set its a long way 😕

For weapon even more.

Can ascended gear armor and weapon also drop from fractals?

I can buy stuff from bling in fractals but there are these marks needed and they seems not as easy to aquise 😕

to much grind.

[Padrion.7382]

2 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

I have take one wizard reward for Amory all good but to get a full set its a long way 😕

That is pretty much the point of it. If you would acquire them fast, what would you do the next 5 years? This game doesn't have a gear reset every couple of months like most other MMOs have. Take your time. Play what is fun for you, collect the resources and currency you need to buy/craft them along the way. Enjoy other games in between and return for the new season when the wizard's vault is refilled.

Edited February 12 by Padrion.7382

[ShadowCatz.8437]

On 2/6/2024 at 5:39 PM, Danikat.8537 said:

That depends on what you're doing in the game: for Fractals ascended is required above tier 1 (because you need agony resistance and can only put it in ascended items), for raids, strikes and WvW it's recommended, for other areas of PvE it's optional and you can't use it at all in PvP.

Crafting it is the simplest and most reliable way to get it, but that's balanced out by being expensive and time consuming. There are alternatives. The simplest is probably to buy it from the Wizard's Vault, but that's limited to 2 armour pieces and 1 weapon each season. Playing Fractals, strikes, raids and WvW will give you a chance to get ascended items as drops, and will get you currencies you can use to buy it. It can also come from various achievements (only once per achievement though). Oh and you can get trinkets from laurel vendors or from Living World Season 3 map vendors.

It might seem contradictory that the best places to get ascended equipment are also the ones where it's required or recommended, but you can start doing all those things (especially Fractals and WvW) without ascended equipment and use the drops and currencies to upgrade gradually as you progress through it. Raids and strikes are more variable - it depends on the group, but if you ask your guild they can probably help you.

You forgot the most important difference between Ascended and Exotic is that Ascended are are account bound which means when OP craft Ascended gear or purchases it, it can be used on any character in that account. Exotic will be locked to that character that have equipped it.

It is possible to change attributes for a small cost in Insignia or Inscription and some other items that will be needed and use of MF.

This is why Legendary is preferred if you change a lot of times attributes you can now for free and while out of combat change attributes (the only restriction is for armour weight where we have light, medium or heavy armour - so you will need three set or each weight to be able to change on all character when we talk about Legendary Armour).

@DoNotAimAtMe.3510

As WVW and PvE player I can tell that there is no need to go for Ascended armour (if you aren't obsessed with min-maxing in WvW). The important part is trinkets, backpack and weapon (but exotic weapon work as well as the damage increase is just a few percent).

Those items are rather easy to get from LW season maps (trinkets and backpack).

As for what is worth your time to do is also related to how much you are farming mats while doing events in PvE or playing WvW. Both game mode have nodes you can farm which again is depending on how active your server in WvW will be (as you get more nodes when your WvW server have capped at least your main objective like Garrison, Keep or Stone Miste Castle for EBG.

In the end it also depends on what your focus on this game is? Is your only motivation to kill players and ignore everything else in this game, then go sPvP which make use of default templates which replaces gear with an amulet. In that game mode you only need to get Gold to upgrade for better amulet or upgrades (and PvP currency).

In other game mode it is part of your gradual progression to gather from nodes or salvage from items to get mats which can be used to sell or crafting other gear. This is part of almost all RPG based games as that make it possible to have goals in game that are personal and at same work with other players to exchange mats or gear. 

You have also been recommended to join a guild as those Guilds often have their own Guild House which means that those can offer their own nodes and then you have Home Instances which you can join until you have your own HI to offer the same things to be farmed, so there is a lot more to your question about what something is "worth" then we can answer for you.

If you play Fractals you will need Agony resistance when you get past tier 1 (walk down to Fractal portal and look at that list of Tier to understand what it is in Lion's Arch). Without it at level above Tier 1 you will take damage to your HP which make it impossible in the end to progress to higher tier without constant healing to compensate for lost HP. (Technically it works like a Poison effect with adds damage over time on your character while in that instance.)

In WvW you can add Infusions that will provide some more defence or offensive attributes and also some more WXP or WvW reward tracks buff, Karma or Magic Find which can only be put on your amulet which need to be Ascended for that extra Infusion slot.

Next level of that is that you can upgrade Ascended gear to have a second Infusion slot for a total of two Infusion. Look up GW2 wiki to details.

In short to craft Ascended you will need a crafter with Master crafter level crafting. It will cost some Gold and mats to get there and I have already suggested with link to a site that is commonly used here on GW2 when players want to know what is less costly way to get a crafter to the level they need.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

On 2/7/2024 at 7:11 PM, Tinker.6924 said:

Ascended Weapons and armor can be stat changed in the mystic forge and only some trinkets can be stat changed. 
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stat_changing#Ascended_weapons_and_armor

 

Not long, less than a week just hitting nodes.  The real issue is the unbound magic currency which may take longer. Buy unbound harvesting tools for karma from the unbound magic vendors in each lw3 zone and they will give you extra unbound magic no matter where you use them

 with the exception of winterberries in bitterfrost, all the lw3 and lw4 nodes have account-wide limit and character limits for farming. You will hit the account limit with 2 characters and then you won’t see any more of the nodes until the next reset regardless of the character you farm with.

 Winterberries can be farmed as much as you want with all your characters exhausting all the winterberry nodes in the zone every time with each character BUT they have a 24 hour reset timer that is completely separate from the normal gw2 reset timer  

Winterberry farming is one of my personal gw2 dailies  

 

Unbound Magic is pretty fast to farm when you get Griffon and or Skyscale as you can then go up and down in all LW season maps where there is those UM Orbs (Motes) which also adds a reset of Flight Bar for Skyscale. Until then Gliding is the first option to farm those which worked pretty well before we got any mounts.

It is also possible to purchase special gathering tools for Karma to get more UM or to use Glyphs on Gathering tools. Kills from NPC on those maps also reward some UM. Doing achievements related to those maps will also give containers with UM. Story adds also some UM as reward.

All in all it doesn't take that much time to get UM as long you also focus on getting UM at the same as you farm map currency like Bloodstone or Winterberry.