WvW Ascended Armor Price VS Crafting

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Hi!

With the last Patch we get now Shards that we can trade for Grandmaster Marks.

This Change made me look at the Gold Prices for WvW Armor and the Crafted Version.

A WvW Heavy Chest Piece costs:

1. 250 Memory od Battle = 19.5g
2. 4 Grandmaster Marks = 43g
3. 350 Tickets
4. 2 Gold

Total: 64.5g and 350 Tickets

The only Crafted Heavy Armor Chest Pieces that cost more then that are:

• Trailblazer 68g
• Minstrel 68.6g

The rest is 48-56g

This is also True for Light and Medium Chest Pieces.

Lets look at a Full Heavy WvW Armor set.

1. 20 Marks = 216,4g
2. Memory of Battle = 117g
3. 12g
4. 1310 Tickets.

Total: 345.4g + 1310 Tickets

[Edit] Tier 2 Ascended Armor Full Heavy:

1. 3000 Memorys = 234g
2. 13g
3. 2620 Tickets

Total: 247g + 2620 Tickets

Crafted

• Full Heavy Minstrel Armor = 360g
• Full Heavy Marauder Armor = 267g
• Full Heavy Cele. Armor = 287g

As we can see.It is almost always better to craft the Armor the Normal way.

[Gold Prices taken from gw2efficiency.com]

[XenesisII.1540]

Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?You need 3000 Memory´s and a stack is at this very moment 19.77g.

[Blocki.4931]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?

Considering you don't play WvW for the gear its almost nothing. It's not going to be that expensive, tickets being the only real issue. Also don't forget that the WvW armor also doubles as a precursor armor in case you ever plan to upgrade it to legendary. You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. You will never pay for the materials.

Now the marks are even less of an issue

[XenesisII.1540]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?You need 3000 Memory´s and a stack is at this very moment 19.77g.

You earn memorys for free in wvw, so your point?

Pay time or pay gold, pick one, or both in between.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@"XenesisII.1540" said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?

Considering you don't play WvW for the gear its almost nothing. It's not going to be that expensive, tickets being the only real issue. Also don't forget that the WvW armor also doubles as a precursor armor in case you ever plan to upgrade it to legendary. You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. You will never pay for the materials.

Now the marks are even less of an issue

"You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. "That not how it works.

You pay with the materials. They have a gold Value.

There is 0 differenz here.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

@XenesisII.1540 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?You need 3000 Memory´s and a stack is at this very moment 19.77g.

You earn memorys for free in wvw, so your point?

You say 247g + 2620 Tickets is almost free.I can craft a Ascended Armor for the same price without paying with the Tickets.

[XenesisII.1540]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:I can craft a Ascended Armor for the same price without paying with the Tickets.

So go ahead?Now you can get the marks for free, or get the set that doesn't require marks if you have the rank, it cost you time rather than gold.Spend gold if you want to get it quick, or spend tickets and time.

EDIT: The only reason you would need wvw ascended instead of crafted one is to make the legendary upgrade, which is probably also the reason for the increased price and why crafting should remain cheaper. If you're looking for a cheap way to get the legendary without playing wvw much, then go raid, it's also easier there.

[Loosmaster.8263]

Also remember, you can't turn crafted Ascended armour into Legendary as you can with the WvW version...

[Blocki.4931]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@"XenesisII.1540" said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?

Considering you don't play WvW for the gear its almost nothing. It's not going to be that expensive, tickets being the only real issue. Also don't forget that the WvW armor also doubles as a precursor armor in case you ever plan to upgrade it to legendary. You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. You will never pay for the materials.

Now the marks are even less of an issue

"You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. "That not how it works.

You pay with the materials. They have a gold Value.

There is 0 differenz here.

Sure, you could sell them. But not having to buy them isn't exactly an additional cost, just a loss of potential profit.

I don't see the point of this thread. You want ascended armor. One has a higher investment than the other, but also the benefit of potentially being turned into legendary armor + you get everything you need for them by playing actively compared to having to buy recipes and crafting it directly, you have to craft and buy everything for it but no way of reducing that lower baseline cost.

Comparing apples to oranges here honestly.

[kurogane.9681]

Those wvw ascended armors you're talking about are legendary armor precursors, basically it's not the same as those crafted ones.

It is more of an alternative in crafting legendary armors than just getting an ascended ones.

[morrolan.9608]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:Hi!

With the last Patch we get now Shards that we can trade for Grandmaster Marks.

This Change made me look at the Gold Prices for WvW Armor and the Crafted Version.

A WvW Heavy Chest Piece costs:

1. 250 Memory od Battle = 19.5g
2. 4 Grandmaster Marks = 43g
3. 350 Tickets
4. 2 Gold

Total: 64.5g and 350 Tickets

The only Crafted Heavy Armor Chest Pieces that cost more then that are:

• Trailblazer 68g
• Minstrel 68.6g

The rest is 48-56g

This is also True for Light and Medium Chest Pieces.

Lets look at a Full Heavy WvW Armor set.

1. 20 Marks = 216,4g
2. Memory of Battle = 117g
3. 12g
4. 1310 Tickets.

Total: 345.4g + 1310 Tickets

[Edit] Tier 2 Ascended Armor Full Heavy:

1. 3000 Memorys = 234g
2. 13g
3. 2620 Tickets

Total: 247g + 2620 Tickets

Crafted

• Full Heavy Minstrel Armor = 360g
• Full Heavy Marauder Armor = 267g
• Full Heavy Cele. Armor = 287g

As we can see.It is almost always better to craft the Armor the Normal way.

[Gold Prices taken from gw2efficiency.com]

WvW armor is the precursor to legendary armor thats what we pay for.

[Brother.1504]

It’s the old argument from wvw, pvp players that never want to dirty themselves with pve in any form.

[starlinvf.1358]

@"kurogane.9681" said:Those wvw ascended armors you're talking about are legendary armor precursors, basically it's not the same as those crafted ones.

It is more of an alternative in crafting legendary armors than just getting an ascended ones.

Except that was a complete after thought, once the system had already been in place. Just like the marks were added to PvP armor (on top of the season gated tickets), after back lash from PvP players complaining about "scrubs" flooding sPvP for cheap ascended armor. I held on to my pvp tickets/shards from that season it was introduced, spent more hours then I care to trying to max cap out (which is 100+ matches), only to have that effort devalued by making me craft marks for what amounts to a roughly 10% gold discount at the time.

For them, making those armors pre-cursors was a "2 birds, 1 stone" stop gap- because without that, the armor is no where near the effort to invest in verses simply crafting a new asc set with the gold you're winning. Unless you're willing to roll over Diamond chest in PvP several times in a single season. I did the math at one point, and came to the conclusion that it wasn't practical unless you did nothing but PvP as a full time job, AND had an abnormally high win rate. But despite that, it still takes a 2, possibly 3 seasons to make legendary armor because of how the Tickets are capped. WvW is also equally time gated via skirmish tickets. The time delay to getting the armor is roughly the same as PvE, but the Raids are a fraction of both the time and effort, and the daily token tasks less then an hour and ~12-15g. 4-6 hours at a casual pace per week for the LIs, and less then an hour per day to get Provisioned tokens. Compare that to roughly 24 hours (avg 5 pips) in WvW per week for a relatively new wvw player.

The irony here is that Anet added Asc armor to the list of WvW and PvP rewards for the sole purpose of trying to prop up the dwindling native population, got back lash from the native players for the disruption it caused, and somehow thought parity would be achieved by nullifying the entire reason PvE players were there in the first place (a cheaper set of armor under a less aggressive time gate) by adding the cost back in on TOP of the higher effort required to the currency needed for a set. Legendary armor was the only thing left to offer any kind of value to this set up, and follows the same 16 week time gate as a crafted Raid armor set.

They backed themselves into a corner, and had to double back on their much older stance of Legendary armor being a Raid exclusive, in order to accomplish their real goal..... fluffing the PvP/WvW population without actually giving the players more a productive alternative to what they actually want..... lower cost Ascended gear. And the reason this is borderline insulting, is how this illusion of effort investment created by Anet still implies PvE raids being the most difficult and time consuming, when its actually about the same in light of the speed clear meta. And thats not even getting into the whole "Selling Raids" market. PvP and WvW are just grossly time consuming, and don't reward performance.... just participation. Raids do reward performance by way of reduced effort and time per week; yet in the case PvP and WvW it only makes the time you're spending there less frustrating.

Sure you can cheese it to farm pips for minimal effort.... but for that amount of time spent, you could be way more productive farming LS4 map metas and just buy raids with the gold you make. And despite how much I actually like WvW, the match up volatility is enough to make me want to skip a week..... a week that can't really be afforded if I'm wanting to make armor for a reason.

[Sovereign.1093]

it is nice we have options. =)

[Tyson.5160]

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

That and it can be upgrade to Legendary, which normal ascended can’t do.

[kurogane.9681]

@starlinvf.1358 said:

Sure you can cheese it to farm pips for minimal effort.... but for that amount of time spent, you could be way more productive farming LS4 map metas and just buy raids with the gold you make. And despite how much I actually like WvW, the match up volatility is enough to make me want to skip a week..... a week that can't really be afforded if I'm wanting to make armor for a reason.

But you can't just tell dedicated WvW players to farm in PvE maps. They may hate grinding in PvE but not in WvW.

Being in WvW is fun for them as PvE map is fun for gold grinders. Farming PvE and raid aren't our cup of tea as WvWers. What's fun for you may not be fun for some.

[starlinvf.1358]

@kurogane.9681 said:

@starlinvf.1358 said:

Sure you can cheese it to farm pips for minimal effort.... but for that amount of time spent, you could be way more productive farming LS4 map metas and just buy raids with the gold you make. And despite how much I actually like WvW, the match up volatility is enough to make me want to skip a week..... a week that can't really be afforded if I'm wanting to make armor for a reason.

But you can't just tell dedicated WvW players to farm in PvE maps. They may hate grinding in PvE but not in WvW.

Being in WvW is fun for them as PvE map is fun for gold grinders. Farming PvE and raid aren't our cup of tea as WvWers. What's fun for you may not be fun for some.

Except the QOL for Legendary armor isn't that much higher then having 2 gear sets for a class..... if anything, an extra gear set is cheaper, faster to swap, and only needs to be repurposed once per season with the major balance passes. Despite higher build diversity in WvW, gear sets tend to be a lot more static. In fact, I only run 1 WvW build and one PvE build, (basically 2 gear sets), and only change them with major meta shake ups. I haven't even bothered to upgrade my WvW builds since the last meta change, because they still work for their previous functions. All that means is I'm still a damage scourge, a Cele Firebrand (which means I'm offensive support instead of full support), both Spell breaker and Deadeye are still Maurader/Zerks anyway, my mesmer's Raid gear still works in WvW because its boon share anyway, Ele works fine with zerks being back line, my Rev isn't worth changing from hammer back line, and Glint vs Kalla is just a trait change. I could update my Engineer for the Holo build... but its running Knight/Zerks from 3 metas ago, and wouldn't be much different considering how the current meta operates. And my druid was half Minstrels/Nomads before PoF, but isn't worth updating due to how much more useful Firebrand is in every single department- and running Soul beast is marauders, which I could run zerks... and may as well since I'd melt super fast anyway if caught without a firebrand supporting. And I'm not planning to roam on it, so the 2 roamer builds that would be different are off the table. Same with the Mes.

They're not optimal, but their functional enough to compliment the existing meta comp as DPS. And since FB and Scourges make up the bulk of Guild run squads, all they really need (and really want) from the Pugs is enough DPS to capitalize on the support framework they've set up. Other then Cele trinkets, which I could move from my Firebrand to my Scourge, to get all my builds updated is obtaining one new set of minstrels armor and shuffling the rest around. But when I was regearing for PoF, I started using Exotic Triumphant armor for test builds to save the runes.... and I'm finding that marginal stat loss (basically 1.5% across the whole gear set) and ability to salvage runes, is less hassle then trying to shuffle ascended armor sets across major stat archetypes. And honestly, given the current WvW meta, that 1.5% difference in stats isn't going to make a huge difference with the type of damage being faced. WvW mostly uses 4 stats (marauder, trailer blazer, minstrels, Celestial), and sometimes Zerks or Vipers for extra damage. Since the latter 2 are PvE compatible, you probably already have those for your open world or fractal/raid gear set.

Being about a week away from having enough tickets to make Legendary armor, and having played almost every class in this meta to test overall viability, I'm having a hard time considering which class would put it to the most use. At best I've been arguing Guardian switching between Cele and Minstrels, but thats not as useful since Frontline doesn't need the mixture Cele brought in previous metas. Second would be Ranger due to the Dynamic of their Raid builds... but then I could just get the armor from Raids at that point (Druid in WvW doesn't scale well beyond Roaming). But for WvW, the meta has been largely using the same gear sets for the Weight classes; with the only really big change being Necro adopting Celestial into its line up, and Guardians having a good reason to go full Minstrels. For the other classes, most of their HOT meta builds still work.... they just aren't as good as FB/Scourge combo dominating the meta right now.

That leaves the top contender for useful armor set being Rev and Mesmer..... but both are contingent on me wanting to swap between optimal Roaming and optimal zerging. I don't roam often enough to justify it; and at the same time, I doubt dedicated roamers would change gear just to zerg, since they could use those same builds to slot as a DPS in the zerg. From a full WvW perspective, not enough of any single weight class changes frequently enough to really justify Legendary armor beyond mild convince. Drill down to individual classes and 3 might be worth considering (Mes, Rev, Ranger); and of those, 2 get much better justification from Raid roles, where small tweaks or rune swapping is much more useful. So really if I had to make a Legendary armor set for utility purposes, it would be for my Rev..... but Rev fell a long way from competitive performance over the years.

All of this makes me wish Engineer still had a competitive condi game in WvW. The class still has a lot of general utility that makes them useful in small numbers, and rotating between various power and condi builds is a lot more logical with how that class operates. But the raw number performance isn't as significant compared to functional strength of certain traits and skills, so honestly its moot until the class makes better use of its hybrid power distribution.

[Solori.6025]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?

Considering you don't play WvW for the gear its almost nothing. It's not going to be that expensive, tickets being the only real issue. Also don't forget that the WvW armor also doubles as a precursor armor in case you ever plan to upgrade it to legendary. You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. You will never pay for the materials.

Now the marks are even less of an issue

...I actually honestly want to know how and what you are doing to swim in materials from pure WvW play.I am honestly curious.

@Brother.1504 said:It’s the old argument from wvw, pvp players that never want to dirty themselves with pve in any form.

PvE players also had an argument similar to this when they were required to do map completion in WvW to get the gifts of exploration.It's interesting that people all of a sudden get amnesia about that issue as well, and continue to justify it, while looking down on PvP players for wanting similar treatment and rewards from pve that those players get.

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

@Solori.6025 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?

Considering you don't play WvW for the gear its almost nothing. It's not going to be that expensive, tickets being the only real issue. Also don't forget that the WvW armor also doubles as a precursor armor in case you ever plan to upgrade it to legendary. You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. You will never pay for the materials.

Now the marks are even less of an issue

...I actually honestly want to know how and what you are doing to swim in materials from pure WvW play.I am honestly curious.

Radiance firebrand that already has the ascended necessary.

So I guess technically not needing materials let's you swim in them...

D:

[Solori.6025]

@GDchiaScrub.3241 said:

@Solori.6025 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?

Considering you don't play WvW for the gear its almost nothing. It's not going to be that expensive, tickets being the only real issue. Also don't forget that the WvW armor also doubles as a precursor armor in case you ever plan to upgrade it to legendary. You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. You will never pay for the materials.

Now the marks are even less of an issue

...I actually honestly want to know how and what you are doing to swim in materials from pure WvW play.I am honestly curious.

Radiance firebrand that already has the ascended necessary.

So I guess technically not needing materials let's you swim in them...

D:

. . . .well then D:

[Voltekka.2375]

@Solori.6025 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?

Considering you don't play WvW for the gear its almost nothing. It's not going to be that expensive, tickets being the only real issue. Also don't forget that the WvW armor also doubles as a precursor armor in case you ever plan to upgrade it to legendary. You will swim in materials and get the memories of battle from natural play. You will never pay for the materials.

Now the marks are even less of an issue

...I actually honestly want to know how and what you are doing to swim in materials from pure WvW play.I am honestly curious.

@Brother.1504 said:It’s the old argument from wvw, pvp players that never want to dirty themselves with pve in any form.

PvE players also had an argument similar to this when they were required to do map completion in WvW to get the gifts of exploration.It's interesting that people all of a sudden get amnesia about that issue as well, and continue to justify it, while looking down on PvP players for wanting similar treatment and rewards from pve that those players get.

Swimming in materials may be an exaggeration, but I can honestly say that I got a lot of ascended materials from magic warped packages. From a personal research, drop rate is about 5%. May not sound like much, but it is waaaay better than before.

[Turk.5460]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?You need 3000 Memory´s and a stack is at this very moment 19.77g.

Memories of battle are not hard to obtain if you are actually playing WvW. I always have more than can fit in my bank.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

@Turk.5460 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?You need 3000 Memory´s and a stack is at this very moment 19.77g.

Memories of battle are not hard to obtain if you are actually playing WvW. I always have more than can fit in my bank.

I could sell the Memorys for around 205g.A Cele Heavy would be 282 Gold to craft.

2620 Tickets are 77g gold in this case.This would mean every Ticket is worth 0.029g.Thats 3 silver.

I dont care. If people want to pay that price , good.I would never buy it , except as a Pre.

[Turk.5460]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@Turk.5460 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@XenesisII.1540 said:Crafting will always be better because of the time gating in wvw, and that's fine imo.The second tier of ascended gear is almost for free with requiring tickets and not marks, but need more weeks to farm tickets and minimum wvw ranks. So the more time you spend in wvw the less the cost. Pay more time or pay more gold.

Almost Free = 247g + 2620 Tickets to you?You need 3000 Memory´s and a stack is at this very moment 19.77g.

Memories of battle are not hard to obtain if you are actually playing WvW. I always have more than can fit in my bank.

I could sell the Memorys for around 205g.A Cele Heavy would be 282 Gold to craft.

2620 Tickets are 77g gold in this case.This would mean every Ticket is worth 0.029g.Thats 3 silver.

I dont care. If people want to pay that price , good.I would never buy it , except as a Pre.

It is very simple to make a few grandmaster marks, get a piece of gear, double-click it and select its stats. That is FAR more convenient than having to worry about crafting what you want from start to finish. And simply by being an avid player of the game mode - the materials needed come in mindlessly without having to do boring farming or boring trading post transactions. You see the value from a purely gold/cost standpoint. What a disappointing way to play the game. :\