Is Ascended gear even worth it?

[TamX.1870]

@Ygdrasill.9135 said:You can start a set of accesories buy purchasing those for Laurels. Power/Precision/Ferocity are such common stats for competitive builds that it makes sense to get a set of those.

My advice (nowadays) would be:

• Earrings: Do Guild Missions to buy them from guild vendor.
• Rings: Use fractal relics to buy them.
• Amulets: Stick on exos as long as you don't get drop. Amulets do not have infusion slot, so exo is fine even if you strive for high level fractals. If you are in desperate situation, then, maybe, consider buying amulet from laurel vendor.

My advice would be not to spend laurels on trinkets, even if that sounds tempting. Laurels are hard-to-gain currency, better use something you can get easier.

If you infuse and attune rings, with backback you will have 9 infusion slots. With +9 infusions and Tears of Alba you will reach 96 AR, which is enough for T3 fractals (IIRC). So, you start needing ascended armors only when starting to do T4 fractals. At that point you probably already have some drops, which you can stat-swap, so you don't need to craft all the pieces.

[Stalkingwolf.6035]

Dragonfall has some easy to get Ascended Ring, Amulett and Earring.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mists-Charged_Treasurehttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Scion-Spike_Amulethttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mistborn_Band

And yes i'm very unlucky with drops.i play T3 and T4 ( T4 not as often, because i only play with my guild and often we are not 4/5 players ).i dont play WvW.

but doesnt matter, i crafted 3 sets. 2 heavy and 1 cloth over the years.

[Ygdrasill.9135]

@TamX.1870 said:

@Ygdrasill.9135 said:You can start a set of accesories buy purchasing those for Laurels. Power/Precision/Ferocity are such common stats for competitive builds that it makes sense to get a set of those.

My advice (nowadays) would be:

• Earrings: Do Guild Missions to buy them from guild vendor.
• Rings: Use fractal relics to buy them.
• Amulets: Stick on exos as long as you don't get drop. Amulets do not have infusion slot, so exo is fine even if you strive for high level fractals. If you are in desperate situation, then, maybe, consider buying amulet from laurel vendor.

My advice would be not to spend laurels on trinkets, even if that sounds tempting. Laurels are hard-to-gain currency, better use something you can get easier.

If you infuse and attune rings, with backback you will have 9 infusion slots. With +9 infusions and Tears of Alba you will reach 96 AR, which is enough for T3 fractals (IIRC). So, you start needing ascended armors only when starting to do T4 fractals. At that point you probably already have some drops, which you can stat-swap, so you don't need to craft all the pieces.

This would be great advice if I were currently interested in doing fractals or guild missions or whatever which I'm not. Since I'd been saving the laurels, had plenty, and all three of my current characters can use the accessories for their main builds, it seemed like a good use for them. If it turns out not to have been, by the time I need more, I'll have more since I'm not spending them on anything new at this point.

[Kabuki Theatre.9752]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Stalkingwolf.6035 said:

@"crepuscular.9047" said:if you just play the game, eventually you will have plenty of ascended armor boxes drops that you dont even need to craft ascended gears anymore

i have only crafted a single set of ascended armor when i started fractals, now i have 6 sets in total, of them 5 were all from drops and converted to the stats i want in the mystic toilet

plenty? i had 3 in 6 1/2 years and two of them on two days in fractals a week ago.Dont rely on drops in GW2. Farm Mats and craft the stuff.

It really depends on the content, the person, and luck. My friend exclusively plays WvW & PvP, barely coming into PvE for stories. Sometimes. He has outfitted all his main characters with ascended from drops. People who play fractals regularly get plenty of ascended gear (although not necessarily the pieces they want). And raiders end up with plenty of currency with which to buy gear.

The totally operative phrase here is "(although not necessarily the pieces they want). "

Of WHAT particular use it is to get all kinds of Ascended Gear . . .

If they are NOT the pieces you need?????????????"

Say WHAT?

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Kabuki Theatre.9752" said:(although not necessarily the pieces they want).If they are NOT the pieces you need?????????????"They are always the pieces you can use.

• Items with unsuitable stats can be reforged into like-items with the "right" stats
• If you need gloves and you get helms, make helm-o-nade use them on an alt. Or salvage or sell (not as good in value, of course).

As I said, I know people who never craft and have appropriately outfitted all their toons with just drops (before reward tracks and pips made that easier).

[crepuscular.9047]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Kabuki Theatre.9752" said:(although not necessarily the pieces they want).If they are NOT the pieces you need?????????????"They are always the pieces you can use.

• Items with unsuitable stats can be reforged into like-items with the "right" stats
• If you need gloves and you get helms,
  make helm-o-nade
  use them on an alt. Or salvage or sell (not as good in value, of course).

As I said, I know people who never craft and have appropriately outfitted all their toons with just drops (before reward tracks and pips made that easier).

If you dont want to RNG or craft, or do raiding for legendary armor

play ranked PvP to get the ascended Ardent Glorious armor, you can upgrade them to legendary version in the future :)

[Bawi.9541]

Not needed unless for fractals. Try not to let the ocd/anxiety that some vocal players have about ascended gear get to you.

This often cited "11% more damage" includes upgrading the weapon, which alone makes up half the damage difference (wiki how damage works if you care to know why exactly). Plus iirc it was calculated with Berserker stats, which is a highly synergistic stat spread, where every stat gets more valuable the more you have of the others.

From a value point of view, upgrading pdps weapons to ascended is the last upgrade that I would argue is worth it. And if you like the content the jewelry is just a relatively short grind away.

[Faaris.8013]

In short: Ascended trinkets and weapons are worth it, the stat differences are noticable. When it comes to armor, the differences between exotic and ascended are so small they can be ignored. Get ascended weapons, amulet, rings, backpack and accessories. Only go for ascended armor when you need more infusion slots for Fractals or plan to use the armor on different characters or plan to change stats when a new meta pops up.

Since it's a reoccuring topic here, I'll quote an old post:

I've checked this out in another thread on these forums from January 2018

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/368482#Comment_368482

I have only replaced the 6 armor pieces though because players can get ascended trinkets with berserker stats in the first few days after hitting level 80 and because the thread was about crafting. There is very little difference between ascended armor and exotic armor when it comes to the total stats of your character, certainly not 5%. Yes, the difference of single stats on armor pieces is 5%, but 5% more power from armor results only in 0,7% more total power.

@"Faaris.8013" said:

Fully ascended:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQFAWn8MBVmiNOBGOB8PhFaCbLPNc2TzVwN4IULAMhiAA-jhRBAB4pD4hLAAlq/YmSwr2fU+BwDAgUARMGA-e

Exotic armor:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQFAWn8MBVmiNOBGOB8PhFaCTLAMhiAb5phzeauCuBHhA-jhRBwAmVCeT9H86AA8AAecBAuu/o8jUARMGA-e

The differences are so small, if you are not applying to join a hardcore raid guild, nobody should care.

• 0,7% more power
• 2,6% more armor
• 0,75% more precision => 1,2% more crit chance
• 1,4% more ferocity => 1,2% more critical damage

[luzonophir.7134]

if you're playing since release, you should've gotten ascended for some of your characters.

it's a double answer. ascended is a must if you have the ability to acquire them or/and not if you just bought the game 3 months ago (unless you CC with gems), and the latter will lead to the prior if you just play and get lucky on gold (ascended mats drop/precursor).

[GW Noob.6038]

Ascended gear is worth it...Legendary gear is definitely not worth it.

[Faaris.8013]

@GW Noob.6038 said:Ascended gear is worth it...Legendary gear is definitely not worth it.

What's your basis for that opinion? I love being able to change stats and runes/sigil on my gear, and I think it was totally worth getting it.

[GW Noob.6038]

@Faaris.8013 said:

@"GW Noob.6038" said:Ascended gear is worth it...Legendary gear is definitely not worth it.

What's your basis for that opinion? I love being able to change stats and runes/sigil on my gear, and I think it was totally worth getting it.

You can change the stats, runes, and sigils on ascended gear. The time, the expense, and the enormous hassle involved in acquiring "legendary" gear makes very undesirable to many...especially since it offers no tactical advantage over ascended gear.