What's with ascended weapons?

[Afterhourz.2937]

So, I am at that point in the game where the only upgrades I would be able to get are ascended gear/weapons. I'm a Daredevil, and I mainly do PvP/WvW. I got all the ascended trinkets and did some more grinding but didn't pay much attention to these grandmaster marks. I just thought they would be a currency like most of the other things in this game. Now I see you have you have to craft them, and be maxxed crafting for each different type of mark. And it looks like it costs a s**tload of money/items. I use 4 different types of weapons in my rotation of builds. This means I would have to to lvl at least 3 crafting professions, and that's not counting any armor yet. Why does this seem so ridiculous? I checked the fractal rewards and they seem to use the marks too. I'm struggling with this, do I have all this right, is this what everyone does? And yes, I did see the ascended weapons you can get with the achievement, they don't even offer a pistol or a shortbow. Any suggestions for me?

[mindcircus.1506]

Raids and Strikes offer a path to Ascended weapons that do not require Grandmaster Marks.

 

That said, this game will not stop gating a lot of very cool rewards behind crafting and it's in your interest to max out if you intend to stick with it for any length of time.

[Taril.8619]

You can also get some Ascended weapons from doing Elite Spec collections.

 

Of course, not all weapon types are available. But you can get a Shortbow from the Renegade collection.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

> @"Afterhourz.2937" said:

> So, I am at that point in the game where the only upgrades I would be able to get are ascended gear/weapons. I'm a Daredevil, and I mainly do PvP/WvW. I got all the ascended trinkets and did some more grinding but didn't pay much attention to these grandmaster marks. I just thought they would be a currency like most of the other things in this game. Now I see you have you have to craft them, and be maxxed crafting for each different type of mark. And it looks like it costs a s**tload of money/items. I use 4 different types of weapons in my rotation of builds. This means I would have to to lvl at least 3 crafting professions, and that's not counting any armor yet. Why does this seem so ridiculous? I checked the fractal rewards and they seem to use the marks too. I'm struggling with this, do I have all this right, is this what everyone does? And yes, I did see the ascended weapons you can get with the achievement, they don't even offer a pistol or a shortbow. Any suggestions for me?

 

Shortbow and Pistol belong to Huntsman, so there is only one crafting discipline you need for those weapon type. Worse if you would use weapon that you need to be Weaponsmith (most metal based weapons like Axe, Dagger etc) or Artificer (most magic type weapon like Scepter and Staff).

 

You could split crafting on different player character (make sure that you have one for each type of armour: light, medium and heavy if you plan to have any other classes that use those armour types). You can't avoid crafting if you want to make ascended or legendary armour and weapons in the future. The main difference with Legendary is that you can swap attributes and upgrades without a high cost (on Ascended you destroy either upgrade or the item to get that upgrade back). With one full set of medium armour you can move it any other medium armour profession, so you only need one set (it is bound to your account). With one of each weight (light, medium and heavy) you can now adjust to what every build by changing stats/attributes and upgrades without to have to start over or to at least work to get Insignia/Inscription that you use in Mystic Forge to change attributes on ascended armour and weapon. The only discipline that I would not level up would be Jewel crafting as you can get trinkets rather easy from doing PvE maps and rings, accessories and back items isn't hard to get in ascended. Some can even be reset with a token from same vendor that sell those items.

 

I would recommend that you also get bags (minimum 20 slot: WvW vendor sell two types) on your crafters, so you can store items while you craft and combine it with some bank space. It helps to also at least get your Material Storage up from 250 stack to 500 or even 750 stack as some items can be really hard to farm. (Move items to MS from Inventory). If your bag is full with 15 items you can replace it with a 20 bag without empty bag, but if you want to go from 20 bag to 15 bag, you will need to remove everything in that bag. Use at least one or two craftbags to get all crafting material in one place and one for ready gear (there are different types of bag).

 

Don't forget that you can sell all low level items to NPC vendor close by craft stations, so will not loose that much Gold while levelling up crafting. There is also some consumables that buffs while crafting which you should have collected over time as gifts from Gem Shop etc. There are also guides on how to level up more efficient or at least with less loos on Gold.

 

On plus side it that you can "compress" storage space from converting Ore into Ingot (as an example) and you can also sell time gated material that is used in Ascended crafting (if you don't need it later). You will also save some Gold when you can make your own Runes and Sigils as long as you use recipes that some of those are needed to learn to craft.

 

Go to wiki to learn more about crafting and what you need for crafting marks or ascended gear! It might that ascended armour is better way to get what you need then Legendary (if you don't have enough Skirmishing token) and already have a collected a large chunk of mats. Don't forget to pick or change your WvW track to get mats for crafting.

 

Good Luck!

[Dayra.7405]

Get your staff: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bo_(achievement)

[Afterhourz.2937]

> @"ShadowCatz.8437" said:

> > @"Afterhourz.2937" said:

> > So, I am at that point in the game where the only upgrades I would be able to get are ascended gear/weapons. I'm a Daredevil, and I mainly do PvP/WvW. I got all the ascended trinkets and did some more grinding but didn't pay much attention to these grandmaster marks. I just thought they would be a currency like most of the other things in this game. Now I see you have you have to craft them, and be maxxed crafting for each different type of mark. And it looks like it costs a s**tload of money/items. I use 4 different types of weapons in my rotation of builds. This means I would have to to lvl at least 3 crafting professions, and that's not counting any armor yet. Why does this seem so ridiculous? I checked the fractal rewards and they seem to use the marks too. I'm struggling with this, do I have all this right, is this what everyone does? And yes, I did see the ascended weapons you can get with the achievement, they don't even offer a pistol or a shortbow. Any suggestions for me?

>

> Shortbow and Pistol belong to Huntsman, so there is only one crafting discipline you need for those weapon type. Worse if you would use weapon that you need to be Weaponsmith (most metal based weapons like Axe, Dagger etc) or Artificer (most magic type weapon like Scepter and Staff).

>

> You could split crafting on different player character (make sure that you have one for each type of armour: light, medium and heavy if you plan to have any other classes that use those armour types). You can't avoid crafting if you want to make ascended or legendary armour and weapons in the future. The main difference with Legendary is that you can swap attributes and upgrades without a high cost (on Ascended you destroy either upgrade or the item to get that upgrade back). With one full set of medium armour you can move it any other medium armour profession, so you only need one set (it is bound to your account). With one of each weight (light, medium and heavy) you can now adjust to what every build by changing stats/attributes and upgrades without to have to start over or to at least work to get Insignia/Inscription that you use in Mystic Forge to change attributes on ascended armour and weapon. The only discipline that I would not level up would be Jewel crafting as you can get trinkets rather easy from doing PvE maps and rings, accessories and back items isn't hard to get in ascended. Some can even be reset with a token from same vendor that sell those items.

>

> I would recommend that you also get bags (minimum 20 slot: WvW vendor sell two types) on your crafters, so you can store items while you craft and combine it with some bank space. It helps to also at least get your Material Storage up from 250 stack to 500 or even 750 stack as some items can be really hard to farm. (Move items to MS from Inventory). If your bag is full with 15 items you can replace it with a 20 bag without empty bag, but if you want to go from 20 bag to 15 bag, you will need to remove everything in that bag. Use at least one or two craftbags to get all crafting material in one place and one for ready gear (there are different types of bag).

>

> Don't forget that you can sell all low level items to NPC vendor close by craft stations, so will not loose that much Gold while leveling up crafting. There is also some consumables that buffs while crafting which you should have collected over time as gifts from Gem Shop etc. There are also guides on how to level up more efficient or at least with less loos on Gold.

>

> On plus side it that you can "compress" storage space from converting Ore into Ingot (as an example) and you can also sell time gated material that is used in Ascended crafting (if you don't need it later). You will also save some Gold when you can make your own Runes and Sigils as long as you use recipes that some of those are needed to learn to craft.

>

> Go to wiki to learn more about crafting and what you need for crafting marks or ascended gear! It might that ascended armour is better way to get what you need then Legendary (if you don't have enough Skirmishing token) and already have a collected a large chunk of mats. Don't forget to pick or change your WvW track to get mats for crafting.

>

> Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. Those are a lot of good ideas in here, some I have already contemplated. Here's my problem:

I Use Mainly Dagger/Pistol, But i also have Shortbow and Staff, so that would be three. I could get the staff from the achievement, but still takes lots of time, and I use it the least.

I only have one character at 80, and I've got weaponsmith and jeweler currently, and I am already using the other spots for bank as you mentioned. I don't really want to lvl more characters at the moment.

I find crafting to be beyond boring and this just seems like way too much effort to get items that are only marginally better and I'm thinking this game might not be for me which sucks because I like the pvp and wvw. I find it extremely stupid to be necessary for every player to be maxxed in crafting professions to get better items. Like put in a reward track or something Anet, all these different reward tracks are pointless they all give you the same items

[Afterhourz.2937]

> @"Dayra.7405" said:

> Get your staff: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bo_(achievement)

 

I don't really use the staff, only in PvE, which i don't do much of. I don't find the skills very useful in PvP or WvW.

[Shailyn Slay.7234]

You can get grandmaster marks (of any type) from ranked PvP - only 3 or so per season, so it's slow, but it IS possible to get them without any crafting at all.

 

Additonally both PvP & WvW have some chances of dropping ascneded gear, so if play these modes exclusively you are bound to get some ascended gear (which is only relevant for WvW and not sPvP anyway) at somepoint. WvW might have even more options to get ascended gear that I don't know about, cause I don't really play it (I'm guessing some of the armor/weapons you can unlock for skrimisher tickets might be ascended).

[Schimmi.6872]

> @"Shailyn Slay.7234" said:

> You can get grandmaster marks (of any type) from ranked PvP - only 3 or so per season, so it's slow, but it IS possible to get them without any crafting at all.

>

The same exists in WvW too but it's also slow. The weekly Skirmish reward track gives 3 Grandmaster Mark Shards per week, you can exchange 10 Shards for one Mark

 

 

[Orack.9756]

Free dagger with this quest : https://www.ign.com/wikis/guild-wars-2/Knight_of_the_Thorn_(achievement)

You can also test your luck once a day with Tequatl : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tequatl_the_Sunless

[Maat.3940]

>

> Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. Those are a lot of good ideas in here, some I have already contemplated. Here's my problem:

> I Use Mainly Dagger/Pistol, But i also have Shortbow and Staff, so that would be three. I could get the staff from the achievement, but still takes lots of time, and I use it the least.

> I only have one character at 80, and I've got weaponsmith and jeweler currently, and I am already using the other spots for bank as you mentioned. I don't really want to lvl more characters at the moment.

> I find crafting to be beyond boring and this just seems like way too much effort to get items that are only marginally better and I'm thinking this game might not be for me which sucks because I like the pvp and wvw. I find it extremely stupid to be necessary for every player to be maxxed in crafting professions to get better items. Like put in a reward track or something Anet, all these different reward tracks are pointless they all give you the same items

 

The nice people here are only gonna offer solutions. They will not complain with you on the subject. So keep that in mind. I sense a bit of "I want it all and I don't want to do anything for it." I am not scolding you for it. I am just stating what message you give out.

Everything of value takes time in this game. Like you get what you put in. I remember my beginnings and what I did was tons of PvE actually, and it's still my main and the only game mode I am interested in. That's the reason I have all my 9 characters ascended geared and 8 legendaries. They are supposed to be more or less easy to get depending on the type of content you wish to complete. WvW and PvP have their own system that deals with ascended gear. If you don't like raids and fractals (how I got my ascended stuff) then WvW, PvP and crafting are your options. I remember when I was heavily invested in PvP like 3 years ago, I made hundreds of gold per season. Gold was not an issue.

 

Please, be patient! And put in the time, if you choose to, and get yourself some nice shiny gear. Consider fractals too. But again, it takes time. That's the common denominator for everything you'd like to have in this game and is actually of great value.

 

Also, the point of Grandmaster Marks is for you to avoid crafting altogether.

You have Raids, Fractals, Strike Missions, PvP, and WvW loaded with ways to get ascended gear without crafting.

In 4 years I've crafted 0 ascended items. 0!

 

There is no game out there that will let you in the end game stuff without you putting your time in it. And if you like the game enough, you will find ways (like a few people here have stated) to gear your one and only character.

 

Good luck.

 

 

[DeanBB.4268]

You could just buy legendaries on the TP. Another option, no crafting, just expensive. And think about what you use the weapons for. Does the little extra gained from being Ascended quality offer any benefit? Like, for the short bow?

[Turkeyspit.3965]

> @"Dayra.7405" said:

> Get your staff: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bo_(achievement)

 

Cost to craft Mystic Staff (for collection): 52g

Cost to purchase Mystic Staff from the TP: 56g

Cost to craft Zojja's Spire (non-account bound ingredients only) - 42g

 

Also considering you can't even select Berserker stats from the Bo, with the price of Mystic Coins being so high, HoT elite spec weapons just aren't cost effective unless you lack the crafting skill to make your own ascended weapons...or you want the elite spec weapon skin.

[Hannelore.8153]

For the record, it only takes about 5g/day to make the marks, because they're timegated, and your daily gold covers nearly half of that. Its really not as bad as it seems, a person can make a mark every single day with maybe 15-20mins of effort.

 

As for levelling crafting, that's rough. But once you do it you never have to do it again, and following guides and using boosters keep the cost down to a manageable level.. you should expect to level each dicipline from 0-500 on less than 200g.

 

it probably seems like alot, but remember, you're not meant to get Best In Slot (BiS) gear overnight.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"Maat.3940" said:

> Also, the point of Grandmaster Marks is for you to avoid crafting altogether.

 

If that was really the case they should have made the marks tradeable.

 

[JekthAvid.1408]

If you play the story and have finished heart of thorns, I suggest you look into caladbolg. Not too hard or expensive