How does my 2nd artifact catch up again?

[Raakel]

Research! You go to your order hall and do research work orders... Each takes a few days to complete and will rise the AP you gain from items. The more rsearch levels you have the faster you can level your artefact because you get more AP quicker.

Read the comments below...

http://www.wowhead.com/item=139390/a...notes#comments

[MatadorMedia]

Your alt spec weapon will always be weaker, but if you take some time to throw artifact power into it then it can still be a viable alternative in a pinch. Like you can get up to the first major ability (the "elite" trait or whatever) for around 6k artifact power. That's a ridiculously small amount of artifact power compared to say the 24k you need for just ONE small trait on your main spec atm.

[Delaios]

because once you get to a certain point in your artifact power, the next point costs exponentially more, every so often. meaning you basically have to wait for artifact knowledge research to really get beyond a certain point without driving yourself insane and you are better off powering up your off-spec artifacts.

This is a good way to describe it. The higher "ranks" in your main weapon will take such obscene amounts of AP that your progress bar towards your next trait will barely move until you get a few additional levels of artifact knowledge. A day's worth of AP WQs currently gives me a few thousand AP (+90%), which is already barely enough to give me a few bars towards my next trait. While it's technically true that every bit of AP I spend on off-specs will set me back on my main spec, in practice I wouldn't really notice it in the long run if I spend two days worth of AP on an off-spec.

Just an example:
Obtaining the first mastery trait (+% damage increase after filling out all traits) costs 2.6 million AP. You could go for that, or instead you could go and get all the golden traits for an off-spec for a ~0.5 million AP (some specs require fewer points than others).

[shaunika123]

truth is is you are min maxer it will never catch up untill you max out paragon on your primary weapon- it may be true for people who dont mind underperfoming but if you are any decent you wont play offspecs this expansion simply as that untill 4+ month into expansion

what if in order to be a "minmaxer" you need to play your offspec too