I need help understanding the gear progession in gw2!

[Suffux]

I'm very confused about gear in this game, is BiS (best in slot) gear easy to get at max level, So farming for gear is just to get better looking gear? Also do i need to focus on upgrading my gear while leveling? Please someone explain the gear to me for gw2!!!

[papajohn4]

While leveling you earn Karma points which you can use to buy/upgrade gear from karma vendors. At max level you can craft the best gear or you can earn it via dungeon tokens, but very easy. Although the gear upgrades are not dramatical. A level 80 rare (blue gear in wow) and a level 80 exotic (purple gear in wow) has not so much difference. Also there isn't item levels. Exotic gear is one, there is is not x tiers of exotic gear that make you stronger as you gain higher tiers. So typically there is no gear progression with the traditional meaning and there isn't gear resets. You can play one month for example. stop paly for 2-3 months and come back and still be at the same level of gear as others..this is what I have understood so far.

[Jovanaar]

What's there to be confused about, when you travel you can get gear from enemies or buy them from various armorsmiths. When you hit level 80 there is no "gear-progression", meaning you don't have to do high-end dungeons to get better level 80 gear.

HOWEVER.


A level 80 Masterwork item is always better than a level 80 Fine item.

A level 80 Rare item is better than both of those and a level 80 Exotic item is even better with the highest being Legendary.


There is no direct best in slot item but some items just match your way of playing better than others.

For instance, one item has more strength but less vitality than the other item, which has more vitality and less strength.

[Deleted]

When you hit level 80 there is no "gear-progression"

Well there is, cause you're looking to upgrade to Exotic gear, which isn't just handed to you.

[Deleted]

What's there to be confused about, when you travel you can get gear from enemies or buy them from various armorsmiths. When you hit level 80 there is no "gear-progression", meaning you don't have to do high-end dungeons to get better level 80 gear.

HOWEVER.


A level 80 Masterwork item is always better than a level 80 Fine item.

A level 80 Rare item is better than both of those and a level 80 Exotic item is even better with the highest being Legendary.


There is no direct best in slot item but some items just match your way of playing better than others.

For instance, one item has more strength but less vitality than the other item, which has more vitality and less strength.

The term "better" needs an asterisk.

Just because it has a higher quality, it doesn't necessarily have the stats you're looking for to suit your playstyle. For example, while playing a Condition-heavy Necromancer, chances are you'll prefer a Fine staff with +Condition Damage over a Masterwork staff with +Precision.

[zito]

Just to touch up on what blood said.

Gear progression isn't about the stat slops. All max gear has the same ratio of stats. Like one piece will have 100 vitality and 50 toughness and another piece will have 50 vitality and 100 toughness.

You customize your stats to your build, it never grows in power. And since there is an endless amount of builds you can switch to you will require multiple sets of gear to make sure you have the right stats for the right job. Then the rareitys are unique visual skins. With Legendary having the most rare skin you will find for your weapons/armour, people will at you and say "damn I never seen that weapon skin before he must of worked his ass off for it" instead of "damn that sword has nice stats".

This is the gear progression in GW2

[Allanon the Mystic]

Basically, with what Bloodhunter said, gear is horizontal progression, where things are slight upgrades and you find 'better looking gear or slight upgrades', instead of vertical, WoW and other MMOs use a vertical system of 'tiers' that become better and better every tier and make the tiers before them irrelevant.

[Cherrybat]

I thought Exotic and Legendary weapons are basicly the same having the same base stats, but legendary weapons being a lot more cool looking and relatively hard to obtain, essentially being very rare weapon skins for your Exotic weapons of choice. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[zito]

I thought Exotic and Legendary weapons are basicly the same having the same base stats, but legendary weapons being a lot more cool looking and relatively hard to obtain, essentially being very rare weapon skins for your Exotic weapons of choice. Correct me if i'm wrong.

You are right, blood just left out a few words :>

[Deleted]

I find this guide very useful: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/...d-you-updated/

Here is summary of it:
- All level 80 gear is not the same
- Exotic Gear is the max level gear in terms of stats (equal to legendaries)
- PvE gear is designed by breaking up the stats of the PvP 798/569/569 amulet and putting it back on gear
- Exotic gear at level 80 has 13% better stats than a Rare 80 item
- All level 80 exotic gear will have the same "total attribute" points but different gear will have different attribute allocations e.g one exotic glove is 34/24/24 in power/precision/vitality while another is 34/24/24 in toughness/vitality/healing
- The four confirmed ways of obtaining exotics are: dungeon tokens, WvW, crafting and the mystic forge. There may be other ways.
- There are at least 8 crafted exotic sets that require globs of ectoplasm.
- Exotic gear can take a long time to get (44+ dungeon runs or 75+ WvW hours) and this is presumably to offer more desirable stats and skins compared to the crafted sets.

[Deleted]

What's there to be confused about, when you travel you can get gear from enemies or buy them from various armorsmiths. When you hit level 80 there is no "gear-progression", meaning you don't have to do high-end dungeons to get better level 80 gear.

HOWEVER.


A level 80 Masterwork item is always better than a level 80 Fine item.

A level 80 Rare item is better than both of those and a level 80 Exotic item is even better with the highest being Legendary.


There is no direct best in slot item but some items just match your way of playing better than others.

For instance, one item has more strength but less vitality than the other item, which has more vitality and less strength.

Colors, always colors.
They chase me everywhere!
Damn you, colors!