Article: Elite Armor vs. Standard Max Armor: Is Elite Armor Worth It?

You finally get to Marhan’s Grotto with your ranger who already has max armor. You take a look at the max armor and you see 60K FOR ARMOR! You start questioning if you REALLY want to spend 60 platinum on armor that has exactly the same stats as the one you are currently wearing. The only thing different is the look. What do you do?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Some people just want to so that they look good while killing or even make it into a status symbol. After all, Elite armor is supposed to be for the best of the best of players (however, as we all know, the elite armor is no longer that elite with how easy it is to get runs from point A to point B). However, there is no difference between your standard max armor and the elite armor. The stats are the same so all that you’re paying for is design. One can argue that in this case, it’s not worth the gold especially since you’re just going for looks and there’s no armor, health, or energy boost. So why bother to buy it?

What most people ignore is the Hall of Monuments. I can hear those frugal people saying “So what?” however, it just might be worth it when you hear that the Hall of Monuments will be involved in Guild Wars 2. Currently, what’s being said is that you will be able to use the elite armor, provided that you have it in the Hall of Monuments. Thinking about this, this may just be if it means giving you a head start in Guild Wars 2. Think about it.

The other thing to take into consideration is will the armor really cost you the 60K? Most armors require rare materials such as deldrimor steel, vellum, damask, and ectos. As many of us may have seen, most of those which I have named are not cheep. So let’s say that you’re going for the Elementalist Obsidian Armor. This armor takes 105 ectos, 35 deldrimor steel, 350 cloth, 105 obsidian shards. Since Ectos usually are bought, unless you plan on farming hard mode a lot, you will be spending 525 plat for just the ectos alone. So having more than enough gold to make sure you can get the armor as well as having the materials may answer this question for the time being.

However, it may just be worth it, especially if you find that you have not only used up all of your slots and have beaten all of the campaigns with every single character and you just have a ton of gold piling up. Then what are you going to do with your gold? Give it to your fellow guildies? Maybe. Give it to strangers? Probably not. So why not use it to show that you are an elite player.

So when looking at potentially getting elite armor, just remember, it may be worth getting it if you think of it as you’re getting ahead in Guild Wars 2. Try to get at least one set if you can just to throw into the Hall of Monuments for the future however, if you find that you don't have enough gold in your bank to provide the necessary armor that your characters need, then you might want to wait and not get the elite armor. However, never put the idea of getting at least one set of elite armor for your characters out of your mind.