Do I need to upgrade damage/armor on my old gear before I can Ascend it?

Since House of Wolves came out, it seems the need for (and provisioning of) Ascendant materials is all but removed.
All of the Legendary equipment I see on offering from the various class and faction vendors don't have the multi-step Damage and Defense upgrades which would normally require those materials. Additionally, the usual sources of Ascendant materials (legendary engrams, loot screens) appear to have gone away as well.
However, I still have some old equipment that wasn't fully upgraded yet. Rather than buy new equipment to replace it, I'd like to just top it all off. How do I go about doing that properly?
Do I still need to do the multi-step Damage/Defense upgrades for my old gear, or can I just directly Ascend them to their max stats when I get the Etheric Light and other resources needed?
Best Answer
You still need to do the multi-step upgrades. Ascending them will up the Max Light/Defense to the new levels, but you still have to upgrade your current gear to "max" regardless of if it's old max or new max.
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Awaken Chaos Era: How to Upgrade Gear and what to look for!
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