41 replies to this topic

[BeastmodeGM]

Quote

Making gold in Guild Wars 2 is easier than you may think and this article will teach you how to make plenty of it. With a few simple tips anyone can go from rags to riches without much difficulty. Remember that the in game economy is simple supply and demand just like an economy in real life. The Trading Post will provide you with a lot of market information you need to be a successful entrepreneur. It’s often said that another man’s trash is another man’s treasure and that still holds true in Guild Wars 2.

The list will continue to grow with your contribution. If you have any other lucrative tactics for making some gold just leave a comment here or on the site. I'm looking to make it a good source for people who struggle with making money and feel 'stuck' because they can't afford anything good.

Here is the article

Edited by BeastmodeGM, 02 August 2012 - 03:18 AM.

[Azure Skye]

I saw the demand for Vials of Weak Blood even as i was selling things in trading post and it was my first beta and i was new to everything. O.o I saw people in videos in youtube not picking stuffs up! Really? Not picking up stuff! *facepalm*

[Bilateralrope]

Comments on each section
- Crafting
Is the amount of gold someone will have after fighting and looting through the tutorial (then selling what you find) really that predictable ?
Also, affording the third gathering tool should be doable by the end of the first heart quest. Unless you'd prefer to get yourself more weapons first.

At about level 10 you will be able to use better gathering tools. You will need them for later areas, but I don't know if they give any advantage when you use them on in the starter areas.

You also forget the most important rule of gathering: Gather everything you can. If you don't want to use it, sell it.

- Trading post
You forget to mention that anyone playing the trading post should expect to only make a few coin per item (lots of people will really narrow the margins), meaning they will have to make their profit via volume of sales. Assuming the margins don't narrow so far that the tax removes any possible profit.

- Crafting
Crafting takes basically no time. Which means that any time an end result is more valuable than its ingredients, it will be mass produced at a profit until margins get too narrow.
If you're going to sell crafting material, I suggest selling it in whatever form you acquire it unless you are very skilled at spreadsheeting.

- Salvaging
Again, you'll be competing with spreadsheet warriors. Who will be willing to buy the things off you so they can salvage them. Thus you have two choices:
- Sell the item to them unsalvaged for a guaranteed amount
- Salvage it and risk losing the item. Spreadsheet warriors can make up for this risk by salvaging in volume, and by using whichever salvage kits gives the optimal expected profit (change of recovery*recoverd upgrade value - cost of salvage).
Unless you know which kit gives the best return for each item you plan to salvage, just sell the unsalvaged item.

On a general note: Pick up all the loot that drops for you, no matter how worthless. Even if it's just junk for the merchant, it's still going to make a lot of gold when you sell a lot of it.

Edited by Bilateralrope, 02 August 2012 - 03:21 AM.

[Deyadissa]

I'll tell you what makes the most gold: MONEY.


I spent $50 in beta on gold and I had so much gold that I could get anything I wanted 3 times over

Edited by Deyadissa, 02 August 2012 - 04:12 AM.

[Azure Skye]

Deyadissa, on 02 August 2012 - 04:12 AM, said:

I'll tell you what makes the most gold: MONEY.


I spent $50 in beta on gold and I had so much gold that I could get anything I wanted 3 times over

You bought gems? o.O I don't know, if i read that right. XD

[Swickster]

Azure Skye, on 02 August 2012 - 03:10 AM, said:

I saw the demand for Vials of Weak Blood even as i was selling things in trading post and it was my first beta and i was new to everything. O.o I saw people in videos in youtube not picking stuffs up! Really? Not picking up stuff! *facepalm*

You do gotta remember, that this was just a beta and people already knew that all the stuff was gonna get wiped, so many people didn't feel the need to pick stuff up. Even if it only took 5 seconds to do so, they wanted those 5 extra seconds to kill an extra mob or something idk. lol

[Bilateralrope]

Swickster, on 02 August 2012 - 04:50 AM, said:

You do gotta remember, that this was just a beta and people already knew that all the stuff was gonna get wiped, so many people didn't feel the need to pick stuff up. Even if it only took 5 seconds to do so, they wanted those 5 extra seconds to kill an extra mob or something idk. lol

Or it could be that they didn't notice the sparkly corpses.

Or they are the kind of person who only pick up the rare loot. Forgetting that large amounts of vendor junk to make a similar income are much quicker to acquire. The kind of person who wouldn't pick up any whites assigned to them in GW1 Deep/Urgoz even after people said that leaving loot lying around caused lag problems (I don't know if the lag story excuse was ever true).

There are a lot of people who have the attitude that if it's common loot, it's not worth picking up. That's only ever true in games where the loot can't be sold, or where inventory space is too small.

[Swickster]

Bilateralrope, on 02 August 2012 - 05:09 AM, said:

Or it could be that they didn't notice the sparkly corpses.

Or they are the kind of person who only pick up the rare loot. Forgetting that large amounts of vendor junk to make a similar income are much quicker to acquire. The kind of person who wouldn't pick up any whites assigned to them in GW1 Deep/Urgoz even after people said that leaving loot lying around caused lag problems (I don't know if the lag story excuse was ever true).

There are a lot of people who have the attitude that if it's common loot, it's not worth picking up. That's only ever true in games where the loot can't be sold, or where inventory space is too small.

also very true, hard to say which but im sure all the factors were involved at some point or another.

[Bilateralrope]

Swickster, on 02 August 2012 - 05:20 AM, said:

also very true, hard to say which but im sure all the factors were involved at some point or another.

As am I.

I think the most helpful guide to making money would be:
- Loot everything.
- Gather everything, with a discussion on which tools are the most profitable choice for each area. I think higher quality tools give better results from low level resource nodes (why else would mystic tools exist ?), but I'm not sure.
- A detailed guide on how to buy stuff you want and sell junk for the best price.

[FateAnomaly]

Those sparkly corpses can easily be missed in the heat of battle. Especially those underwater battles.

[ulrich mourneblade]

Buying low and selling high isn't quite so simple. You need to watch for daily/weekly patterns in demand (crafting mats will sell better at peak times and at weekends for example) to maximize profitability

[Alex Dimitri]

AH trading will yield huge sums of gold, of course people will need some knowledge from economy to make it work. Plus one more thing from my view angle i never level crafting on beginning of the game just collect stuff and resell then after entire market is formed i pick most profitable branch, that and a lot of free time is a guarantee of huge income !

[Vent]

It's still very early to make gold farming guides. The demand on items won't be the same, well at least it will change a lot a week after release. Besides these methods are all common sense.

[ulrich mourneblade]

Alex Dimitri, on 02 August 2012 - 09:04 AM, said:

AH trading will yield huge sums of gold, of course people will need some knowledge from economy to make it work. Plus one more thing from my view angle i never level crafting on beginning of the game just collect stuff and resell then after entire market is formed i pick most profitable branch, that and a lot of free time is a guarantee of huge income !

You can level all professions on one character. Might as well pick 2 and go from the start.

[Alex Dimitri]

Yes sure i can but that`s a thing everybody will, so there will be quite a "hunt" for materials and chance to make some fast cash just by gathering and reselling.Sure i will max out some crafting, but picking a right one on start is kind of lottery !

[Jairyn]

Before I understood that "Deposit All Collectables" even existed, I was skipping nodes left and right because I "didn't want to waste the space." I think knowledge of that command (available from the cogwheel options icon in the too right if your bags) is one of the most important bits of information for a new player.

[Linfang]

Deyadissa, on 02 August 2012 - 04:12 AM, said:

I'll tell you what makes the most gold: MONEY.


I spent $50 in beta on gold and I had so much gold that I could get anything I wanted 3 times over

Same here, a little more then I expected. I only spend 300 gems but for the time I made working in game to make money verses the money I make irl to simply cash in money it looks like for starter characters that I will be spending all my gems on gold conversion.

[GhostBoy]

If you are just looking to make money, be careful not to waste your time farming for mats at the early levels. Like practically all MMOs, prices and rewards go up as you climb in level, so at the onset the best thing you could probably do to get richer is to get further up the levels. Events are your best bet here, as they reward both XP and are one of the better sources of direct gold. Time spent hugging walls looking for Ore Deposits will not do much, though of course I'm not saying you shouldn't harvest any nodes that are in your path. Yet, unless you are able to manipulate the market, you'll never strike it rich selling copper ore, jute scraps and the rest of it. Fine Materials (Totems, Bones, Blood etc) could still fetch a bit though, if you are not using it yourself. Overall crafting from day one is going to be an expense, so unless you want to do it because you enjoy it, consider holding off until you can afford to buy the low level mats, and the rest of the world has had time to gather zillions of ore and place it on the TP.

Some of the cooking materials are only available from certain karma merchants. If you find one of those, you could spend some karma and sell them on through the Trading Post. Since they require knowing where the merchant is, they should fetch a decent price due to low supply.

If you try to make money on the TP, patience is paramount. Be sure you observe the prices for a while before you jump in. Having a good grasp of what something is really worth is key to not losing money on what might look initially like a good deal. Start the game by getting some buying power first though, like through events. Not only are they the meat of the game, but your earnings in trade are usually proportional to what you are able to invest. You gotta have money to make money, as the saying goes.

Generally I would just advise people not to panic over gold. Do events and hearts for the first ten-ish levels and don't buy more stuff than you really need (and use karma where you can), and you should easily be covered for expenses (including the trait manual at level 11). Once you move on to the next zone, rewards will start going up and you can begin to consider funding your other ventures.

[Sixpax]

Here are a couple of tips I didn't see (maybe I missed them):

1) Sometimes it's better to salavage armor/weapon drops than to sell them on the Trading post.  For instance, I noticed a lot of the low level blue gear was selling pretty cheap (like say 20c or less) on the TP, but salvaging it usually gave me 2 or 3 mats which sold for 15c each.

2) This tip isn't so much about making money but rather saving money.  Put in bids for things you need on the Trading Post rather than buying them outright.  For instance, I could often get crude salvage kits for 20c by putting in a bid rather than buying them from a merchent for 32c.  And 8 slot bags were going for 2s but I was able to get some for 1.5s (or less) by bidding.  Even equipment I wanted that was going for 2 or 3 silver I could get for about half the price if I didn't mind waiting.

[NunMuffin]

Me and friend during Guild Wars 1 set up an Althea's Ashes business! I used to know somebody who farmed them all day every day, and I bought about 200 at a time at about 20 gold each, then sold them on for about 300! I used to make 20k a day because people were lazy, and this was at level 12. Essentially it comes down to the most basic and simple of MMO money making systems; farming and selling. Simply go around, or find somebody who will sell you stuff cheap and in bulk, and then sell it on to merchants, or preferably, to players!

[Eqo]

I thought about collecting extra quest items (comparable to the Althea's Ashes in GW1) but all those items in GW2 are soulbound, so you can't use it on alts or sell it to other characters.

[caveslug]

GhostBoy, on 02 August 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

If you are just looking to make money, be careful not to waste your time farming for mats at the early levels. Like practically all MMOs, prices and rewards go up as you climb in level, so at the onset the best thing you could probably do to get richer is to get further up the levels.

Just to touch on this, I left a certain mmo last year. And one of the most expensive ores on the market was copper and tin / bronze, Not end game ore or metal. But the stuff from the starting zones, Never doubt how lazy people can be.
Also some people love to ignore crafting till end game, then just buy all the mats they need. And I can see this being the case in GW2, with people being able to buy gems and get gold.

[Umbradomo]

caveslug, on 02 August 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

Just to touch on this, I left a certain mmo last year. And one of the most expensive ores on the market was copper and tin / bronze, Not end game ore or metal. But the stuff from the starting zones, Never doubt how lazy people can be.
Also some people love to ignore crafting till end game, then just buy all the mats they need. And I can see this being the case in GW2, with people being able to buy gems and get gold.

Sometimes it's not just being lazy. People may either make a new alt or choose to change a crafting profession and don't want to spend the time farming becuase they have tons of cash on hand. Some may do both farm some and buy what they need for a new level and would rather stay in a major city crafting and training then out gathering the final ore they need for a new level.
There is outright lazy and then there is a time versus cash matter.

[BeastmodeGM]

Thanks for all the feedback, i will be updating the article with some of your input. Any other feedback is welcome.

[GhostBoy]

caveslug, on 02 August 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

Just to touch on this, I left a certain mmo last year. And one of the most expensive ores on the market was copper and tin / bronze, Not end game ore or metal. But the stuff from the starting zones,

Umbradomo, on 02 August 2012 - 04:45 PM, said:

Sometimes it's not just being lazy. People may either make a new alt or choose to change a crafting profession and don't want to spend the time farming becuase they have tons of cash on hand.

Even gems from gold needs someone to buy the gems with cash first, but to that specific tip: it is meant for the first week or so of the game. Eventually lower level mats for alts will start to become more valuable, but it's not the first week where everyone is gathering tier 1 and 2 mats and nothing else.

I would still not go for the tier 1 and 2 stuff even at the point when prices start going up, because I think the profits are still going to be better a bit further up the line, though not necessarily best at the highest tier.

[pamelakd]

Deyadissa, on 02 August 2012 - 04:12 AM, said:

I'll tell you what makes the most gold: MONEY.


I spent $50 in beta on gold and I had so much gold that I could get anything I wanted 3 times over

And there's our proof. The best way to make money in game is to have money irl. Gem store not an advantage my ass...

[GhostBoy]

pamelakd, on 03 August 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

And there's our proof. The best way to make money in game is to have money irl. Gem store not an advantage my ass...

Proof you say?

1. How much gold did that person have?
2. How quickly could they have gotten an comparable amount of gold in the game?
3. What was it they wanted to do 3 times over, and how expensive was it?
4. Was this in BWE3 (I assume so), and were their actions in any way influenced by the knowledge that they would get the gems back?
5. Do we have more than 1 statement confirming that gems is the best way to gain gold
6. On that topic, define best? I'm sure we can find a few out there who would consider "without paying extra cash" a somewhat important characteristic in being the best
7. Over how long are we talking in terms of making money? A cash buy isn't renewable. Investing in the trade post can be, if you reinvest some of your earnings.

I don't dispute that a gem buy can be a fast way to get a load of gold. That is sorta the point, and that is a good thing, since we need people to do this, to enable those without an inclination to spend extra cash to have access to gem shop items. In that vein, who gained the bigger advantage in the transaction: the person who got a load of gold, or the person who got a load of gems? Certainly gems could easily be turned back into possibly more gold, by f.inst buying a mini pack and selling those. Perhaps those 50$ worth of gems could have become even more, had the player been smarter about it. We shall never know.

What we do know, however, is that one off the cuff comment is hardly proof of anything.

[Zyreon]

I also bought gems in BWE3. The reason i did this in the beta was that i would get all the gems back, so i could test out the "cool" stuff, just to see how they were. The rest of my gems, i sold for gold. And i got ALOT, aprox 5gold/1000gems.

For those of you who say/think that buying gems is "buy to win": All i could do with the gold was buy items you could have got from a mob, just to have 1 or 2 more dmg pr hit. And at max level, that doesn't even apply at all (because of horizontal scaling).

Although, i didn't buy gear, i bought dyes, ALOT of dyes.Just to see if i found anything cool.

[Bilateralrope]

pamelakd, on 03 August 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

And there's our proof. The best way to make money in game is to have money irl. Gem store not an advantage my ass...

You're assuming that having more gold gives an advantage in Guild Wars. Please prove this assumption.

WvW siege equipment was affordable at the end of BWE2. It's only going to get more affordable as people reach level 80. So more gold won't help there.

For character equipment, I had no trouble getting appropriately statted gear for my level in BWE3. So gold just gives access to the better looking stuff.

[masterloup]

pamelakd, on 03 August 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

And there's our proof. The best way to make money in game is to have money irl. Gem store not an advantage my ass...

I made 6 gold in BWE3 + last stress test without buying gems. You know what i could buy with 6 golds? everything

Edited by masterloup, 04 August 2012 - 10:35 PM.