16 replies to this topic

[deancolt45]

Right, so today I decided I would master a discipline on guild wars. Been reading a lot of posts from people that have claimed to make lots of cash from doing so. I invested 20 gold into doing the 400 levels, I did not expect to get any back and probably will not get much if any. Although now that I am here, clearly there is no money at all to be made. The people claiming that they do so might well not be lying, but then again, how would we know. From my point of view the economy in this game is a train wreck currently, perhaps because it is still in its infancy after going live, but I am utterly sick of trusting people online with advice, or ingame to invest a lot of time and effort, just to find out they were lying. I am sure I will get several posts claiming that this person or that person makes 50 gold a day, but do you know what... you don't. I am not here to moan just I would like one of the people that apparently does make so much money do just give away ONE of their secrets, the reason being is because frankly I do not think they exist and asking me to do more research into a futile cause is not going to change the fact that you can not back up your words.

[Just Horus]

Meh, that's GW2 currently for you. If you want to make decent money you either have to farm till your eyes bleed or find areas in the market to make money off of (and pray to whatever deity/object/etc you believe in that few others find it).

You have to realize, the market is a zero-sum game; the only way you are going to make money off of it is if others lose money from it. Helping others, to a point obviously, will only hurt your bottom line.

Edited by Horus Moonlight, 21 December 2012 - 03:19 AM.

[Vysander]

Well, you used more then double the gold it should take to lvl any crafting to 400.....

And the most simplistic way (and slow) of making money through crafting is selling components. i.e. sword hilts, sword blades, etc.

Edited by Vysander, 21 December 2012 - 04:43 PM.

[runemima]

but... we are supposed to donate those to the rebuilding of the lion's arch fountain!!!

[Alex Dimitri]

Yup crafting sucks, even if you master discipline cost of mats you don`t have (and you will be missing something always) will be so high that buying stuff will be a less of a hassle !

runemima, on 21 December 2012 - 05:26 PM, said:

but... we are supposed to donate those to the rebuilding of the lion's arch fountain!!!

i will donate in exact proportion that game gives drops (better quality) to me.....in other words NONE !

[turbo234]

20 gold? it should only cost you 5-10. But the only reason people do it nowadays is to level fast or for legendary weapons.

[Humungous]

It can turn a profit. I've gone to 400 nearly 30 times total, split across every discipline except cooking, and I've never lost money by the time I hit 400. Typically, I'm up 2-8g by the end (one it all clears the TP, which can be a couple of days).

[Gilles VI]

I have around 15% profit margin for my armorsmithing stuff I trade in, often I buy materials for ~100g and sell em for ~120g or so.

And if you paid 20g to lvl a crafting discipline you really don't know what you're doing.

Edited by Gilles VI, 21 December 2012 - 06:44 PM.

[Humungous]

Horus Moonlight, on 21 December 2012 - 03:14 AM, said:

Meh, that's GW2 currently for you. If you want to make decent money you either have to farm till your eyes bleed or find areas in the market to make money off of (and pray to whatever deity/object/etc you believe in that few others find it).

You have to realize, the market is a zero-sum game; the only way you are going to make money off of it is if others lose money from it. Helping others, to a point obviously, will only hurt your bottom line.

The market is not zero-sum. It's in fact a NEGATIVE game. Every transaction means 15% of the $$ is sucked into the virtual abyss.

This is because $$ appears out of thin air (monster spawns). So they try to balance by having artificial $$-sinks. TP players are even more of a leech in this virtual economy than their real-world counterparts Which is why my $$-making methods are based on crafting: at least I'm providing a service (my hassle in making the thing you want for your $$). The trick is to optimize your methods. You actually have to be FAST at the crafting mini-game Or you have to write a program to find the good crafting markets that spidy misses.

Personally, I've done both. The best crafting markets I've found do take actual in-game skill to really benefit from, as in you have to organize yourself well so that you can get through the crafting job very fast, or it's not that great of $$.

This is why I've currently only made about 450g over the course of my playing, despite being able to make 40g per hour! It's boring as hell I do it when I'm trapped under my beautiful, sleeping baby.

[Reason on Cooldown]

Perhaps that means the economy is working.  I don't think ANet wants people to make a lot of gold (easily).  So whether by design or by chance, I'm sure ANet is fine with that.  But there's a simple way to make a lot of gold......buy gems.  Sell.

I didn't say it was a good idea, but simple and sure fire.  And probably a more acceptable way in the eyes of ANet (Hey, it's business.  I don't fault them for that).

40g/hr!!??!?!!  I know I haven't sat down and tried to find a way to farm gold (yet).  But if I could make 40g/wk I'd be doing cartwheels. lol

Have a day!

[Alex Dimitri]

If Anet only wanted to make cash, they could have gone for subscription model, if gems are place to look for in game income then

40g per hour......really.....then you are true GW2 Guru......make this forum give you back your rightful name !

[Reason on Cooldown]

Alex Dimitri, on 21 December 2012 - 08:13 PM, said:

If Anet only wanted to make cash, they could have gone for subscription model, if gems are place to look for in game income then

No, I said gems were a way to make a lot of income easily and reliably.

Sure you can make money in this game, but it takes time and effort.  And I think that's the way ANet wants it.  They don't want the game populated with tycoons.  If you want fistfuls of cash, they expect you to work at it for a while.  Gems are just the shortcut.

At least that's the way I see it.

Have a day!

[Humungous]

Alex Dimitri, on 21 December 2012 - 08:13 PM, said:

40g per hour......really.....then you are true GW2 Guru......make this forum give you back your rightful name !

Lol, thanks

I don't know if or for how long the 40/g hour method will last. It's not an exploit in any form, nor is it a drain on the economy. It's just actually kind of hard to do, so many people probably would give up on it.

Market manipulators/speculators can beat 40g/hour, but they *drain* the economy! If you buy 1000g of a good and resell that same good for profit, you've just drained 150g out of the economy for *zero* benefit. I despise that stuff in RL so much that I can't get myself to do it even in a virtual economy.

My stuff is all crafting-driven, so I'm legitimately turning goods people don't want into goods that people do. I don't low-ball, and I don't gouge. Rather, I've gotten it all to be super efficient: I can craft so much so fast that I can turn great profit for my time. Even better, my prices are typically fairly low so that I can turn goods around quickly. I'm nearly always posting much below current lowest seller. It's cute when market manipulators who aren't paying attention buy me out, thinking they can flip the goods because there is a large gap between my prices and the next I end up posting more for the same price...

But it's boring, so I've not done a ton of it. There are many people in game with far, far more $$ than I have. It's really been a game for me: as soon as I get a method down and prove it out to myself, I look for something better. I do it when my baby is asleep on me at 4am and I need to leave the bedroom with her so the wife can sleep (smell of breastmilk = awake baby)

Edited by Humungous, 21 December 2012 - 09:09 PM.

[Alex Dimitri]

No pun intended in my post, but if i wanted to PLAY the market and spend time figuring out trade post and how to get cash from it i would be playing completely different game (some tycoon/management game).
I was in false hope of thinkin` that GW2 will be "casual" free game that allows people to advance in old fashioned style by just playing trough game with occasional "grind" to get certain harder to obtain things (something like GW1), but as it happens GW2 is nothing like it`s predecessor and adopts complete new way.....the way i don`t actually see as good one !

[deancolt45]

Guys I would like to start by saying that the above post was written in a drunken rage, not always the best time to convey a point, I was just angry and needed to vent. I had the intention of deleting it actually but it took like over a day for the mods to approve so I did assume it was not going to be posted. BUT, I am still somewhat unhappy, yes maybe I did level up the wrong way, but I sank about 40 gold in I would say now, which I have not had a return on (including the crafting of items that did not generate a profit), I left like 100 items on the TP, got some back but not even close. I followed a fairly reputable guide to level, the pwnuniversity one I think it was, so yes you can say I did it incorrectly, if that is so, write a guide. Show people a cheaper way then. Again apologies for my drunken rant, am over it, Armorsmithing can not generate a decent level of cash, perhaps coupled with other crafts it can and especially if you farm your own materials more than likely. But on its own, the economy is not at that point in my opinion. The one profitable thing I did find, which I was kind of making money on (and it was from GW Spidy), someone always jumps in and sells below the cost it takes to achieve it, to manipulate the market I can assume. So even if you find a loop, odds are its been covered or is only there because someone is going to force to out of the niche eventually.

[deancolt45]

The way I wrote the post was somewhat whingey and for that I apologise, I guess maybe I haven't done enough research into the market, that was true. But it seems that I am classed as a casual player, I play 40 hours a week, equal to a job yet because it is not 80, I am seemingly casual. I wanted this game to be fun and I would like to turn a profit if I invest a lot. It took me a long time to save all that gold and just because some power users can have that turnover in less than a day, does not mean that we all can. The bottom line is the economy is not at the point it should be, everything is a money sink in my personal experience. Feel free to disregard that point but it just won't change my opinion based on what I have experienced.

Edited by deancolt45, 26 December 2012 - 03:49 PM.

[Lucas Ashrock]

Just sharks and powersellers don't agree with your point, the reality after all.

Edited by Lucas Ashrock, 27 December 2012 - 06:57 AM.