Making Money in Guild Wars

Halonic

Halonic

Member
To establish my credentials to those that are new to our guild.........I have 983k in storage. Each of my 4 characters has 30k "walking around" money. I have 50 Ectos, 105 Rubies, 105 Sapphires plus too many other uber items to list.

Got your attention? How do I do it? I could write all day about this but I'll try to keep it from getting too lengthy (if it does I will continue on another day).

#1...Persistence. I play way too many hours each day. You can make money in Guild Wars almost accidentally. One thing for sure is you can't make money if you are not playing.

#2...Know the pricing and demand market. You would be surprised how much time I spend in district one of Lion's Arch, War Camp and/or Ascalon City just watching the screen roll by. I don't know how many months its been since I typed in a "WTS". I watch particularly for the WTB letters to scroll past. If I have a Razorstone for sale and I've seen 4 people post WTS for 45k.......when I see a WTB I immediately whisper and try to sell for 40k. I never take offers. I never give offers. I give a price or ask for a price. If the seller says "Plz offer"....I just say no thanks.

#3...Buy within reason. Do you really just have to have that weapon for 100k? Is that armor really worth all that cash? I have regular Droknar's armor on all 4 of my characters. Keep a healthy reserve of cash in storage. Set you a minimum to keep in storage and don't fall below it for any reason.

#4...Farming versus missions/quests. I learned long ago in my Charr farming days that I farmed at least one round at the start of every gaming day (preferrably more) before ever even considering missions or quests.

#5...Online auctions sites. I have used rpgtraders many times. Guru also has a big auction site. These sites auction GW items for GW money (no real money). Generally speaking you can buy items, weapons, and upgrades cheaper than you can in-game. My first big money item (way back when I was poor) was a composite bow of fortitude that wasn't even max damage. It had a +30 fortitude grip. I bought it for 15k, held my breath, expert salvaged it......and sold that +30 grip for 85k. Two days later I bought another +30 grip for 60k and sold it 5 minutes later for 80k.

#6...Keys. Don't buy them. I do because I have money to burn. They are not worth it. Only use a key when you get that key in a drop and then only use it on a known gold chest (never a purple one). How do you know if its gold? You watch someone else open it. If they get a gold item then every item from that chest will be gold and vice versa for purple. If no one opens the chest then you do likewise.

#7... High dollar items. I keep returning to the new Underworld. There are no green items there that I need for any of my characters. Without the greens I could make just as much money in a shorter time farming Grenths Footprint. What keeps me going back? Victos Bulwark. I want to sell one of those puppies for 100k. Instant solvency for any of our poorer folks. Thats why I say that Sorrows farming is the best in the game right now. Where else can you go and get drops semi-regularly for 40k items? When I got home from work today I did three things......I farmed new UW first (got a worthless green). I farmed Oro then FA. I got a Razorstone in Oro and a Willcrusher in FA. I WILL get a Victos Bulwark sooner or later. I WILL sell it...not use it. Persistence always pays off in Guild Wars.

Ask any questions you may have and I will try to answer.
 
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Great post!

First, I didn't know chests could be opened multiple times. They close up after somebody opens it?

Second...I'll just have to try everything you suggest. :)
 
All good info, but in my experience, the chests drops are random. As such just because a purple drops for someone else, that does not mean a gold wont for you or someone else. I have on many occasions gotten a purple after someone else has gotten a gold and a gold when they got purple. Granted when ID'd they are usually garbage but it is still random. But chests as you said are so not worth it unless you find the key. Otherwise it's a waste of money plain and simple.
 
Let me clarify about chests. A chest can be opened multiple times. It may not be opened more than once by any one person. If there are 8 people in your party the chest has the potential for being opened eight times.

My experience with gold versus purple drops from chests are limited to Miner's Chests and Shiverpeak Chests. These chests NEVER have gold mixed with purple. When a party approaches a chest usually everyone will stand around waiting for someone to open it. If a purple item comes out it is annouced as "purple chest" and no one else uses a key on it. If a gold item drops it is announced as a "gold chest" and others will then use their key on it. EVERY drop from that chest will be gold. There have been NO exceptions.

I have literally opened hundreds of chests...(probably closer to 1000 than 100) and have never seen purple and gold come from the same chest. However my knowledge of chests is limited to Miners and Shiverpeak chests. Perhaps golds and purples ARE mixed in the lower level chests. I have no knowledge of these.

The best drops for me so far have come from Miners Chests.
 
I haven't gotten any green drops in SF, with my Monk, in a long while. Just got a shadestone with my Necro. But I heard, in-game, that Anet made a change so that the more a "toon" farms an area, the fewer the significant drops. Does anyone know if this is true?
 
Draken said:
I haven't gotten any green drops in SF, with my Monk, in a long while. Just got a shadestone with my Necro. But I heard, in-game, that Anet made a change so that the more a "toon" farms an area, the fewer the significant drops. Does anyone know if this is true?
Click to expand...

If memory serves, that change deals more with a particular session than overall times.

Say if I farm the griffins outside of Augury Rock, 15 times, by the 8th or 9th, the drops are either nothing, or a single scale or something silly like that.
 
Continued...............

#8...Learn which upgrade items are worth more. +30 Fortitudes are primo, +5 Insightful Staff Heads, 10% Furious, 10% Sundering, and 20% Enchanting are all upgrades that bring good money and are easily sellable (there are probably others but these are the ones that come to mind).

Know whether a rune is worth selling to the rune trader BEFORE you salvage it out.

#9...To salvage or not to salvage? Very generally speaking it is better to just sell your drops outright rather than salvage. The exceptions are the high end weapons upgrades mentioned in #8 and certain crafting items. I suggest that if you have your heart set on Droknar's Druids armor for your Ranger (just an example) that you find out what it takes to craft it. Then salvage only items that yield that crafting need...sell the rest.

#10... To ID or not to ID? Let me qualify this by saying that I have never bought or sold an unidentified item. Suffice it to say that it is a roll of the dice either way with unIDed items. Like gambling, the odds are stacked against you.

#11...Charr Carvings. Hate em? Only three gold each? I like charr carvings. When charr hide farming your pack tends to fill up too quickly. Charr carvings stack....they only take up one slot in your pack. 3 gold each? Think again. Take those carvings to collector Louise Haup in the town of Piken Square. She will give you a weapon for every three charr carvings. Take these weapons straight to the merchant and sell them. The merchant will give you 15 gold per weapon which means you actually got 5 gold for each charr carving. Take care of your gp and the platinums will take care of themselves.

#12...Ever been in a group where everyone died but you and they all left? Backtrack where you have already killed all the baddies and fill up your pack with stuff they neglected to pick up. Thats free money laying there on the ground. I actually got a Brohn's Holy Rod doing this in Sorrow's Furnace.

#13....If you are in a group of guildies and you don't want your drops please pick them up and drop them on the ground so that someone else can have them.
 
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#14... I think this is a valid point = If you have a warrior solo build, allow your farming to get quicker with smart eles (smart = knowledege of agro) that can spike/nuke the mobs. sure you have to share but you can do 2x as many runs in the same amount of time
 
Lol....#15 is probably right.

#16...If you buy and sell ectos or rubies or fur squares or whatever your commodity is, don't sell them all. Always keep one in your pack. At least daily go to the rare material trader or material trader and get a quote on a price for that item. See what he is buying and selling for. You can't get a quote without one in your pack.

Commodity prices don't vary much anymore. However there is still an occasional spike that an observant player can take advantage of. Buy low sell high. Also, other players are not so observant. For example, you just got a quote and the rare material trader will buy your ectos for 7k. You see someone spam WTS Ectos for 6.5k. Buy all he has, take them to the rare material trader and you make a quick profit of 500gp per ecto.

Check prices regularly and you will quickly recognize any spikes in prices.
 
Sometimes its better to be lucky than good. Way back in the pre-green days I wanted to buy a 10/10 sundering bow string. This item went in the 30k price range. I spammed WTB in Ascalon City. One guy said I have one. I asked what price and he told me 150gp. I bought that as quick as I could get to him.

The bow that I use most is a non-descript collector's bow. It looks like a Longbow but has the refire rate and accuracy of a Shortbow. It has +15% damage while health is greater than 50% and a requirement of 9. I put that 10/10 Sundering (150gp) string on it and a +30 Fortitude grip. Compare it to Drago's flatbow. EXACTLY the same stats.

There are other collector weapons that have great stats too. I can help you get some if you want. Be aware that you cannot salvage upgrades from collector items. That 150gp sundering string will forever be with that collector's bow of mine. I can't get it back.
 
soo....

what do you do with all the money once you have it?

Meaning, we learned from you all the secrets to saving money (without buying things you don't really need), and earning money... but what is the money for in the end?
 
I'm hoping that new armor will tickle my fancy in the new game update. Maybe there will be new weapons or upgrades. Either way I am in position to buy quickly. In other words, hopefully I will be one of the first to have some of the new stuff.

I splurge occasionally even now. My warrior's sword has 190k invested in it.

The money allows me to endulge myself now where I couldn't before I got so much. For example, I reached a point where I wanted a Monk Holy Rod with +5 energy >50 health. I couldn't find one anywhere. I spammed WTB for days with no response. Finally I ran across someone in Lion's Arch who had just gotten one in a drop. He said one of his guildies told him he might get 40k for it. Well we haggled and he would not asccept my offer of a lower amount. It had been 10 minutes since I talked to him and I finally thought "what the heck".......I bought it for 40k. I still have it and never customized it in case I wanted to resell it. The funny thing is I never even use it any more.

The challenge now is to see how quick I can refill the coffers when I do buy something. I give lots of weapons away to guildies also. Sometimes I help folks buy stuff. I thought about a standing offer to buy anyone's armor of choice when they went from pre-sear to post-sear with their first ever character. We are so late in the game now that I don't know if any would even qualify for that offer or not.

Just like real life.............there is always something to spend it on. I just have more of it in GW than I do in real life.
 
..and by next months allowance I will have $406.54 once my mom pays me back 203 bucks.

I love it when you're young and don't have income tax :p
 
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