Is 500 ectos a lot of ectos?

johnactor

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2006

Mo/Me

I saw a panda bid of 500 ectos on high end just now.

Is it easy to get ectos? I genuinely don't know, I don't farm UW. How long would it take a player to get 500 ectos and then blow it on one pet? I get that it's rare, I collect pets myself, but I currently have 100 ectos and it's taken ages. 500?

Guess it's one set I can't hope to own all of. C'est la vie.

ZenRgy

ZenRgy

Zookeeper

Join Date: Jul 2005

Australian Discussion Posse HQ - Glorious leader

҉ ̵̡̢̢̛̛̛̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟&#

N/E

Your methods determine how hard it is to obtain them.

But 500 ectos is a lot, I think their price can tell you that.

Wilk

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

And why would you waste your rl life for getting more ectos? Its just a game, if someone has panda good for him, I dont care. This game is just show off.

Hockster

Hockster

Banned

Join Date: Jul 2005

Depends who you ask. To 99% of GW players it's more than they'll ever see in a (game) lifetime. To the other 1% it's a downpayment.

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

I have 16 - I consider that to be an achivement.


500 ectos is something I expect I'll never have

cheeze123

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

that's a lot of ectos to spend. how about sharing some ecto's with me? *wink*
anyways, the most i had was... four

Redfeather1975

Redfeather1975

Forge Runner

Join Date: Sep 2006

Apartment#306

Rhedd Asylum

Me/

To me?
That is 499 ectos more than a lot.
Yeah, I've only gotten 1 ecto. And I didn't know what to do with it so I gave it to a friend. Crazy me.

arcanemacabre

arcanemacabre

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Feb 2006

North Kryta Province

Angel Sharks [As]

Heh. I've gone to the UW 4 times. 2 of those times we cleared the whole place, 1 time I went to get a spider, and the last time was trying out the trapper build. That's it. I managed to get 2 ectos as drops. I've acquired a handful of others through trading. That about sums up my experience with ectos

Honestly, I find the UW moderately fun the first time through. After that, it's extremeley boring, IMO. I give mad props to anyone with the determination to farm that many ectos, because man, that's gotta be eye-gouging. That many ectos were more than likely traded for, but even that takes waaaay more patience and determination than farming.

Then again, they could've just made that many from one or two very lucky trades, ya know, like selling a panda

Sagius Truthbarron

Sagius Truthbarron

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Animal Factory [ZoO]

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Redfeather1975
To me?
That is 499 ectos more than a lot.
Yeah, I've only gotten 1 ecto. And I didn't know what to do with it so I gave it to a friend. Crazy me.
I want one They is shiny I hears.

Malice Black

Site Legend

Join Date: Oct 2005

Nah they look like little drops of jelly IMO

Heh hit me up in game and I'll give you one

Etta

Etta

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

Mancland, British Empire

500 ectos for a mini panda?

What does it do? Run around and use it bamboo of death on all enemies? The panda should had been a normal pet in Factions anyway, rubbish I say!

Redfeather1975

Redfeather1975

Forge Runner

Join Date: Sep 2006

Apartment#306

Rhedd Asylum

Me/

I hears the Panda can look into your soul and reveal it's state in cryptic sayings...

It say....

'Dude, you is so poor now!'

and runs away.

I wish I had a mini Panda now.

lishi

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Etta
500 ectos for a mini panda?

What does it do? Run around and use it bamboo of death on all enemies? The panda should had been a normal pet in Factions anyway, rubbish I say!
its freaking rare. it was the prize for some tournament in asia. that mean about 20max around.

fenix

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

500 is alot, BUT, there's players (used to be many more, but most quit) with thousands of ecto. But as Hockster said, it's alot for most of the GW community.

Stixxx

Stixxx

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Belgium

most ecto's i ever had is 30 i think...i never cared about the UW much.
But yea, 500 ecto's is an impossible amount for most of us, and just a tip of the iceberg for others...

Etta

Etta

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

Mancland, British Empire

Quote:
Originally Posted by lishi
its freaking rare. it was the prize for some tournament in asia. that mean about 20max around.
Yeah I know they were given to some top Japanese guilds and some Taiwanese Guild as well. I think there are just under 150 in total, could be less. So yeah they're rare.

Still worth 500 ectos,only if it come with bamboo of death.

bungusmaximus

bungusmaximus

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

Guild Of Handicrafted Products [MaSS]

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Redfeather1975
I hears the Panda can look into your soul and reveal it's state in cryptic sayings...

It say....

'Dude, you is so poor now!'

and runs away.

I wish I had a mini Panda now.
rofl, theres something about your writing style, most of your posts make me chuckle :P
I always sell every ecto I got, as farming seems awfully dull to me, and I severely suck at it too. The times another would farm I spend on PvP, theres too much to do in this game already. 500 ectos, argh, much, soooo much...

Guildmaster Cain

Guildmaster Cain

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

Guildmistress Eve [Me], Guildmistress Azura [N], Guildmistress Azumi [A], Guildmistress Jaina [D]

Guildmaster Aeron [Rt], Arthas Ironfist [W], Guild: The Tyrian Templars [TTT]

Well, it certainly ain't pocket-change.

Consider it takes u about 1/2 an hour to get 1 ecto. So it would take 10 days and 10 hours to get that amount. But that would be 24-hrs of farming. So a more humanly answer would be: 1/4 of day gaming, which results in 41 days (6 hrs a day) and 4 hours. That would be 41+ days of ONLY farming and not playing the game. Just think what you could have achieved during that time, if it wasnt for that rotten Panda.

An obvious answer would be, the players that do buy Panda's have bought their ectos on Ebay, or used bot-farmers for it. 500 ectos ~ 5 million, and I think 1 million costs about 50 euro or more. So someone bought a Panda for rougly 250 euro's. AND ITS JUST PIXELS!

Ofcourse the buyer could have gotten 2 or 3 perfect crystalline swords during playing the game, but that would be EXTREMELY lucky or grinding.

Rockby Quickfoot

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2006

Raptor Five [Five]

Me/Mo

I'm like RedFeather up above. I've only ever found 1 Ecto and I ended up giving it away

Gun Pierson

Gun Pierson

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2006

Belgium

PIMP

Mo/

500 ectos are a lot to the average player, but once you get into solo or duo farm uw with 2 of your own accounts you'll get them pretty fast, like 10 ectos a day as a minimum. It will roughly take a month. I stopped doing this lately as I don't know what to buy. Considered buying a panda but the shape of the head in GW seems like a polar beer, while panda's have more of a big round head.



versus ...


or WOW panda:

jamal555

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2005

Oh man... there are ppl that still think that gaining ectos in yhis game is about uw farming...

no no no...

trading... trading and more trading...

it basically depends on how much time u spend ingame... and how observant u are...

and afcourse there will always be those rich ppl that were around in the days of trader bug... most of them dont play anymore but few that are still in the game... 500 is pocket change...

Gun Pierson

Gun Pierson

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2006

Belgium

PIMP

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by jamal555
Oh man... there are ppl that still think that gaining ectos in yhis game is about uw farming...

no no no...

trading... trading and more trading...
You mean the hassle of (power) trading? First you need a good amount of gold or ecto to start powertrading. Next you need to get rid off the stuff making profit. Takes way to long, can get 4 ecto's in one uw run if I'm lucky and that takes 15 minutes. No need to depend on other people or post things in the wts forum or spam in towns. Also for me the sport of farming the ectos is part of the fun, shooting the bull you know. But you wanne trade, fine no prob, I know it pays off too but it's not my style though, I like to play. The rush of killing 6 aatxes at a time and see an ecto drop.

fgarvin

fgarvin

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2005

To stay on topic and answer the OP's question...Yes, 500 Ecto is a lot of Ecto.

Off topic, but related: The vast majority of players who possess that amount of Ecto usually obtain them though trading. Simply buying low and selling high.

We have, and have had, a few players in my Guild who buy and sell items selling for 100k + 30-100e on a routine basis. It takes time and a effort to keep up with the market, which takes a great deal of in-game and offline time, and also a bit of luck to really do well playing the trading game, but it really is the fastest way to make a great deal of money.

Also, many players look at items that are selling well, and farm/collect those to make the money needed to purchase their Ecto. Try to horde items routinely used for armor when a new chapter is due to come out to make some money from players looking to craft new armor. A Guildie made a fortune when both Factions and Nightfall came out doing that. I forget the name, but he and a few other of my Guildies also made a fortune farming the Tusked Howler boss for his Green Paragon shield (30 shields x 40-60k = ~1.2mil)

Sorry for the tangent, but there are so many ways to make money in this game. It just takes time and effort… or a lucky drop

Henchman

Henchman

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2006

A cave in the Shiverpeaks

Mo/

Consider this:
Average farming can net you about 10~25k an hour (this is an estimation), depending on your style, luck, how good you are, and some other factors.
Lets assume that the current price of an ecto is 8k, and that you can make 24k an hour: that's 3 ectos an hour.
Therefore getting 500 ectos takes about 167 hours..
To me, thats a lot.
But the people who are willing to spend 500 ectos probably have more efficient ways of making money, so you can't really tell..

DRGN

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2005

In Memorium [iBot]

Mo/A

Yeah, 500 is a nice amount of ecto. The most I had at any one time was about 115 when I was on the fence about getting FoW. Came from doing a lot of 55/SS pre-NF. Then the NF AoE nerf came and everyone panicked and ecto prices went up so I sold off for like 9.5 each.

Power trading is a good money making method too, especially at the release of a new chapter. I remember thinking "HAX!" when I got a Luluh's Spear on day 1 with a hero/hench team. Sold it at auction for 85k. :P Yay inflation.

Not A Fifty Five

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

Creating guild

Mo/

Why 500 ectos is not a lot for some people (but 99.9% of people)

Farmer john makes a 55 and sells all his earnings on Ebay. Maybe like 100 ecto worth or something.

Former Bob, dave, kilroy etc (x1000) do the same or make bots to do it for them >.<

Ebayer Nale and others buy 1000 ectos

Non-ebayer Todd, Jill etc have 20 unique mini-pets out of a mini-pet pool of several hundred thousand.

However.. there are over hundred Ebayer's who want it, and since these ebayers have 1000 ectos and the demand/supply is extreme, price rockets to 500k.

Non-ebayer Todd and Jill now have 500 ectos

Jill, however, is a buyer/seller and uses these 500 ectos to make a % increase each day rather than a steady rate like ecto farmers, say 10%. Jill now makes 50 ectos a day just auctioning.

So in the end, Jill ends up making ectos easy, ebayers also make it easy, Todd has a quick boost, and poor ecto Farmer John makes 20 a day after hours of grind.


So basically, anyone with 500+ ectos is a either a Jill (buyer seller who received a boost in funds at one point, or farmed when AI for mobs was ridiculously low), Todd (One time boost in funds), or Nale (Ebayer). These make up maybe 1% of GW

The rest of the 0-500 ecto club are just regular farmers and players who get incredibly excited when they see a green drop (wherea a 500+ecto person e.g. gave victos axe when it was worth 50k as a tip to a friend for soloing Defend Devnravi as a tip becaus ehe had "three spare ones")

tknorris

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2006

The Kaizen Order [Kaiz]

N/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Guildmaster Cain
An obvious answer would be, the players that do buy Panda's have bought their ectos on Ebay, or used bot-farmers for it. 500 ectos ~ 5 million, and I think 1 million costs about 50 euro or more. So someone bought a Panda for rougly 250 euro's. AND ITS JUST PIXELS!

Ofcourse the buyer could have gotten 2 or 3 perfect crystalline swords during playing the game, but that would be EXTREMELY lucky or grinding.
*Sigh* I get so sick of seeing this. I have 250 ectos (and that's after just buying FOW armor for my ele 1 week ago) and I have NEVER (nor would I ever) ebay gold. I made most of my money green farming and in the Domain of Anguish (doesn't take long when Titan Gems go for 75K+ each). Saying every rich GW player ebays their gold is like saying every rich person in RL is a cheat. Just because you don't have it, doesn't mean it's not possible.

I should also say that relative to the rest of my guild I would be considered Middle Class. There are several members who have much more gold than I do.

wsmcasey

wsmcasey

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2005

Right behind you.

HeRo

W/Rt

Quote:
Originally Posted by johnactor
Is it easy to get ectos? I genuinely don't know, I don't farm UW.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnactor
but I currently have 100 ectos and it's taken ages.
I read these two statements and said to my self "WTF"???


Are you telling us that you traded for 100 ectos or bought 100 ectos from the merchant?? Ebay??


Exactly how did you aquire 100 ectos and never step foot in the UW. It just struck me funny that some one has 100 ectos yet they dont know if they are easy to get or not in UW. lol. You need to teach me your secrets!

Oh, and yes, 500 ectos are alot, and they only have like a 1% or 2% chance to drop in UW depending on the monsters your killing.

Div

Div

I like yumy food!

Join Date: Jan 2006

Where I can eat yumy food

Dead Alley [dR]

Mo/R

500 ectos at the current price of around 8-9k (selling) each would mean 4-4.5 mil gold to get. Consider that in the average higher end mission you do with other people, you get about 1k gold worth of drops and gold, it'll take a while to build up. Even previous troll farms were only about 2-3k-ish a run, unless you get a gold or really good item. However, certain places will let you get gold faster than others, and can rake up to ~40-50k an hour, which would mean 100+ hours of hardcore gold farming under the best conditions.

Yeah, it also makes me surprised how you don't understand the value of 500 ectos if you managed to have gotten 100 ectos already without farming UW...ebay is ftl

cthulhu reborn

cthulhu reborn

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2007

the Netherlands

W/Mo

500 ecto's is enough to buy pretty much any item in the game...that should tell you it's a lot.

The real point is, why would you sell something that is the trophy of a great achievement?
I don't get people winning a tournament and getting a prize only to sell it. I guess people today are more interested in cash flow than actual accomplishment...sad state of affairs if you ask me.

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

http://www.zooatlanta.org/animals_panda_cam.php4

Take that! > no amount of ectos can buy that

Divinus Stella

Divinus Stella

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2005

Wales

Steel Phoenix

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gun Pierson
You mean the hassle of (power) trading? First you need a good amount of gold or ecto to start powertrading. Next you need to get rid off the stuff making profit. Takes way to long, can get 4 ecto's in one uw run if I'm lucky and that takes 15 minutes. No need to depend on other people or post things in the wts forum or spam in towns. Also for me the sport of farming the ectos is part of the fun, shooting the bull you know. But you wanne trade, fine no prob, I know it pays off too but it's not my style though, I like to play. The rush of killing 6 aatxes at a time and see an ecto drop.
Im exactly the same, power trading is a valid method of getting cash but its no faster than farming.

Ive done trading before and whenever i see something going way too cheap il pick up on it, but farming seeing those little globs drop is a good feeling, ive farmed over 1500 ectos from just underworld runs in the past and i still do it when theres no pvp going on as its good fun and i get more satisfaction from the drops as ive earned them myself via hunting.

Priest Of Sin

Priest Of Sin

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

Sitting upon Kerrigan's Throne.

Live For The Swarm [ZERG]

Me/N

It's a flipping re-skinned Grizzly, wtf are you people doing wasting your money on that!

And yes, 500 ecto is ALOT... about a month's work there for a little thing that does nothing. At least armor protects you..

and the OP said he didn't FARM uw... that doesn't mean he's never been there. Perhaps he considers "farming" a place going solo or duo? Perhaps he goes in teams of 8, and if you did that it WOULD take ages. Don't jump to eBay so quickly, guys.

Etta

Etta

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

Mancland, British Empire

Yeah I was thinking the same thing! How did the OP get all that ectos and never farm in UW? The only other place that ectos drop is in the Tomb, and that's about as rare as raining rubies.

The Herbalizer

The Herbalizer

<3 Ecto

Join Date: Jul 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by jamal555
Oh man... there are ppl that still think that gaining ectos in yhis game is about uw farming...

no no no...

trading... trading and more trading...

it basically depends on how much time u spend ingame... and how observant u are...

and afcourse there will always be those rich ppl that were around in the days of trader bug... most of them dont play anymore but few that are still in the game... 500 is pocket change...
All the people I know with thousands of ecto didnt ever get them from trader bug. Most power traded or ebayed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gun Pierson
You mean the hassle of (power) trading? First you need a good amount of gold or ecto to start powertrading. Next you need to get rid off the stuff making profit. Takes way to long, can get 4 ecto's in one uw run if I'm lucky and that takes 15 minutes. No need to depend on other people or post things in the wts forum or spam in towns. Also for me the sport of farming the ectos is part of the fun, shooting the bull you know. But you wanne trade, fine no prob, I know it pays off too but it's not my style though, I like to play. The rush of killing 6 aatxes at a time and see an ecto drop.
There are only two insanely rich people I know of which farmed their wealth. As mentioned above most power traded or ebayed. In the good ol days of power trading you didnt have to spam much as you knew people who were after certain skins and due to the lack of perf items they would nearly always want them. Certain people would say like Tall Shields or Shadow Shields and when you got one you could hit them up and sell them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Guildmaster Cain
Well, it certainly ain't pocket-change.

Consider it takes u about 1/2 an hour to get 1 ecto. So it would take 10 days and 10 hours to get that amount. But that would be 24-hrs of farming. So a more humanly answer would be: 1/4 of day gaming, which results in 41 days (6 hrs a day) and 4 hours. That would be 41+ days of ONLY farming and not playing the game. Just think what you could have achieved during that time, if it wasnt for that rotten Panda.

An obvious answer would be, the players that do buy Panda's have bought their ectos on Ebay, or used bot-farmers for it. 500 ectos ~ 5 million, and I think 1 million costs about 50 euro or more. So someone bought a Panda for rougly 250 euro's. AND ITS JUST PIXELS!

Ofcourse the buyer could have gotten 2 or 3 perfect crystalline swords during playing the game, but that would be EXTREMELY lucky or grinding.
GG the classic they must have ebayed comment. Tell that to all the people with thousands of ecto who power traded it Its really rude and ignorant to cry ebay whenever someone is wealthier than you You dont need to get good drops to get rich Never realised 500 ecto was 250 euros thats alot of money, now tell me how a broke student can afford to ebay thousands of ecto???

Just because people cant figure out how to make lots of gold doesnt mean it is impossible. Its like seeing a young person with nice clothing, car etc and jumping to the conclusion that daddy paid for it all when they may have just worked really hard and took the opportunities available to them.

The ignorance dripping of some posts is rediculous and is offensive to those who didnt ebay.

GourangaPizza

GourangaPizza

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Oct 2006

R/W

No matter how that 500 ectos are obtained, it is still alot. Most people I knew almost spent it the moment they reach 80-100 ectos. So to accumulate that massive amount, that person must have spent on everything available that he just let those excess ectos accumulate and collect dust.

chunwahkwok

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2005

you think 500 ecto's is alot for a panda?
maybe the buyer will find another player who will pay 600 ecto's for it.
Thats 100 ecto's profit.
(Rushes to buy the panda )

KiyaKoreena

KiyaKoreena

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

USA

Kirins of Holy Light

N/

As others have stated many MANY times before, trading can gather you a lot of ectos. Stop with the jealous Ebay flinging. Through trading, picking up every last drops, and a few lucky drops I've earned enough to get my husband 5 pieces of Obsidian armor and I still have over 100 ectos in the bank. I could have a lot more if I converted my other assets but I dont like how ecto prices fluctuate when I get in the buying mood. Yes 500 ecto is a lot, but the more hands those little guys pass through the higher they will get. Cute but not for me.

jcapulet

jcapulet

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Redfeather1975
I hears the Panda can look into your soul and reveal it's state in cryptic sayings...

It say....

'Dude, you is so poor now!'

and runs away.


I wish I had a mini Panda now.
We need a ROTFL smilie on GWGuru...you are hilarious Redfeather!

And back on topic...500 ectos, I doubt I"ll ever see that many. And if I did, I wouldn't be spending it on a mini panda.

Skuld

Skuld

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Sep 2005

Thousend Tigers Apund Ur Head [Ttgr]

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by cthulhu reborn
500 ecto's is enough to buy pretty much any item in the game...that should tell you it's a lot.

The real point is, why would you sell something that is the trophy of a great achievement?
I don't get people winning a tournament and getting a prize only to sell it. I guess people today are more interested in cash flow than actual accomplishment...sad state of affairs if you ask me.
Its just a doll, I think they'd prefer to have torment weapons on observer than a minipet to show off in towns