How have you been making $$$ to buy the things you need since loot scaling

Who determines if it's constructive or not? You? Sounds like you're trying to slap objective principles onto people's opinions. Good luck with that.

lol

I get a kick out of those who proclaim they are making tons of money

I notice they never post their builds or give advice on how to do it. hmmmm....

Frankly, I'm going to finish the elite skill titles on my main character (urgoz farming helped me earn the money to do that) and then pretty much quit the game. Money is just too hard to get and it's not a lot of fun anymore.

I get a kick out of people who don't read. Because you apparently didn't notice when I stated I used a VwK build and named multiple locations I used it in. Since you didn't notice it then, maybe you'll notice it here.

Skills:
Arcane Echo, Vengeful Was Khanhei, Vengeful Weapon, Resilient Weapon, Soothing Memories, Physical Resistance(can be subbed for elemental resistance if you wanna try farming elemental based enemies), 2 optional slots, usually filled with Sympathetic and Ancestor's Visage.

Attributes:16 restoration magic, 12 illusion magic, rest in inspiration.

Things I can farm in Hard Mode:
Undead and Tengu outside Bergen Hot Springs(can also kill solo Ettins and the tengu necro boss Ryn Cursewing who sometimes spawns out there)
Insects and Ibogas(and Hassin Softskin) outside Sunspear Great Hall and Astralarium(can also kill the scales and irontooth drakes)
Insects in Marga Coast outside Yohlon Haven
Craw Stonereap and ritualist-less Warden groups outside Altrumm Ruins
Tusked Hunters/Tusked Howlers
Kournan Bowmen, Paragons, and Warriors

Things I've farmed in normal mode(some of which are doable in HM, but much harder):
Jade Brotherhood Knights and Mesmers
Kirins and Undergrowth in Pongmei Valley
Wardens groups of any makeup
Minotaurs in Elona Reach
Xuekao the Deceptive and his Am Fah mob
Shreader Sharptongue(doable in hard mode, but...well, very hard)
Ghial the Bone Dancer
Keptkhet Marrowfeast

Things that can supposedly be farmed but which I haven't made it far enough to test personally:
Nagas
Heket
Cobalts
Pehnsed the Loudmouth
Cultist Milthuran
Geoffer Pain Bringer
Terob Roundback

There are also variants of the build capable of farming:
Slave Spirits
Zehnelun Fastfoot
Underworld Smite Crawlers

There's an even larger variant capable of farming Maddened Spirits and Infestations at Remains of Salajha for Ancient Armor Remnants.

Happy now?

Been selling elite tomes like crazy since the release of hard mode. Already have every elite unlocked on my characters so no need for them really. Sold about a hundred so far using guru auctions and ingame. Most for around 10k to 15k.

Its been enough to tide me over and provide enough cash for lockpicks and other consumables

It's like the Supreme Court said about Porn; "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."

It's not that hard to sort the wheat from the chaff here. Pretend you're from Anet. What comments would you deem worthwhile, and what would you ignore?

Given limited resources, how do you make development decisions that will improve the game for the majority of players?

Just spend some time looking at the posts on this forum and it won't be hard to figure out which ones are constructively pointing out possible improvement (or the unintended consequences of a nerf etc.), and which ones are self-centered egotists who just like to complain because a change that benefits the community at large does not benefit them (not referring to you here, as that moniker does not seem to apply).

The problem is, not everyone that is ready to express discontent about an issue is necessarily able to also offer up a solution. You suggest that these people just simply keep quiet? If I was working for Anet to sift through fan forum posts, I would probably skim, not read, over most of the complaint and compliment posts equally, especially if they offer nothing I would consider "constructive". That doesn't mean I would not appreciate the fact that they exist. Quite the contrary. With a number of posts expressing their opinion one way or the other, I could gauge the overall feeling about certain things and how well they are accepted by the community.

This is why I think it took so long for 6v6 to revert back to 8v8, for example. I would venture to say that the amount of people expressing positive input about 6v6 was near enough to the amount who were displeased - despite who cried louder, more often, or the overall usefulness of the posts.

Of course, this isn't to say that is what Anet does. In fact, from the looks of it, they (Gaile and others) often ignore complaints no matter how thought-out or constructive, and respond to praises, no matter how irrelevant or goofy (just look at the "dev-chats", replying over and over about festival hats, minipets, etc, and not addressing the bigger issues and complaints). If you can tell me and them why praises, no matter their content is so much better than complaints, no matter their content, I'll give you a cookie.

No, I expect that people learn how to give constructive feedback. They will get much farther in life if they do. People get tired of others who constantly complain yet provide no solutions (in real life AND in GW).

I agree with you, but it in no way negates the fact that negative opinions can be constructive.

Again, I'm differentiating between positive and negative, constructive and non-constructive. Anet should respond to constructive comments, be they positive or negative.

I in no way want to be an apologist for Anet, but I will give my own personal perspective as a mid-level manager at a Fortune 500 company:

- No matter what you do, some people will complain (the examples are endless)
- By responding more to constructive feedback, you disincent feedback that is not helpful.

In most cases, Anet has done just that. Although, being human, Gaile sometimes crosses the line and flames a poster when she probably shouldn't (justified or not, though she's usually pointing out blatant inaccuracies in their posts).

Imagine how hard her job must be. She is working for a wonderful company, working in a job that we'd all love to have, at least in principle. So what does she have to deal with on a daily basis? Constant complaining. Must get tiring.

Hard Mode as a worm with a full party of heros/ henchies. You get Lightbringer points, Sunspear points, chest points, wisdom points, lucky/unlucky, and it keeps me in enough cash to allow for a regular supply of lockpicks. I don't have to tap my reserves at all.

I've also solo-farmed some areas that I used to before the loot-scaling and I hardly notice a difference, but then I leave a lot of stuff behind due to inventory limitations.

i did make around 50k from the solo urgoz farm, which i used to get my new ele some very nice th ings:P My usual scar eater a/e solo spot has been letting me down in terms of drops, although i did get a +30 sword hilt(my first gold in a while from there) and sold it for 15k, i might start to chest run again.

Tombs Tombs Tombs. For the time spent, you usually end up with good cash. It takes roughly an hour to do, and in that hour you make anywhere from 2-10k or more depending on drops and how you sell them. Furthermore, Tombs is great for PUGs, because as long as the puller and the mm necro are on the same page, and the orders necro charges up a lackluster monk every now and then, everyone else can be (and recently have been) idiots.

The problem now is Hard Mode. Everyone wants to play it. While the drops are better, selling them is usually a chore, and you lose out in the end because Normal Mode seems to net more gold, and it definitely seems to net more ectos.

I spent all my money on ectos due to Anrfs intial screwup with HM and loot scale and went to about 3k in storage. Now this is where im at on my my account

my second account is sitting at 200k.

Oh and by the way dont bother asking how I did got as I wont tell my spots in game. No I didnt buy gold. Im just tired of trying to help people and getting called a whiner a complainer and numerous other things. So you all are on your own.

i've just been relying on chests and getting lucky in missions and such

Me too (I assume you mean south of Remains of Salahja), it is roughly 8-10k an hour depending on what runes drop. Never less than 1.5k a run as I have yet to not be able to afford a lockpick from a run, usually a bit over 2 a run - including IDing and mapping to the Bone Palace to sell runes, takes about 13-15 minutes depending on the time of day and how fast areas load. Sometimes the trip between the ROS and the bone palace can be *slow*.

Other than that - my 55 monk in HM cursed lands, HM dead sword with my monk or my 130 dervish, and HM hydras with my 130 dervish. Anywhere from 6k (hydras) to a little over 12k (dead sword) and hour. The hydras are the best combination of money and exp for my dervish (who still lacks a few skill points for the skill hunter title track), cursed lands is about the best consistent gold drops (good for the wisdom title track), and the HM dead sword run is the most GPH.

The HM dead sword GPH does not include large spikes of gold like a sup vigor or req 9 max dead sword, but do factor in most other runes. It isn't uncommon to have a bad run be well under 2k and then a good one be well over 15k (I get a little over two runs an hour), though it is rare to get something other than 5-7k per run.

How do i make my money... Hmm :/

The update has hit me pretty hard, i used to farm minotuars in Crystal desert, but after the update i hardly get any drops I also used to do tombs on my necromancer, but now the only groups that do tombs are HM, leaving me to sit and wonder " now what..." I deleted both my Warrior and my Necro, mainly because the only thing i used them for was to farm and it wasnt worth doing anymore.

Ive read a few of people replies to this thread and nearly everyone makes their money from HM. But, if your like me and you havent completed a campaign yet and are pretty from doing so, what should you do? The only way to farm now, seems to be in HM.

As i understand, loot scalling was implemented to try and cut the number of botters, but its just opened up new places for them to farm and made it even harder for people like me to make money.

People may say " Play through the campaign and you will get plenty of money" but, the only way ive currently been able to make money is by repeating missions over and over again, until im completely sick of the storyline.

If you can tell me way to make money without getting HM, please do, and i may return to doing PvE, but PvP seems to be the only part of the game i play now, because i dont have to sit for days just to farm myself 10k

Thats my whine over :P

Deathlike

I play the game.
Normal mode since HM doesn't interest me.
The drops are shit but i save money by playing the way i never did - by not buying skills.
SURE it limits my creativity and makes the game boring and I am having problems bringing myself to play it and ...

Ooh i finally got around to ordering Neverwinter Nights 2.

Loot scaling brought me something special - a reason to play GW less!
And people say loot scaling sucks!!??!?!??!

For me... I've found an effective way to get around 200k a week and not do too much. During the weekdays, I do whatever I can, but mainly try doing 1 HM The Deep Run. I usually get a req 9 inscribable zod sword or shield, which I can sell at high end in guru for 100k + 5 ectos usually. If not, I save up the rare items I have and sell them at Kamadan dis 1 and LA dis 1.

The farms I do now are:
Tombs (Not much anymore)
BP (Not much anymore)
The Deep (Daily)
Colossal Farm (Spare time)
Ecto (When we have favor)

i had about 400k in storage and went for a number of titles on my sin, one being skill hunter...

when i finally hit rock bottom i went on to work on titles that cost nothing, i.e. elonian gmc.

i fought my way thru elonian gmc, didnt run it like others, and made over 170k including loot from free treasure chests.

i just started vanquisher in elona and so far made another 100k, and all i vanquished was 4 zones on istan.


the elonian gmc took me about 11 hours over 4 days and did it in normal mode. the vanquish took me about 5 hours total.

i just dont understand how people CANT make money.

/chop

because they're lazy and expect gold to be handed to them . ..

Since loot scaling I don't get much with farming. Can you tell me which build you use and which area you farm?

I've been farming Wardens a lot before NF release and I made a nice profit selling materials. Haven't farmed a thing since the release of NF. Mostly because I didn't need to farm. Heroes were equipped with stashed drops and collector items, major vigors bought well before NF made them expensive. These days I get money from vanquishing - chests haven't been really nice to me, but the occasional rare drop has turned me some profit. There was a time of about 4 weeks when I had all 9 chars and my inventory full of gold. Couldn't hold any more so I sold items for ectos and shards. As for spending money, there's nothing in the game I really, really want and "must" have. Last item I bought was a 20/10 Bo Staff, req 9 fire. I always wanted that staff for my monk. Payed 5k for it, and it is teh roxxor. Well, the only thing I'd like to have is Mallyx's sword, but I'm not about to pay 100k+20e for a sword - I don't play my warrior much.

Re: Vanquishing

When people say they're making all that money it must be from selling good drops to other players. I don't see how you can make huge amounts of money any other way. Vanquished money reward is tiny. Money drops split between party. Selling the crap golds from chests to merchants is a net loss. Gold drops are rare for me in any mode. The most I've seen a gold item go for is <500.

So, 5 chests costs 7500 for lockpicks, lockpicks basically break for me. 5 crap golds about valued 2500, that's generous. Pretend 2 golds drop, valued 1000, generous again. Vanquishing gives you about 1000-1500? After all that, there's a loss of 2500. Even if all the whites and purples are sold it might not even add up to 2500 to break even. Money divided up isn't even worth mentioning.

I really don't see how people claim to make so much vanquishing. If you're selling items to other players then I'd like to ask them how they make their money cause vanquishing isn't it. Farming is still the main source of it.

Vanqushing for me gives me enough money to cover the lockpicks. Add a lucky drop from a monster or a chest and I'm in the plus. Yesterday I got a +30 sword pommel. Day before that +30 axe grip. And there a two +5 (20% enchants, +30 health), req9 War Axes sitting in my inventory. Last week I had 5 elite tomes drop from 6 chests. If that's not a profit - I don't see what is.

Bonus items which you can create with /bonus and a few plats for major runes for 12 chars and their heroes = problem solved. No need for farming.

You know, I never noticed when the "nerf" went into effect. 'Course, that could be because I don't farm....

The free chests in Elona: I have one character who can get to all of them and several others who can get to about half. It's fun to see what pops out of those - and it equips heroes quite well. The gold, several plat in a romp, goes back into the 'bank' (only about 196K in there these days - just bought a bit of armor). Any drops along the way are sold to the merchant and then keys are bought (if I remember) for the trip to the next buried treasure.

Otherwise, the closest thing I'm doing to farming would be salvaging crafting materials as I map clear to have enough for the vellum needed for the new Labrithine monk tats. And since I'm also working towards the cartographer's title(s), is that really considered farming?

Eleven characters (some in elite armors, others in the armor *I* like regardless of what others think is "best"), all three games, rarely (as in maybe a half dozen times in two years) sell weapons to others (usually just give away) and no problem whatsoever in having considerably more than enough gold, weapons, etc.

What am I doing wrong that I don't have to farm to succeed?!?

~Falcon

I was doing the deep wall hm team build to get some decent drops and sell em.. Will most likely get nerfed by the update gaile posted.. GG you actually nerfed my income -_-