What is the point of farming?

i would farm to make a slightly better chance of getting gold, either money or items,

I farmed decayed or emblems for the haloween event got a lot of bits n bobs but way more golds than usual, so farming can still be productive but depends on how productive you want it to be

Indeed, Sup abs is global, knight's is not, but used to be.

Without farming, I woul'nt play this game. I have no primary hope in farming, it's not an item that I seek, but it is the fun. You don't make large amount of money by farming, you know? I got rich by buying stuffs at low price and sell them at higher price (buy at Kamandan and sell at Kaineng)

Therefore the reason that I farm is to maintain reasonable amount of cash in my bank to avoid bankruptcy.

there is no "HOLY GRAIL" in GW. no amount of money, weapon, armor, etc. will effect your gameplay more than skill and gameplay. This cannot be bought or found in-game, but must be learned from the player themselves. so sadly, a great majority of people will always be searching...

Farming has no real point. I will likely do a bit when I'm nearing the gold amount from normal play (which can be surprisingly high) for FoW armor, to make the hit on my stash a little less, and to leave me with something to spare. And I've famine farmed a lot for my Tormented Shortbow. But without economic advantage, farming sucks. The only reason I can enjoy farming is the pleasure of the grail drop.... be it ecto, shards, an anguish gemstone or golds. And the only reason I like that is because of the anticipation of using it to get what I have been saving up for, such as FoW armor or the Tormented weapons.
I believe that there would be NO problem to farming if it wasn't for gold sellers, who abuse the system.

money is the point of farming

Don't forget the title of richest man in the world.

Farming is a way for people to make themselves feel superior, even though they still suck at the game.

Farming is something you do in PvE after finishing the storyline.

Farming is just as pointless as playing any other part of the game.

The idea of you, a moderator, moderating or commenting in a forum on a game you think of as "pointless" is humorous. Why bother?

Something can be enjoyable and pointless you know. To me gaming is pretty pointless, as it serves no real purpose beyond some light entertainment.

You might live to play games, and therefore have an different opinion, thats fine.

I pretty much play this game to farm and I farm so I can get a lot of money. I don't need all the money I made, but the fact that I have a lot of money makes me happy. And since video games are to provide entertainment, and happiness entertains me a lot, farming in this game serves its point.
Obviously, farming is not the only source of entertainment in this game to me, but it is about the MOST entertaining.
I enjoy having expensive things drop. Some other people will ONLY get happiness from farming what they want. For example, if that person wants a Voltaic Spear, he/she will farm until one drops for him/her to be happy. Obviously it'll take forever, but to them, it's worth it.
It was the part of the same logic that drove Diablo 2 into fame and why it still has a lot of people still playing it after all these years (even though Hellgate London is practically D2 on crack + guns).

I love farming. I have beaten just about everything else, solo farming is the only challenge left. But you know what? I just about bankrupted myself buying some Norn armor for my ranger. I want to buy another set of 15k for my warrior, but that is going to take ages. It took me about a month for my first set of 15k, way back when. I estimate that it will take me 3 months (at the rate I'm going) to make enough this time around.

ANet could always get into the gold selling business; that would solve all their problems. Under-cut the illegal gold sellers to drive them out of business, and make money while developing GW2! If ANet did this and removed the farming nerfs the economy would right itself out in a short time.

I like farming, gives me a goal to see a few k's stockpile in my storage. I like being able to afford for what I want. But most importantly, I like working for what I want - and this is why I would never eBay my cash. Would make things too easily and I'd get bored of this game.

I farm because I like the satisfaction of knowing that everything I kill drops items for ME instead of the gold and items being artificially divided up between myself, heroes and hench.

I farm because I wanted absinthes to get RIGHT WASTED ON from halloween, because it happens to be my drink of choice. (Irl and in Guild Wars.)

I farm because you can only make so much gold playing through the game normally and very rarely will anyone buy anything from you trade wise that is anything SHORT of perfect.

I farm because I get bored and it's a productive way of killing time alone when I'm tired of quests//missions.

Add the gold to their online store like the character slots?
*scratches chin.* I like the way you think, but I can also see ways this would ruin things;

For starters the elitits would get grumpy because anyone with a credit card can become just as 1337 as they are, LITERALLY buying the game, all the gold they could get their hands on, the pvp expansion packs and then saying 'okay, Guild Wars, here I am, rock you like a hurricane!'

Secondly, they'd actually be promoting more reward for LESS time spent on their game. Even if the money went to a good cause LIKE Guild wars too and server maintenance.

Thirdly, there is no real price they could charge for ingame gold that they or anyone buying it, would think reasonable. It's either be too high, and INCREASE the number o fplayers illegally buying gold, or too low, and making the veterans even MORE angry, because not only can any idiot with a Credit card get as much gold as they can, but, they can do so for possibly even an hour or two's work at minimum wage.

I personally hate farming as its very boring and tedious, however there are many people that do enjoy it and I do not begrudge them that.

However there is a difference in a player that farms for hours and hours and makes a good amount of money and one that farms for 10min and makes 100K.


People want more faster with less effort and that is just wrong for many reasons. We have lost the drive or desire to work for our rewards and that is a reflextion on the world outside of this game in general.

I farmed STACKS of Absinthe during this passed halloween event so I could work towards my drunkard title with my drink of choice.

It took DAYS and I intend to drink them all for my minutes legit without zoning. More fun. Not very many people like taking the longer route. =\

But selling the whites and blues to the merchant is how we made our money before...now we have to try to sell stuff to other people and since nobody has money that takes forever. I will not sell to others unless it is something with a standard price like tomes or picks or something like that otherwise I merch everything because selling is anti-fun to me. Before if I wanted 15k I go farm trolls, mino's, etc pu everything they drop and merch it then do over and make 20k/hr so 4 hrs later i got the money for 15k armor and all i have to do is farm materials or mor money to buy the materials and then go get the armor I want. Now I make 2k/hr so have to farm for 40 hours to do same thing and IT SUX!!!! so yes loot scaling is the root of all evil.

Magnus, the problem with ANet selling gold is a very simple one - it completely violates the concept of an inexpensive game with no additional costs which people can freely play. If they were to start selling gold, then the kids whose families will not buy it will become part of an extreme Have-Nots class while others will have everything. Lets say they sold 100k for $25.00. That is 2.5% of my monthly income and 40% of my monthly grocery budget. I realize I am one example from the lower end, however, where I live I am considered to be well off because I afford extravagant things like GW, a computer, and internet. Most families here cannot even afford a computer, and our school has only recently got on-line through a grant program. One of the appeals of GW is that it is not a game you have to spend loads of money to be a part of or play with others.

Well, they can say what they want to. They told us forEver that there was no anti-farming code. That we were all imagining things, but too many people kept records and showed there was. I don't believe them on any of this because they already have a history of lying to us about it.

In general the economy is the most suppressed it has ever been. I fully agree that loot scaling sucks. The way to discourage botters/ebay sellers is and always has been eliminating the need for them. That means absolutely open drops. Increase in the rate at which rare skins, golds, purples, etc. drop. Increase the amount of gold that drops. If players are able to readily keep their bank accounts half full with reasonable effort they will not be interested in ebaying for gold, etc.

Personally I hate farming. I detest spending hour after hour after hour after hour trying to get another 1000 LB points, another 10,000 faction, another 1,000 gold for the next skill, another 200,000+ for armor, insignia, runes and materials. And I still have about 260,000 to get for my guild hall. Do I think those things should be free? No. But all the economic suppression has been to pressure bots and ebayers out, when in fact it only increases the prices they can charge and their incentive to do it. But this is another issue.

Where I started was, why farm? A few people have said it was for the extra challenge of beating monster groups designed for 8 when you are solo. A lot do it for the drops and don't see a point to it beyond the drops/cash incentive - which means they are not farming because they like farming. I cannot be conditioned into believing grind for grinds sake is supposed to be entertaining. GW has become a game centered almost entirely on grind for the sake of grind. Grind for this title. Grind for that title. Grind for your armor. Grind for your weapons. Grind for your skills.

If someone is trying to see just how much mobbing they can take before they get gokked, that is fine - I grok that. But if they are farming for the cash, that is labor/grind without entertainment value. I don't grok that.