Methods of Making Money?

I'm a new player (my character is 150 hours old, and about half of those hours were accumulated while i was working/playing instruments, etc.), and I was curious as to what the best method for making money would be for me. I only have the Prophecies chapter, and I have a little pile of money for myself piled up so far.

When I arrived at Lion's Arch at circa level 10 I had about 3k from identifying items and other random methods. I soon bought an unded temple guardian for 3k, which I sold to a level 20 for 8k. I learned the prices of the minipets and merchanted them until I had around 100k, and then I bought elite drakescale (I'm a Ranger). I know have around 60k's worth of items & money, and would like to know how to make some more :P.

My goals are pretty much just a mini kuunavang, as a vanity item (I also like the fact that I would have my own personal "kunny"...:P...excuse the pun).

I've heard some about farming, and i'm interested...I know as a ranger you pretty much set some traps, attract a few enemies, and let 'em have it...I've tried it ONCE, by myself, vs a gang of level 24 hydras...I believe it would work better if I used it against an enemy that was melee only, >.<..I killed 1 or 2 of the buggers, though..(I've just achieved level 20, by the way)

Any advice is appreciated!!

I've been vanquishing and making a decent amount of money that way. But that may prove a difficult, if not frustrating to the point of giving up without heroes or a good group of friends. Some of the chests you encounter along the way can drop good stuff, too, just the other weekend I got 2 elite monk tomes doing a run through Anvil Rock.

Aren't tomes worth about 1k each?

I really have no idea what most of that is, aside from the general idea of farming some place...>.<

Trapping can be good esp if you do it with a partner then you can have a couple of supporting spirits to boost the damage effect and have more traps down.

Know your enemy With Hydras they have ranged spells notably meteor and fireball.
As a ranger you can protect against elemental damage quite well but keep moving if a meteor hits there is a knockdown effect.

If I were trapping I would try it against mellee opponents first I usually place the damage enhancing spirit down and put the traps around it.
When they attack I run they then attack the spirit and tread on the traps.
If the enemy have ranged attacks you cannot do that they will attack it from range and miss the traps.

Try to get 3 traps down or more if you can, before letting them walk onto them

While thats happening you can attack them with your bow or start setting up more traps ready for a repeat.

2 or three rangers with traps can wreak a lot of havoc with one it takes longer but still works.

Tomes vary in price, I believe normal tomes don't surpass 1k. Elite tomes, on the other hand, can go from ~5-15k depending on the profession it is for.

Vanquishing is clearing out an entire area of enemies (in Hard Mode) and can net you a fair amount of gold and valuable items.

Merchanting is good. If you can stay up to date with prices you can make alot. If you managed to get 100k you must be decent. I'm positive I did'nt get elite armor after >150 hours.

You didn't mention getting ascended(completing the Augury Rock mission), you can try farming the Fissure of Woe of the Underworld in the Temple of the Ages. You can check PvX for builds to farm those. You'll also want to do the 2 attribute quests.

Like this one, for farming Obsidian Shards.

Remember that UW and FoW farming requires 1k to enter the zone, so it would be best to explore the area with a group first to get acquainted with the challenges there first. The Fissure Forest Farm is best for you class and chapter abilities, but you need to be skillful and patient.

Here are some more tips:
1) Register for the Xunlai Tournament House at GuildWars.com, where you can enter your predictions for winners of this month's tournament at the end of the week. Getting some Teams close will earn you Reward Points, of which 5 can trade in for a Zaishen Key, which you can easily sell for 5k.
2) Identify all your merch junk, as the increased value is pretty much always worth it.
3) Learn to powertrade if you don't want to farm gold. This means buying common items low and selling at a slightly higher price, and then doing that a few hundred times a day. It can be risky if you tie up all your cash in items, and some people have better a natural talent for it.

How long did it take you to make 100k of minis from 3k?

The dough adds up pretty quick. I usually carry a sup ID and sup salvage kit with me. Pick up and ID everything. If you run out of room, drop the cheapest stuff. When you are going through an area, your goal should be to pick up as much money as possible. Even when running through a low-level area, pick everything up. You get extra k's doing that.

As a new player, your best bet is to concentrate on finishing the game. After buying max armor, you can accumulate about 30k just through the course of playing as long as you don't do a lot of spending on unneeded things. Also do a little research on weapon values so if you do get a lucky drop of a rare gold weapon or a boss's green you will know what to sell it for.

This will:
a) familiarize you with the different enemies and the skills they use so as to better farm them later.
b) give you a better understanding of what items are worth more and why.

Buying and selling works if you stay up on prices.

well there are a lot of ways for a ranger to make some cash. if you have a ranger friend its even better. you can duo trap Underwold and get some ectos and gold drops, or you can trap farm any melle foes.

but in my opinion the best way to earn money is Powertrading. thats how you maked the 100k. you buy something and sell it for a little more ;P then, when you have enough money, you buy a more expensive item (kunnavang for example) sell it and buy it and resell it.... then you will have enough for a more expensive thing some gold 3rd yr pet)

keep reselling untill you have a lot

have fun