Can someone explain weapon values to me?

How are some gold drop weapons worth upwards of 50k? Isn't any weapon with max generic stats capable of holding an inscription and a prefix and suffix weapon mod? There just seems to be something about the value I just don't understand.

For a starter, you have inscribable weapons (NF & Oetn) and non-inscribable ones (faction and proph).

Non-inscribable ones with a perfect mod (+15% while health is above 50%) is thus rarer then one where you could just throw an inscription on it, making it more valuable.

Then, some skins are rarer then other, making them more valueable.

Hope this helps a bit.

Rarity of the drop and appeal of the skin. That's all it is. They're not in any way 'better' functionally than other weapons with the same stats.

I hear the term q12 tossed around with high value weapons. What does it mean?

And why would a non-inscribable weapon of perfect stats be worth more than one that is inscribable? Couldn't you hypothetically just change the incscription of the insribable one whenever you want and thus not be locked into the original modification?

What should I be looking for in the golds I find before selling them to a merchant instead of a player?

Weapons can have different "skins" (appearances), some of which are desired more than others because players like the looks or because they are rare or difficult to obtain. So they are willing to pay more for one of these weapons than for one with a common, ordinary appearance even though there is no difference in terms of stats.

Arent most of those drops from the FoW, Underworld, and dungeons? And aren't most of them not golds by greens?

Also, what is a q12?

That's exactly the point. EVERYONE can put a 15^50 (15% more damage while health over 50%) inscription into a incribable weapon, whereas not inscribable (or "oldschool") with an perfect inherent 15^50 mod are rarer and thus more expensive. (And the 15^50 is the only inscription (besides maybe +5energy) which is actually used on physical weapons).

But personally I have to agree with you - inscribable weapons offer the flexibility to change the inscriptions. In addition, I dislike most popular weapon skins (Bone Dragon Staff, Voltaic Spear, Frog Scepter) and don't understand why someone would pay 50e+ for a weapon. (But if I get a rare drop, I'll be happy to find a buyer ^^)

Edit:

q is a abbreviation for req which is the abbreviation for requirement. The lower the req of a (max-damage) weapon, the more valuable is the weapon.

Req 9 is mostly seen as 'perfect' so will fetch a higher price. a Req 12 (Q12) is seen as less desirable, so you can get the skin that you want for a much lower price.

This is quite easy to understand:

Inscribable items: are only worth for the req and in few cases for the skins (for example Voltaic Spear, Bone Dragon Staff, Frog Scepter, Celestial Compass, Eternal Blade, Jitte, Crystalline Sword). These weapons only drop from certain elite areas or dungeons and the skins are wanted cos they are cool....

Others inscribable items for example a Great Conch (shield) is a very common drop + the skin sucks a lot, so isn't worth anything except req 8/7 version.....

Non-inscrbable items (aka Oldschool): they only drops in certain spots and having a perfect version (15^50, inherent HCT for staves, +30hp for shield etc....) of any item is uncommon. Other non-inscribable items drop in all faction and Prophecies, but are less wanted.

So the result is that having an Echovald Shield (only drops in Echovald Forest and is rare drop) with +30hp and another modifier is rare. Having a Great Conch (gold) is a quite common drop in Eye of the North.....

Some non-inscribable skins as u may understand got a value itself undepending from requirement if they got decent modifiers, which u cannot change.

Thus, common non-inscribable skins, such as Jade sword (which drop in Jade Sea) is not worth much cos it's not rare.

other example could be the so called dual vampiric weapons, which can only drop in non-inscribable version...for example a Chaos Axe, dmg +15% -1 health regeneration. This is an high value item, since it's a wanted skin with uncommon modifier, which is wanted for the obvious benefit

In any value system the more rare something is the higher the value. Usually in this game the rarer the weapon the harder was to get it. An example of this is
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Dhuum's_Soul_Reaper
In underworld the team I was with took about two and a half to three hours to get their, and if we all died it’s the end of mission, we are out of the mission. And even though we got there nobody got that weapon. And I don’t know how many times you have to go there to get that weapon, but you can see how the hours add up. (That’s grinding). Prices of a weapon like this can range all the way up to 100 ecto plasm. But don’t quote me on that, they may be a lot cheaper now.
What changes any value system within this game is the ability for teams to overcome the challenge. As of lately it has been the assassins who seem to be able to run through the game like a hot knife through butter.

The next characteristic other than rarity is skin. Which usually means partial rarity, Such as a zodiac weapon? Which I consider some of the best looking weapons in the game.
http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Zodiac_weapons

What makes these desirable, is again it takes a pretty good team to get their, and if everybody dies your kicked out of the mission. And although zodiac weapons drop quite often, while doing this mission they don’t always have what’s considered to be perfect stats.

I’ve heard some debates over what is a perfect stat.

For me if it’s not inscribe able.
It’s req 9 with 15/50.
http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/15%5E50

But for staffs or wands they want 20% chance to half the activation time.

Once you have the 15/50 or the 20% on a good looking weapon, everything else is about you buying the modifiers on the market.

And since gold color is rarer than purple, it stands to reason that its price jumps a little.

Quite frankly, inscribable weapons are nice. But they’ve made perfect weapons way to common.

This is it, and this is all.

If all you care about is functionality, expensive weapons have NO benefit.

If you also care about looks, expensive weapons are worth as much as you're willing to pay for their look.

If you also care about owning something rare, that's where things like old-school weapons, and so on come into the picture.

There are 3 major factors that determine price on everything in gw,

Demand for the item (how many people want the item)

Accessibility of production of that item (how quickly and easily can it be obtained from a farm)

Market Saturation (how many others are trying to sell the same item)

Often non-consumable items like weapons and most minis will decrease in price over time because there are more coming into existence over time and a person's demand is usually permanently satisfied with one purchase of just one of the item type.