Understanding the Market

Good Morning folks.

Some of you have probably seen me trying to sell things I thought were "good items" that were (politely and constructively) rejected and told that they weren't worth much. With this in mind, my question to everyone is in regards to weapons, shields, foci, other things, what IS sellable? I would love to just be able to know what I should "keep or ditch" as it were.

If someone can point me to a guide, or give me a solid reference point to start from, that would be awesome. Clearly I am not understanding what is sought after.

I'm new, so I can't really help much. The veterans could come up with more informative answers. All I can point at is the wiki page for perfect items. These probably would sell, imperfect would not, or would have very low market values.

Imperfect weapon can sell for good price, if they are rare skins.

A good point a reference from weapon values.... Only desired skins that drop from end chests are really "worth" something... IE from end dungeon chests, end chests from UW/FoW, End Chest in HA.... If a weapon skin drops from a monster or a chest you can unlock with a lockpick... the value of those items is rarely above 10k.

It is not hard to find out what is sought after and what is not; for example, when you visit the sell forum of this site and look at the high end threads you can already can get a good look at expensive weapons/miniatures/collectibles etc.

to understand it, first of all: looks, if a weapon has a gorgeous skin, it'll be worth more then one with a hidous skin.

second of all. mods, it differs if an item in inscribable or what we call "oldschool"(meaning it has an inherent mod and not an inscription slot), in most cases oldschool weapons are more expensive when they come with a good inherent and in case of offhand with 2 inherents.

last but not least. rarity. there are some items that are hard to find since they only drop rarely on only on one place in the game a thread that shows some: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...highlight=ange

other rare skins such as "gold"Bo staves, Echovald Shields etc are dependant on their stats. the value of such items depend on activities on which people make money with. e.g. a dual modded echovald shield with a vs. demons inheret fetches you a nice ammount of ectos simply because the Domain of Anguish speed clear is popular.

So with this in mind, I need to keep in mind the fact that skin is more important than stats? Probably from the shear amount of farming going on in the game. Ill throw another variable in there... what about components? I would assume Zealous/Vampiric components are nice, but what else?

Very good to know, or at least learn as I go. I've always been one who wants to put good items on the market not litter it with crap as it were. I can only hope this discussion further educates me and others needing to see this sort of feedback.

Pretty much, but as ele kid said there are some skins that drop from monsters IE skins that don't drop with Insc slot with perfect mods are worth alot. Depends on the weapon... most people go with the +30 or 20% enchanting grip, a 20/20 sundering or 10/10 Furious Head/Haft, and a 15^50 or +5 energy inscription/Modifier.

if you are really in doubt use the price check section--they will tell you if its merch food or worth your time posting in sell.

Once upon a time if you got a gold drop, and you saw it was q9, you closed you eyes and prayed that it had a perfect and sought after inherent.

These days (since the introduction of NF) most weapons people sell are inscribed junk, which means they are by nature "perfect"

Almost any q9 insc weapon which a creature drop or comes from a locked chest will be a common skin, rarely worth more than a 2-3k, 5-10k if mods/insc are valuable.

No one, and I mean no one wants anything but MAX weapons for such skins. For example a sword is 15-22 require 9, anything else is junk.

When it comes to "rare" weapons, allowances are made. Collectors will at times accept higher reqs or imperfect stats for weapons that command several million gold, or "modern" weapons such a prot BDS will often sell with high req due to rarity.

If you trying to amass cash slowly, then selling low end weapons can get you a little spending money over time, however don't expect to get rich in a hurry, people are fussy these days.

Personally if it isn't q9, I merch it, and if it is, I give it to new players in Ascalon (properly modded), I can't be stuff spending hours in Kamadan to make a lousy 10-20k or whatever.

I suggest you keep an eye on the for sale items here on the forum, and also look at price checks, over time you will get a feel for prices and come to know which are the skins people want.

I can tell you this much, such skins you wont posses in a hurry, since they all come from end chests in dungeons, and only then infrequently.

If you are very lucky, it is still possible to get some very sought after skins in Tyria and Cantha dropping from monsters, I sold a q9 White Reaver 15^50 for 80k not long ago which a kindly White Mantel dropped for me

Good luck bro.

^ That's one of the best for you.

1. Max stats. With the exception of AL15/req7 shields, an item has to have max stats to be worthwhile. 14-27 bow? Junk it.

2. Good mods, or fully mod-able. One of the following must be true:
2.a. The item is inscribable; OR
2.b. The item has desirable max inherent mods. ("Desirable" meaning it's a mod type that you'd want, like "+X% dmg if health over 50%" and not "+X% dmg while hexed.") For certain very rare skins that only drop uninscribable, and particularly item types that need two inherent mods, close-to-max mods might be valuable. (Example: a 20/19 of one of the rare canthan-only wand skins would be worth a fortune despite being imperfect.)

3. Skin needs to be rare.

4. Conform with the market's illogic. There's a few irrational beliefs that are commonly held in the GW markets. Despite the fact that they are irrational, they will affect the prices of your items.
4.a. Attribute Reqs. With the exception of shields, which are usually on an "off" attribute, it's very rare to find any build that has less than 14 in the attribute that its items require. Accordingly, the item req should not matter at all. Nonetheless, people go gaga over low-req items (7-9) and take no interest in high-req items (10-13).
4.b. Inscribable vs "old school." Despite the fact that they are functionally identical (except for a bug with shields that actually makes inscribable better), a fair proportion of people value inherent-modded items much more highly than the exact same items with inscriptions.

First, one must understand this: GW is an old game, and by now, everyone has already amassed a lot of wealth. Thus, only the very best items actually get a buyer at all are perfect and rare items.

Essentialy, everyone in this game can get a functionally perfect item for about 5000 gold and some materials at a weapon crafter. Why would they spend money on anything that's not perfect?

So, what skins are worth anything? Go into the auction section of this website and look at what is offered, and at what price.

For a starting player, however, you're better off starting with the generics like crafting materials. Those are always needed, and there's a trader NPC that offers a direct way to learn what what is worth.

general rules of thumb that I follow, as there are always exceptions:

1) non-inscrib > inscrib

2) sell perfect inscriptions only (exception being 19% forget me not) and typically only the shield inscs (10 vs, -5/20, -2/ench, +45/ench) and staff insc (apt not att, FMN pretty much all i bother with)

3) sell only perfect mods (no exceptions - that I know of anyway), I typically only bother with +30s for shield, swords, axes, and 20/ench for swords, daggs, staves, and 20/20's for swords pretty much. Most scythe mods sell well, but i don't farm NF so unless I get by way of unid buying, I don't get scythe stuff ....again, you can keep what you want if you have the tolerance for spamming wts <=3k items. Don't bother with bow mods, or 15^50's -- not worth the time selling imo. Exceptions are: demonslaying stuff for sword/axe, odd-ball slaying mods -- I'll typically keep those for a bit.

4) if an item doesn't stack and it's value is <5k, merch it after a few hours (or w/e your threshold is) of kama-spam(unless you have lots of mules or don't mind constantly updating/checking wts thread on here) -- although I tend to break this rule because I'm an idiot who doesn't follow my own rules lol

5) buy good deals if the item is stackable and can be saved for another day of selling (perfect ex is tomes -- after farming event w/e's farmers will sell of stacks of sin or mes tomes for 80g/100g ea....buy them up and sell later for 200g/300g ea, similarly with sweets/alc/etc.)

6) don't bother with "cheap" minipets, they are cheap for a reason...unless you have lots of cash (ectos) and an entreprenurial spirit for high-end mini speculation, don't get into the mini-trading game!

7) buying UNID golds can be a worthwhile investment. again, best done on event w/e's when farmers are aplenty, and you can pick them up for 7=4.5k (or lower!)...follow rules 2 and 3 when you find mods worth keeping (and 4)

8) materials -- salvage for iron, granite, fiber, and dust...these are consistently good selling materials. especially important to remember if you get into buying unid's as certain items salvage into buttloads of the above (especially with "measure for measure" inscript on em')

9) gold, dual-mod canthan skin shields -- keep these! in these waning days of GW, most players (who have been at it awhile, myself included) have accomplished and purchased most of what they want/need in preparation for GW2 and are now biding our time perusing the wtb's and kama sell channels (or w/e) looking to spend our 'disposable income'. As a result, a lot of people have found a niche item/weapon that they want to collect. Most of these collections include canthan, dual-mod shields!! Just keep what you get, and at the least get a PC on it/them before you merch - at least until you get an idea of what to keep and what is worthwhile to try selling.

10) where was I? Oh yeah, if you are going to farm - stay in Cantha, or do the SC's (dungeons or elite areas). No point farming NF if not dungeons, if you intend to sell what you find (unless you are selling UNID's, or materials of course!). Most of what is wanted that is of the highest value (besides the uber-rare end-chest stuff) is going to be found in Cantha (bo staves, dragon staves, shields, 20/20 skins, etc.)

I think 10 rules are enough for now. I'm sure others will have much to say, too, but hopefully my general rules that I use, and my little mini-guide for trading/collecting will hep you on your quest to become GW's first billionaire lol

GL and most importantly, have fun!!

A website I personally use a lot is http://argos-soft.net/GwEstimator/ This site keeps track of the Kamadan trade channel and make it searchable. If you have any doubt bout the value of a shield/mod/etc see what people are asking for it there.

A lot of things in the game are based on elitism. So things that are very hard to get are very valuable. A drop in normal mode is almost never worth a lot.

Argo Soft is aweful, just aweful.

I can put WTS 1 chitin fragment 1000e and it lists... great.

Almost everything in Spamadan is offered way over market these days, and many sellers spend days before lowering prices. Argos is ok for getting a ballpark figure on low end stuff, nothing more.

You want to price high end or rarities: Use this forum.

Oh and normal or hard mode, makes not the slightest bit of difference in terms of potential rare drops, apart from perhaps a slightly better chance of getting such a drop.

Be careful though, there are greedy people on here that will make a low ball price check then offer on an expensive item just to get their hands on it to make a profit.

I've been doing this for nigh on 6 years and I still don't have a clue of what's valuable and what's not. This is why I have a storage and 15 characters all full of crap.

What would be nice would be a comprehensive keep/chuck guide for pre-searing. The drops are so limited there, surely a guide to keepers shouldn't be too hard? Hate to think of the valuables I must've ditched in pre.

All of these responses are good points to take in. My biggest thing is that even though this game in itself is an old game with a replacement on its way, there is nearly a year before (I think) we will see GW2, and I have to still experience all of GW1, alongside my good friend, my mother, and my wife. Yes we all play.

In worst case when you have nobody to ask, you could always compare your skin with the PvP Rewards from Tolkano. If you got a good weapon with an exotic skin, chance is it might be worth something on the market. It's no guarantee though.

Here's a page that I put together on GuildWiki that will give you a good place to start for inscribable drops. I used 8k as the cutoff value because (in my opinion), anything worth less than that isn't worth the bother of spamming in Kamadan. Note that there's an *extremely* large variation in the prices - some stuff on the list would be borderline 8k while others might be 100e+ (700k+). When in doubt, use the Price Check forum.

Oldschool (non-inscribable from Prophecies or Factions) can be much harder to find a price for, but can be *much* more valuable than equipment with inscriptions. Even some "perfect" modded oldschools can be next to worthless due to overfarming (Dead Bows being a good example), but if you hit on a really rare Canthan oldschool it can be like winning the GW lottery.

Generally, you should Price Check the following oldschool items:

• any oldschool wands, foci, or shields that have two inherent mods
• any martial weapons which have perfect 15^50 or +5 energy mods
• any staff that has either 10% HCT (all) or 20% HCT (matching attribute or another attribute of the same profession) (Note that Prophecies staves will be worth considerably less than Canthan-exclusive skins, all things being equal - Prophecies staves are almost all "Core" skins, although I think the "Obsidian" Earth staff drops in Proph. those can be worth big bucks if perfect 20/20 non-inscribable)

Mixed profession oldschool caster gear is generally worthless even if the mods are perfect. For instance, a Divine Favor-requiring wand with 20% HSR Domination spells.

Hope this helps!

Edit

I've posted more than a few PC requests for valuable stuff, and I've *never* had that happen to me. Not once. However, you should always wait for multiple opinions. There are *a lot* of PC posters who have no idea what they're talking about.

To be honest, I'd try to level a Rit or whatever other character that can solo UW (PVX wiki has the builds and lots of info on how to use them) and just farm ectos...then once you've watched the sell/buy forums enough you can get a feel for what stuff is worth anything. It is always the skin/rarity of an item rather then the mod you put on it(except some of the really old oddball mods, think 10%(10%) chance double adrenalines) 90%+ of the items you will get making your way up to the end game areas aren't worth much. I'm sure there are tons of people that are "day traders" and buy and sell stuff, but that takes time to get a feel for what things sell and for how much.

It just boils down to old fashioned grinding/farming over and over...which most people don't seem to have the patience to do. But if you are persistent and stick with it it won't take long to have a vault that is maxed out in plat and ectos.

Another thing, just play the game, and sell/save everything you get and once you finish a campaign I'm sure you will have some decent gold. This game is nothing like WoW compared to making gold, but it isn't bad once you know where to farm and for what.

Good luck in your journey and just have fun!

This is not always the case. If you take a look at some of the desireable high-end skins, you'll find they're all hideously ugly. Let's start with the most obvious examples:

Bone Dragon Staff
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/thu...agon_Staff.jpg

Voltaic Spear
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/arc...taic_Spear.jpg

Crystalline Sword
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/a/a...line_Sword.jpg

Ornate Shield
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/d/d9/Ornate_Shield.jpg

Those are just the easiest targets. There are Mursaat Hammers, Tormented Shields, Fellblades, Storm Bows, etc. All of these items are or have been extremely expensive and many people will tell you that it's because the skins are so pretty. Since it's obvious they're not - their value has been influenced by the rarity of quality drops and the "OOOOOH, SHINY THING" effect no RL woman is immune to. GW being a MMORPG, i.e. a place where guys pretend to be girls, the said effect is strong with males too. Hence the community's insatiable desire for all things shiny no matter how ugly they may look.

Regarding the last post, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And one man's trash is another man's gold. The whole OOOOH SHINY THING effect you talk about is certainly true though and the rarer and supposedly shinier the skin is the more money it will net.

Another hint that might help if you want to amass some gold without too much hassle is to farm materials. Especially feathers and iron ore seem to sell for quiet a price these days thanks to consumables.

More often then not stacks of feathers (250) sell for 9k each so if you have a good farm going. There are multiple places where Tengu are abundant and easy enough to take down, you'll be set for the rest of your career. Once you are able to amass a bit of wealth you should start looking deeper into the market and learning the more deeper trading secrets.

Quoted is the "argument" used by people that like ugly shit.

Would you drive a Fiat Multipla in RL as proudly as you're flaunting your VS+Torm Shield in GW? I think not, good sir.

Just look at that monstrosity:



/puke

It seems like farming and selling the materials is the way I should attack this entire thing, at least while doing that keeping my eye out for good statted items. I looted a couple last night that were 20/19 (if I am understanding the number usage properly to short hand it) but their requirements were high and their skins were common.

Thus, they are my heroes weapons until I find myself wanting to do better for them. Which is another thought too... Obviously the gold drops are split up when you take them, but why does it seem like everyone wants to solo farm? Does having heroes in your party really change things for drops?

cataphract, i usually respect your posts, but last 2 were pure garbage.

I find BDS beautifull, though I don't have it because I don't see point of it. I find Crystalline 7/10 beautifull, but i find Obsidian Armor ugly as hell and won't ever use it, except to get it for HoM, then just trash it or something.

Like someone said, ''beauty is in the eye of the beholder''....

P.S. Personally, I know one person that drive car you posted in your picture and he finds it extremelly beautifull, and he won't change it for any other car though he have money to buy some new car.

just wanted to say, what someone likes, other don't have too.
and i agree, most high end items looks awfull

Do not let common skins bother you. I got a standard fire staff req 9 fire, 11-21 dmg (one off), 19% recharge (one off), 19% casting fire (one off), 19% longer enchantments (surprise, surprise - one off again) yesterday while doing Elona Reach mission with my challenged elementalist and I consider it a great staff. I have a feeling she'll be using it all the way to 30 maxed titles.

Heroes steal your drops. And not just Koss. >_>

Can you elaborate on said stealing? and BTW, the reason I am looking for special skins and so forth, is I want to work the economy. The "1 off" weapons go to my heroes or alts or family or friends.

You have noticed how the chat log says "[monster] drops an [item] which your party reserves for [player_name]". That same reservation takes place for henchies and heroes even though it's not visible. Basically what happens is - henchies and heroes are being assigned their own drops in the background.

yes the real only way to find out what people want (and think is 'to die for'--whether its ugly or not--fow armor anyone?) is to be observant..either checking out High end stuff in ventari's or auctions, watching in kamadan for stuff being sold for stupid amounts...etc.

we have given you ideas of what some people want, how to figure out what some things are worth etc. (and some users here did try to come up with a comprehensive guide, but after starting it found the task to be big enough to last them most of the rest of their lives)....

so go forth young padawan---and find good drops! (luck to ya')

Sounds like I am gonna need it, though I am learning this morning that items that aren't "interesting" can be turned into far more interesting components and materials much more likely to sell.

yeah..lots of times you will get an awful weapon (non max blue or purple) but have a good mod (purple may be perfect---or not)...that can be salvaged to make a good item into a great item.....just need to check what you pick up and id before you sell it.

Jeweled daggers, starfish focuses, conch sheilds, diamond aegis, bramble bows...etc.......put measure for measure on those and salvage

why bramble bow?

plant fibers -- selling for 9k/stack atm (used for consumables)

dragon moss are particularly useful for obtaining plant fibers -- dragon roots salvage into 5-7 fibers per (HM)

other large plant mobs in vabbi (NF) are also quite good for farming plant fibers

When you say jeweled daggers, can you actually get more than one sapphire/ruby for them if they have the inscriptions, or just a higher chance? Gotta say I've been lucky with those though, only got 2 since I started playing, but both gave a ruby.

Ruby mauls too. They give out rubies with MfM.

Higher chance...I consistantly salvage rubies and saphs from them. As for the ruby mauls...I have gotten a ruby from 1 or 2 of those as well but only in a ton of tries...not really worth the hassel imo

I see, thanks that's a pretty solid tip, since I want to get a Vabbian armor soonish so was planning on VQing Elonia instead of going where the zaishen takes me, I'll save up some salvage inscriptions for the stuff that breaks into sapphire/ruby.

I think you already have more then enough info on how to understand the market, but maybe another advice. If you're not into the SC/PvP part of the game, you should at least check out the equipment they require. Once you get a good idea of what they use, it might help you find such items more easily. Here's a quick overview :

Insc stuff : low reqs, rare skin

OQ stuff:
dual modded wands/focus (20/20 especially)
20/20 or 20/10 staves (1st mod is the inherent white, 2nd is the inherent gold one)
dual mod shields (+10 vs dmg type, demons, and other species, -2w enchanted/stance/-5 20%, +hp (while ench or in a stance too) , +1 to caster attributes 20%...)
+5e or 15^50 rare skinned martial weapons