Any guide for newbies on what golds we should care about?

Hi all,

I'm a pretty new player, and from browsing the price check and buying/selling forums, I'm getting the impression that prices in GW are a bit.. odd. Looks like a steep learning curve to figure out what is actually desirable and what is vendor trash. Especially when I see people asking for pricechecks on golds and getting replies like "merch" for some and "meh maybe 10-20e" (which is roughly my entire fortune!) for others, and I can't see why one is desirable and the other not.

So, since I don't want to be "that guy" asking for a dozen pricechecks a day, and getting told "merch, merch, merch", I was wondering if there was any sort of beginner's guide to identifying which golds are worth hanging onto to try to sell?

The impression I get is:

• Obviously should be max damage, energy, etc. as per Perfect on the wiki
• It's best for it to be attribute 9 required. But higher isn't always a deal-breaker.
• If it's a non-inscribable Prophecies/Factions item, the baked-in inscription mod should be perfect and also one that people like e.g. 15^50 on weapons

But then there's the whole "rare skin" thing. I found one bit of advice to check on the wiki and see if the item drops everywhere or only from select spots like dungeon chests. But is there a list of really desirable skins?

well your first impression is spot on

as a general rule of thumb as well, any shield that does not have an inscription slot that only has 1 mod as opposed to 2, is merch food

Do you mean a shield that only has a "shield handle" type mod, not an inscription type mod nor an inscription slot?

inscriptable shield, doesnt matter if it has one or two mods, it should be sellable dependant on skin

non-inscriptable shield, more then 2-3points off perfect and higher then req10 is generally merchant, single mod is also merchant food in most cases except for +10 demons

Oh, sorry, I get it now: "Shield Handles may be applied only to inscribable shields."

So if you get one with no inscription slot and only one mod, you're boned.

Same for focus items, then, I assume?

Well, almost, in factions and Proph, a shield can have 1 or 2 mods on it, but none of them can be adjusted, and a shield with only 1 mod can't be upgraded with a handle, so if you only have 1 mod on an uninscr shield, it's merchfood. Same goes for focus items.

Inscribable stuff is generally merchfood to begin with.

Another good rule of thumb is: if you have a weapon with a fairly common skin that is q9 and inscribable, the best thing to do is merch it, but you can always get 5-10k for it if you are patient enough.

Here's my 2 cents:

On inscribable weapons:
Only ones that are worth over 100K are either the exceptional q8 max and for shields the q7 15 armor ones. For aesthetic reasons these are more valuable if dropped as gold instead of purple or blue(gold>purple>blue).

The q9 ones are often merch, though sometimes if it is a genuinely nice skin and not too common you can sell these for 5-15K.

Ofcourse you also have the rare inscr skins that drop from chests at the end of elite areas/dungeons/zchest/hoh; For these there is a price check thread made by ange: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...t10482377.html
(there are as always some exceptions such as the inscr jitte that are not yet included)

On uninscribable weapons:
Now here it gets complicated. Lets start with the physical damage weapons.
q7 which no longer drops since nf release are ofcourse very valuable. these do not need to have these ideal 15^50 inherents to be valuable.

Q8's 15^50, +5e on common skins will often sell for about 20-30ectos. The other inherents on these common skins are not really wanted and are hard to sell.
On rare skins however (sephis axe,mursaat hammer,gothic dual axe,jitte,etc..)
the other inherents will also be valuable, though much less than the 15^50,+5e
example: mursaat q8 15^50 ~300e , 15%ench/15%stance etc ~30e

Q9's are often merch, except if its 15^50 or +5e on one of the rare skins, though these probably wont exceed the price of 100K (jitte being an exception)

In the case of swords and axes however there is also the rare vampiric inherent mod (+15%dmg, -1 health regen) which will be 50-100K on common skins and 100K+ on rare skins. These will often be referred to as dual vamp weapons as they are often combined with a vampiric mod which altogether creates a -2 health degen. On dual handed weapons this vampiric inherent is also possible but not wanted/valuable.

other requirements: same as q9 but with every increase of req comes a decrease in price. The common skins with 15^50 and +5e will then often become a definite merch.

And now it gets even more complicated as we move on to shields,offhands,wands and staves.

Prices of these are very dependent on collectors and general interest, which will often lead to disagreements between the price checkers.

Lets start with shields: As mentioned in previous posts: single mod = merch
(which is also true for wands and offhands)
Obviously there is an exception: (we wouldn't want things to be easy, right?)
+10vs demons single mod is about 10-30K on rare skins. And thats the only exception there is.

dual modded shields: the -5/20% mod is only wanted in combination with +30 hp. (exceptions made for rare skins with good reqs)
This is probably the most valuable combination you can have on a shield. On rare skins these mods do not have to be perfect to be valuable. Imperfection ofcourse kills the price alot but nevertheless a few off on health can still be worth about 50e.

+30hp is good in any combination.

on to the conditional mods: -2st/+45hpst > -2e/+45hp ench > -3hex/+60hp hex
mixtures of these mods (such as -3hex/45hpst) will almost always result in merch, except if on a rare skin with a good requirement.

+10vs mods are good in combination with +30hp,+45hp ench, +45hp stance,-2st and -2e. On rare skins with good reqs -5/20% and -3hex will also be worth a bit.
If +9 instead of +10 the price will drop way more than with +29 instead of +30 or +44 instead of +45.

+10 vs blunt,piercing,demons,undead,earth(and plants) are particularly valuable due to practical demand from ppl playing elite areas. These are most wanted in combination with -2ench, +45hp ench, +30hp (and -2 st to a lesser extent).

there are also the +1attribute 20% mods. These are mainly wanted by collectors and so the second mod they are good with are depending on the personal preferences of collectors, though generally +30hp is most wanted.

There are also some oldschool mod combinations such as -2/-2. (not going into detail on that)

These 'rules' for shields are the same for any requirement. Ofcourse q9 is worth the most and strength is preferred over tactics.

For wands staves and offhands I'm gonna let someone else explain that.

Very nice guide, Jan^^ Very wel explained^^

For staffs it's quite simple tbh.. The only inscribable staffs that are worth something are Bone Dragon Staff, Zodiac Staff (to lesser extent) and some other dungeon staffs, which I'm not gonna list due to relative irrelevance..

Now, for uninscribable staffs the norm is usually that a staff is only worth something when it's either 20/20 or 20/10.

An example of a 20/20 staff is this one:

It has 20 HSR of spells inherent (the white text) and a 20% HCT inherent of Domination spells, which means that with an Adept Staff Head, you can make it 40/20. I sold this one for 70e I think, which was mainly due to the skin.

An example of a 20/10 staff is this:

These are a lot less wanted and worth a lot less as well, but on rare skins and with good reqs (9 or 10) they can still sell for a little bit.

For staffs the norm for pricing is, from highest to lowest:

1: Bo Staff, Dragon Staff and Platinum Staff
2: Forbidden Staff, Celestial Staff, Plagueborn, Zodiac, Outcast, Ghostly, Raven

Rule of thumb: if a staff is not one of these categories, and has anything other than 20/20, it's a definite merch. Even q9 20/20 Jade Staffs are absolutely unwanted. If they are one of the top 3 skins, and even q13 20/20 with a good attrib (like domination) will get you like 50e. If that Bo Staff of mine was q9, it would have been 300e+. Now, the #2 skins still go for a bit if they are q10/11 20/20, but a lot less. The top 3 skins as q9 20/10 also still fetch quite an amount, but considerably lower than 20/20.

The reason for this is because a 20/20 on one of these staffs is INCREDIBLY rare. Because a staff can only have the inherent 20% for one of the attributes available to the profession for that staff. For example a Bone staff can only be 20/20 in Death, Blood and Curses, while a Bo Staff can be 20/20 in anything but Energy Storage and Soul Reaping, and maybe Healing Prayers, but not sure.

On a sidenote: if you have one of the rare skins, and it's mixed 20/20, but still usable, for example a Bo Staff q9 Divine Favor 20/20 prot, it would still be worth a bit. But with these staffs, it's always wise to PC just to be sure, unless I said when it's totally worthless^^

The rest of the staffs are a lot less worthy, for more info, check this thread:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/r...t10457533.html

Wands are complicated... Maybe I'll make a post about it later, but cba now...

EDIT: I forgot to mention prenerf staffs... Well prebuff actually, but anyway..

With the release of GW Factions, there came a lot of updates to weapons and their stats.
With the release itself, they nerfed q7 max damage Bows, Axes and Hammers, but swords, shields and offhands could still drop q7 max.
Shortly after release (a couple weeks/months, not too sure) they updated staffs.
Prenerf staffs (as they came to be called, but it was actually a buff, so don't get confused^^) didn't have the inherent HSR 20% white text that staffs have nowadays..

Look at these 2 staffs, the left one is prenerf, but it is a perfect prenerf staff (sort of) since it has the HSR of Divine Favor. These staffs are exceptions, and since you can't ever find one anymore it isn't of much interest to you, but prenerf staffs, if you would stumble across one for some magical reason and decided to sell it, I'd advise to always ask for a PC, because the posibilities are so vast and complicated that I'm not going to explain all of them because my knowledge of those staffs is also very limited, since I don't own any and don't care for them either.

You guys are indeed legends, thanks so much for the comprehensive answers!!

I'd move Jan's post to PC forum and make it sticky & closed, with some further editions / new posts available in the future.

I was gonna make an assembly of my post and Jan's and post it in the PC section, give me a day or something and I'll find time here and there to work on it... I'll also add more details on inscribable stuff..

Inscribable stuff is pretty simple.
5 categories
1:merch.. absolutely merch..
2:mods.. salvage
3:desired skin
4:low req
5:desired weapon type

1 is self explanitory
2 is also self explanitory
3 any req (imo) with a desired skin can be sold. Level of desireability changes sellability
4 if it's r7-9 it doesn't really matter what it is, you can get a couple plat for it or more. r7 is referring to r7/15al shields and the like... but anything r9 or less.. max.. usually easy enough to sell.
5 people pay almost anything for scythes and spears. If you have one, someone will likely buy it. Whether it be for heroes or w/e else. Same with domination weaps, channeling.. that type of stuff... If you have a weapon that has a large market, then you'll get some cash for it.

My only advise is sell everything... no matter how trivial. You can quite easily make 200k over a weekend with a storage full of random weapons that fall under the specifications i listed above (aka pretty damn well anything) If you're just starting out, that's where I suggest you go. The highend market is extremely volatile, the lowend market is less so, and imo is worth investing more time in.. The amount of money you can make in the lowend weapon market vs highend weapon market is comparable, and perhaps even better on average. Unless you're lucky as hell and find all the smokin deals.

Start small, work your way up. Sell. Everything. 2k x 50 still = 100k.
Jan and Bright's sugestions are excellent as well, and definitely worth heeding. I disagree on Bright's staff list, just.. I disagree on the order.

Regardless... I get 5-10k for random crap all the time... Selling just highend skins will take less time, and will give you more cash per sale, but selling all the other stuff will pay for lockpicks, or cons, or for those highend skins.

If you want money, sell any weapon you get that can be sold. If you only want to sell highend stuff, then that's your choice. I sell anything sellable, and generally speaking, I have done ok for myself doing so. Anyone that tells you specifically that selling weapons that are worth 2-5k is a waste of time is wrong in my opinion. But to each his/her own.

Good luck. There's lots of buyers out there.

don't forget inscribable (blue, purple, gold it doesn't matter) shields for PvP:
req0 , 8 armor (not really popular)
req5 , 13 armor (not really, but for command maybe) --> ~10-30K (low demand)
req6 , 14 armor --> ~40K-80K
req7 , 15 armor (very popular) --> ~50K-100K+ depending on skin

tactics, command (is usually 10% of tactics price due to low demand)

Keep in mind time is money. So if you aren't selling on guru forum/auction then sitting around for an hour to get 5-6K on a weapon isn't worth it (unless you are dual accounting with one afk selling and the other one for playing).

Listing of presumably possible skins:
Tactics, Core:
Aegis / Shield of the Wing
Reinforced Buckler
Round Shield
Tall Shield
Wooden Buckler

Tactics, Nightfall:
Adamantine Shield <-- trying to get these is hard, but I've seen a few and have a r5/13 myself
Ancient Shield <-- never seen one in low level mobs
Diamond Aegis?
Iridescent Aegis?
Sea Purse Shield
Sharktooth Shield * (I have gotten gold/blue r6/14 off Istan)
Sun and Moon Shield * (seen r7/15)
Tribal Shield (effigy) <-- not seen, but haven;t looked
Woven Shield

Tactics, EoTN:
Darkwing Defender **
Diamond Aegis?
Enameled Shield **
Equine Aegis *
Great Conch (SUPER COMMON)
Militia Shield <-- seen r6/14
Oaken Aegis
Spiked Targe <-- own two r6/14s of this
Stone Summit Shield * <-- possible?
Summit Warlord Shield * <-- possible?

Command, Nightfall:
Ancient Shield <-- possible?
Aureate Aegis ** <-- sellable even if it is just max and command spec,because of skin
Diamond Aegis?
Eagle Defender
Goldleaf Defender
Heraldic Shield
Iridescent Aegis?
Reinforced Defender
Scarabshell Aegis <-- gotten these from Istan
Skull Shield
Suntouched Shield
Tribal Shield (crude)
Vabbian Bastion
Vabbian Defender
Vabbian Tower Shield

Command, EoTN:
Diamond Aegis?
Equine Aegis
Shield of the Wing

> They are more likely to drop by mobs <level 24 ("high end")
> r7/15 tactics is more expensive since PvP monks use them often
> command spec is used by Paragons that need to split attributes and don't need command very high for GFTE energy management (12+1+1 spear, 11+1 Leadership, 6+1 Command, for example)

Thanks to everyone in this thread, was wondering about this myself :-)

First of all I would like to thank everyone for taking time to explain this very confusing topic. I have only been playing Guild Wars for two months. The value of items is still very foreign to me. Every time I see a gold drop I think it is great, but upon further research they are only worth merch. I kind of get some of what I have read. Let me see if I understand the order of importance when determining value (for a noob):

1. If it is not a perfect inherent stat and max damage, then don’t bother checking value.
2. Is it a rare skin? Yes, it has greater value. If not, it may still be worth something so do a PC.
3. The Req will have a major role in value. Req 7 and 8 don’t drop anymore (if I read correctly). Req 9 is most desirable and the price goes down for each value above that.


I just want to make sure since I have spent some days doing nothing but trying to determine if items I have in storage are worth anything. I would rather spend that time playing the game.

Also, are these valuable items “random” all over the place or are they only found in certain locations (such as, hard mode, end of campaign areas, bosses etc)?

Checks should be shuffled a little bit...

1. Max dmg. If not, forget it.
2. Skin. Echovaldies, even they have imperfect mods, can still fetch a nice price. Same for Crystalline blades, and some other special cases (that only come non-inscribable).
3. Mods. If non-inscribable, these are very important. If a mod is missing (shields with only 1 mod, or swords without an inherent mod) or imperfect, it's generally merch food, unless covered by 2. For inscribable weapons, you can forget this.
4. Req. Req 9 of a popular attribute (domination, prot or heal, channeling, fire magic etc) fetch most, req 13 of something unwanted (inspiration, blood magic) are almost always merch food. Req 8 still drops occasionally, like req 7 once did, so it commands a hefty premium.

Be aware that several weapons, due to rarity, can be valuable even with high req. Examples are Celestial Compasses, Obsidian Blades, Emerald Blades and the likes. Learning to recognize these is a bit hard, but the location you found a somewhat unusal thing is a good indication. If it drops in say the Shiverpeaks, it's generally a lame skin End-chests of dungeons have a larger chance to provide rare items. In case of doubt, the search function here at GWGuru is the best help you can get. Simply find a few traders that offer one, and average the price.

Looking at all these answers....damn.

I sold a 20/20 healing bo staff for 20k a few months ago - thought I was getting a great deal

if it was any other req. than divine favor , don't worry , it wasn't worth much more

if it was req. divine...yeah it was a steal

Why divine is better than healing req ?

Because healing req Bo Staffs don't exist.

Oh - i didn't know that

unless of course its pvp

but yeh pve not possible

I realize this is an old thread but where do +30/-10ar, +30/-2we, +30/-2ws, and +30/-5 fit in this tier ranking in terms of value and what would be the price gap between each one? I understand prices vary depending on skin but there must still be a tier for each set of these specific mods or a "when all else fails use such-and-such percentage" pricing. Take for example a q8 str Echovald with each of these stats, how would you price them?

The moment I feel like I'm finally understanding the ranking/value gaps between each set of mods I always see a PC or an item for sale that opposes my understanding. Also, how big of a difference, for example, would a q8 str Echovald +30/-2ws price be versus the same req Echovald with +29/-2ws? I feel like a one off shield decreases in price so much more than a one off sword like q7 Longsword 14^50 versus q7 Longsword 15^50. I know this last example I'm comparing apples to oranges, but I'm just trying to understand value rankings better. I understand there probably is no definite fit all answer here but any bit of information is appreciated. Thoughts, PC gurus?

Generally its 30/-5 > 30/-2st > 30/-2ench > 45/-2st > 45/-2ench (ench and stance depend rly, some ench go more then stance and wise versa) > 30/10ar > 30/-3 > 60/-3 IMO

Also fro ur opinions. q8 str 30/-2st Echo sold 600a while q8 str 29/-2st only probably around 30-40a and even that needs time, And q7 15^50 long = 200-250a when q7 14^50 generally 40-50a, so again quite huge gaps for 1point :P

First of all, this is just my opinion.

For q9+ shields talking about perfect vs 1 off shjields I usually charge 5-10% of what I would ask for a perfect one for the 1 off shield.

Q8's however are a whole different matter as q8 perfect shields are extremely rare, especially these days, and prices today go up to insane amounts. For example a perf q8 -5 20/+30hp shadow shield I have no doubt would reach 2000-2500e easy, probably more, while I had trouble selling my q8 -5 19/+30hp shadow shield for even 90e (sure, that was a year ago orso, but you get the picture). The leap is Massive from my experience. All you can do with those is put em up for sale and see where it goes, don't set a B/O unless you have a price in mind that you're happy parting with it for.

Hope it helps somewhat.

Last 2 posts have nailed it. Spot on. Bullseye.

Although that's for shields that can (theoretically) still drop. Pre-Nerf stuff has its own mind, and can't be predicted so easily.

Then you have to factor in buyers with way too much botted cash and no clue what they are doing. And greedy sellers. Broadly speaking, those are the rules posted above, but the rules are rarely followed.

Max

Another thing u gotta learn to live with.

This game is infested with old money and ebay ectos n armbraces, people tend to twist your arm if you're not on guard.

And besides this, in general things are overpriced to the max.
If you dont know prices the chance is significant that you wont be able to Flip it for a minor profit.

Being said your Wealth isen't that much compared to top traders or veterans, you should be fine by not paying attention to the Old School and top tier items.


This game is still toxic, and may cause you to frown about some items from time to time.

You guys are awesome at responding!

Another question, there seems to be quite a gap between +30/-5 > +30/-2ws > +30/-2we. I managed to find a thread by Calli where he sold a q8 Echo +30/-2ws for the ridiculous 600a and his q8 Echo +30/-2we had a much lower b/o of 250a. Why is there such a big gap between these two mods? Would that mean if a q8 Echo +30/-5 exists that it would be 1000a+??? These are the examples which distorts any understanding I may have of prices

Thank you all for continuing to be so responsive. I'm just trying to understand pricing a little better.

depends on the attribute of the shields aswell, historically str>tactics.

Also Str shields with stance has always been the most desired and consistent combination in terms of price overall.

In rarity imo it goes -5/20 > +10 > -2s/-2e.

-5/20 was the most sought after mod in the early days of gw in terms of perfection on a shield and have always reached astronomical heights. And in general -5/20 with a +30hp mod combination is probably the rarest combination you can get imo.

The reason for this is multi prong (your first point).

1. The q8 str +30 -2st Echovald was ONE OF A KIND to everyone's knowledge - as in there is no other. The q8 tac +30 -2e echovald was NOT one of a kind. There were 2 that many people knew of at least - Calli's and one other person's.

2. str and +30/-2st is just worth more than tac and +30/-2e most of the time since warriors use str much more than tac.

As for your second point:

1. I generally value the perfect item at 10x the 1 off item. Obviously that isn't a perfect metric. But there is a HUGE difference. And could account for that gap easily.

Your point about a q8 -5/+30

1. I don't think you have to worry about this one because that shield probably doesn't exist. Statistically, you are WAY less likely to get a -5 20%/+30 shield vs a -2st or -2e/+30 which is why they are worth so much more.

Hopefully that answers your quesitons.