Making Money? 4th day in the game!

Hello everyone,

First I would like to introduce myself which I hope you guys do not mind. I have grown a special alias in the online community called swordofrue. However, my first name is Nathaniel.
Anyways, this will be my forth day that I will be playing guild wars and well the money has got to my head. I hardly have money to make it buy, I do not even have bags let alone a expert slavage kit. These items seem crucial to the game and I simply do not have the funds to get them. Currently I am a lvl 11 Ranger/Monk and well on my third day I figured out the missions and that eventually got me to Yanki Bend (excuse my spelling of the locations for that I am quite new to these places). So I have a few request from you all.
First, could someone explain these terms to me. I have been reading these post about items and that kind of stuff and I see the word gold and see purple. I sort of know what these mean. Like purple means it is a rare item right? But what is gold all about? Getting three gold from a chest or something, I simply do not understand.
Next, this farming thing. Is this when you do some thing over and over again in hopes of getting some good items? I would appreciate great detial on the aspects of farming because it proably is not that simple. Apprenetly there are some sort of farming runs and farming chest that are good? Would you share your farming spots and chest with me?
Another, concern I have is how to progress through the game. At first this was my way to work through the game. I would get as many quests as I could do all the quest and get more and more and do them all. At first this was great because I was a lower lvl and 500-1000 exp here and there was great. However, as I mentioned aboved I realized the greatness of missions and how they give good exp and how they get you around the world quite effectively. I seem to understand the importance of quests for that they give you skills and stuff right? Should I do all the quests I can do throughout the game? Like I get to a new area do all the quests in that area before I move onto the missions in that particular area? Seems to me this would be a good option if I do not wish to back track and a way for me to obtain skills in my journeys. However, it seems that going through and doing all the missions have advantages. Is it me or does it seem that the missions can get you a long way in lvls and skill points?
By final questions deal with amour. I learned that hard way it is not to good to get your amour crafted. I crafted some amour and realized I could of got the same thing from a collector for items I just happen to pick up along the way. Can you get amour thourghout the game mainly from collectors? Is that a good way to go about getting amour and wepons?
I appreciate the effort everyone took in reading this and giving their two cents.
Thank you,
Swordofrue

It's called "adventure for it", we took the time to find the spots, earn our living, played the game for days, weeks, months on end. You can do it also. Then you'll find money.

My advice : just play the game, do the quests and missions, explore areas and don't worry about money (don't buy anything that you dont really need)

you'll worry about farming when you have finished the game at least once and know very well how things work

Thanks for your input. Yes I was going to take that approach, but it seems that I need to be able to have decent equipment to be able to survive. As it is at the moment I barly had enough money to get full leather amour and a basic mask. Someone in a guild suggested I do not get amour until I get to Lion's Arch. Are there more places where it would be best just to keep what you have and wait until a specific town before you improve what amour and wepons you use?

When items drop, the name will be in one of four colors: white, blue, purple, or gold. White items are the "lowest" class - just plain items, with nothing special attached to them. These are also the most common.

Blue items are slightly better. Think of them as improved, or "magical" versions of the basic items. They usually have an extra ability or two attached. Somewhat less common than "white" drops, but still farily common. Many (if not most, or even all...) quest rewards will be "blue", also.

Purple items are rarer yet. Quality varies - sometimes, you can get a purple item that really has no extra abilities attached. Usually, that just means it's a rare item for that area (I think). Often, however, it's an item that has better "extras" attached to it.

Gold items are the rarest, and, in theory, among the most powerful (not that many items are really "uber"-powerful). Generally, they will be higher quality.

Ultimately, then, the color primarily refers to the rarity of the drop. In many, but not all, cases, it can tell you something about the quality of the drop, as well.

Note also that when you hear about a "gold drop", the person is usually not talking about "gold coins".

Buy the best armor in ascalon city--it will last you to well past lion's arch--frankly, it is the best armor investment up to the stuff in Draknar's Forge (weeks of game play away). The armor in ascalon city will run you 150 gold per piece. Frankly, by doing all the quests, missions, etc. You should be able to collect more than enough gold, and materials to get the armor.

Although you need better armor to survive longer, the areas before Lion's Arch is not hard to survive without decent armors. Just grab what you can get and move on. In those early areas you should have enough money to get the armors. To get materials, salvage the loots. Occasionally you may choose to sell materials that you don't need for some money. You should not worry about money and armor before Lion's Arch (even up to the desert). If you die a lot, you may want to change your strategy, as rangers should not be taking too much damage.

swordofrue, you have the right idea about collectors' armor. I spent the time searching for the items and the collectors, had a great time exploring and an immense feeling of reward when I got them.

Even if you have to pay for a few items it will ALWAYS be cheaper, and most times a higher level armor than crafted. If you have a choice between purchasing a better weapon or purchasing better armor, the armor will serve you much better.

I just played the game and after I 've beaten it with my first character (R/E), I had about 30k. (I rarely farmed at that time).

I know that there are people who has more than what I have. At the same time there are also those who have a hard time making money. Even in my guild, there are level 20 characters who don't have enough to buy their Droknar's armor.

I guess I was just lucky. I guess it also helped that I rarely bought weapons, used collector armors, picked and salvaged everything that is not worth that much, and upgraded my bags as soon as I can afford it (with a few hundred gold to spare of course). And the most money-saver I think is that I'm not vain about my character.

Swordofrue,

I've also found that getting the collector armor proves more cost efficient than getting any other armor early on. I have an ascended W/Mo who used collector armor up until Droknars Forge. Also, dont worry too much about your armor until you "know" what type of character you're going to play. I say this because you may find that your ranger will take many different paths throughout the game. You may start off as a beastmaster, but later find that you like trapping better, so dont worry so early on, just have fun and before you know it you'll have money, and skills to do what you want with a character you "know" you want to play, and how you want to play him.

Actually I find for a ranger that the Druid armor wins hands down, because of the extra energy we will get from it. And with your secondary you will need the energy more.