Money making schemes

Slowly but surely money sinks have been added to Guild Wars. Making money pretty important, especially in lower levels where everything is ruinously expensive. That means gaining and making money is going to be a pretty important activity at least until you've played for a while and are stacking up your wealth in big piles. Finding ways of making the most out of your wealth is going to be pretty crucial. Sure, you can get by without worrying about it but if you want to have the latest and best armor and skills and weapons and dye your armor and get that guild hall and pay the WaW fee and everythign else, getting ahead of the wealth by level curve, so to speak, will do you some good.

So, finding those "exploits" where you can get around a money sink or can sell something at a significant profit is a worthwhile activity. You'll have a lot of wealth as a character, you'll be wearing expensive armor, collecting the valuable materials to craft them, learning expensive skills, holding expensive weapons, and more beyond just hording gold. The way to get ahead through wealth is to make sure that it's liquid. That you can turn your gold into crafting materials to craft a new set of armor, for example, is a common practice. But let's say you have no gold but instead have a pile of crafting goods - wood, let's say, but you're a Warrior and you need Iron to craft your suit. You can sell off all that wood to the crafting merchant and use the money to buy iron while setting some gold aside for the crafting fee and then you can craft your armor. You've converted one resource, your wood, into several others, and that, in essence, is liquid wealth. The problem here, though, is that you have gold sinks. Unless you can find someone willing to make a trade you're not going to get the actual value on that wood, so you'll lose some of your wealth converting it to gold. Then there's a premium on crafting material prices so you'll lose yet more wealth buying up iron. And again, you'll lose wealth as you craft that set of armor - it's still valuable, it's just very hard to liquidate it and realize its worth. The game's full of little snares and traps like that which will siphon off your wealth and, therefore, keep people from building up too much wealth and ruining the economy for the rest of us. That's the theory, anyway.

Making the most of your wealth, then, involves "beating" or "exploiting" those money sinks. It can be as simple as finding someone to trade with. If you can find someone willing to trade you, say, 3 Iron for 1 Wood you'll be making a good profit - instead of losing wealth on the deal you'll gain it. You'll also be fleecing that poor sap but, hey, that's capitalism. Or, say iron and wood are about equal in value you can find someone to just trade you straight up for it. That means that rather than losing wealth or gaining wealth you're just transfering your wealth from one form to another. Better yet, GW is a complex game with a lot of interlocking parts, there may be ways out there to get around the normal gold sinks by knowing, in so many words, the right place to shop. Let's say the crafting merchant will only give you half value on all your wood planks. But if there's another merchant out there they might give you full value. You can sell your wood there and then head to the crafting merchant to pick up your iron and avoid losing some of your wealth to the crafting merchant's overhead. That's an example and one that won't work but if you want to make the most of your money you'll be looking out for ways of "tricking" the game into giving you the most for your goods.

Here's a real example, one I found last BWE. Thanks to belts and bags now being inventory items you can sell them off. In Pre-Searing Ascalon there are collectors that will give you a belt pouch which you can sell for 50 gold each and every time you bring them 5 of a certain item dropped by a specific monster. Those drops are either Skale Fins or Worn Belts. Normally those sell for 2~3 gold each. So, by turning 5 of them into a belt pouch and selling it off you raise the value of each drop to a full 10 gold, which is a pretty good drop for the level of monsters you'll be fighting. Better yet, the collector who wants Worn Belts is right near an Outfitter who'll buy you pouches as well as near a large grouping of the monsters that drop Worn Belts, Bandits. They're all around Ashford which is near to Ashford Abbey, another zone. You can clean out the Bandits, scoop up several belts as well as the gold and other items they'll drop, head to the collector, trade you belts in for pouches, head to the Outfitter, collect 50 gold for each, zone out and repeat. In rapid order you'll have enough money to afford an ID kit and those monsters also drop a high percentage of "precious" items which will also sell for 50G each once you identify them. An ID kit costs 100G and has 25 charges so each charge is worth about 4G to you. Find two or three precious items - pretty good odds since you have 25 chances - and you've just paid for your ID kit. Before too long you'll be able to have a platinum piece or two, more than enough to afford salvage kits to get the crafting materials for your first crafted set of armor (Salvage kits cost 100G, too, and in Pre-Searing you won't get more than 1 or 2 crafting goods from a salvage unless it's a "highly salvagable" item. That's barely worth it. So it's better to hold off on Salvage kits until you're out of the academy and are doing missions with higher leveled monsters). You can do similarly with farming Skales for Skale Fins.

It takes a bit of time and effort but it allows you to get better equipment earlier, giving you a not insignificant edge.

I was using the 'pouch trick' to quickly purchase lvl 10 armour the moment I stepped into post-Searing as well. My general advice is that a good knowledge of what can be salvaged into what goes a long way, and that collectors in post-Sear are practically giving away powerful items which can be sold. For example, I had a shield that was something like +5 AR as well as an additional +10 AR while attacking or casting. Such items can be easily sold off for a fair sum.

all you need is 50 bucks, and you have access to your vault. Where you can pull out whatever you need. like, 60 iron ingot... make hella money on a brand new character. Or just place a few "Precious items" in your vault, pull them out once you get 50 bucks.

nice read.

about the pouch and bag. -thats ingenius.the concept is right infront of everyone, but you just dont see it, til someone else explains it.hehe.good one.

the salvage kits though. i salvaged swords and other metal things and collected alot of iron ingots(about 30+) before academy and salvaged a few worn belts for hides, too. which really helped me get my armor equipments after academy. (this is what i did from the last bwe, so i wont really know if its gonna be the same results @ full release.)

again.thx for the ideas.

Oh thank god! I thought this thread was going to be about ArenaNet and a money making sceme.


And its twice as threatining when a Mod posts it.


Nice bit of info though.

Ahh now my secret is out. Farming those worn belts should bring in some nice cash to start post-searing.

I’m not sure it still works since I was to busy playing in pvp last beta to actually think of checking if it was changed or not, but this is one thing I did in the 2 prior betas, that helped relieve a bit of strain money wise.

One you are down to 1 use left on your salvage kit or ID kit, you can (at least could before) sell your used kits back to the outfitter at half the purchase price.

So an expert salvage kit that goes for 400, you can sell back for 200 when there is only one use left out of it. Of course even if it still works, you’re probably not going to get rich, but sure helps out along the way.

Unik

Didn't seem to be the case last BWE. I think I remember seeing my kit at about a value of 6 with a few uses left, so that would write that off as a money saver.

Yeah, that exploit has been fixed.

Unfortunately, Unik, that trick - and, yeah, it's an old one and one I've used too - won't work anymore. With the addition of the value system to items your ID and Salvage kits devalue with each and every charge. That's how I come by the "one charge = 4G" figure. If you buy, say, an ID kit for 100G you'll have 25 charges. Look at it in your inventory and you'll see the value of it is 50. Turn around and try and resell it to the Outfitter and what will he offer? 50 gold. Value = price the merchants will pay per piece. So, firstly, just like with a car your ID kit is hugely devalued as soon as you drive it off the lot, so to speak. Secondly, every time you use a charge that value will drop by 2. Or, in other words, your ID kits value is worth, when you sell it, twice the number of charges you have left. If you have 24 it's 48G. If you have 20 it's 40. If you have 2 it's 4G. And so on. So there's no point in saving that last charge to sell back anymore. Each charge is worth exactly the same.

Also note, you'll pay 4G per charge on an ID kit and you'll be able to earn 2G. That's pretty much the sort of gold sink that's going to sap your wealth away. ..

neat tricks. I never thought about selling my belt pouches before. It is sort of a pain to get the appropriate materials to exchange for one (in the march beta anyway) and especially in "seared" ascalon, but it's definatly worth it for 50 gold a piece.

I dont see the point of waiting to get a salvage kit until Post if you have the gold for it. If you only salvage things that are "Highly Salvagable", then you are going to get more gold from the materials less one Kit usage than you would from selling the item to the outfitter. Salvage kits make sense in instances where you want to go out looting and 30 inventory slots just isnt that great. Also, if you know what materials you primary requires to make Armor in Post, you can get all that stuff ready so you dont have to hunt for it in Post (Scales & Cloth for Els that want Pyro armor).

I expect it to change but last BWE the Bandits were dropping Worn Belts like butterfingered busboys. I'd say at least one out of every two Bandits gave up a belt. The lv3 Bandits near Ashford also dropped precious items at a real nice rate, too. Skales were a bit more stingy. But either way you can collect a lot of them without really trying. I didn't notice the money potential until I had 40~50 belts and 20~30 Skale Fins just from trying to level up and hunting down collectors.

The point is that you'll lose money on it. Each use of a salvage kit costs you 4G. So, unless you can get more than 4G worth of materials from salvaging something, it isn't worth it. As you say, salvaging 'highly salvagable' will tend to get you around 6~8 items in Pre-Searing, and that's solid value for the money (Not as much as hitting a precious item with an ID kit but still pretty good) but otherwise you'll get 1~2. Selling the weapons and such you find will net you from 2~5G depending on the weapon's quality. So, it all depends on just how much those crafting goods are worth. I'd put things like Iron and Wood - the two most common things you'll salvage at about 2G, so salvaging one or two isn't a good deal. You'll either lose money or come out even on the deal. Salvaging things like spider's webs to get glittering dust makes a lot more sense but your "profit margin", as it were, is still pretty low. So, the choice is spend 4G to get around that amount in terms of crafting goods. Or sell the items off and earn about that amount, too. I find that it's money rather than crafting materials that's the real sticking point when crafting so I'll take the money and wait until salvaging becomes more "profitable". After the tutorial you'll salve 3, 4, and more goods from each and every item and it starts to be well worth it. In the beginning, though, I just don't see the need for crafting goods.

Yeah I got 30-35 Skale Fins next to Fort Ranik. Great read guys. I thought I was the only one to know about the belt thang!

I can't wait to try this (er, well I can't wait to try the game!) Thanks for the tip Sausaletus Rex, you seem to post a lot of helpful stuff.

Another note about salvage kits and value: Not only does the charge on your salvage kit cost 4 gold, you're losing the gold that you could have gotten from selling the item. In general, throughout the game the items that drop will sell for more than the salvage materials that you'll get out of them(with some exceptions if you get rare materials that are in-demand). Sure, you can get 10+ iron for salvaging that sword that dropped in Riverside, but it sells for 30-40 gold- meaning that you can get about 20 gold for the salvaging materials, but you spent 4 gold on salvaging it, and lost 30-40 gold by salvaging instead of selling it. Unless you're looking for the type of crafting materials that an item will salvage into or freeing up space in your inventory to pick up more loot, it's not really worth salvaging things- save your salvage charges and sell the loot. Of course, if you're out of space to pick up items and don't want to go back to town yet(ie. in the middle of a mission), you can use your salvage kit to clear some of the stuff out of your inventory- so long as you can make 4+ gold from the salvage materials, it's worth salvaging something to open up an inventory slot for another item.

Arent all salvage materials worth 5 to an outfitter? im pretty sure this was my main source of income last beta, just selling un needed materials.

Good point, Freyas. I don't know enough about crafting material values at this point to say for sure if you'll ever net gain more from salvaging than you will from selling - you might get 20G worth of Iron from a 30G sword but how much could you actually reliably buy that Iron for, what's its trade value, and how much could you sell it for, basically - but that is something to keep in mind. Item values raise as you go and therefore, so does their sale point.

Another thing I'll point out, though, is that salvaging to cut down on your inventory space doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You'll still take up inventory space with your crafting materials, and, especially in Pre-Searing, when there are Outfitters and other merchants around to sell things too you can save space by cleaning out your inventory regularly just as well. Now, if you're farming Riverside or soemthign then you'll probably want a salvage kit or two because you'll run out of space eventually. But through normal play, if you head to an Outfitter and sell things off after every mission or so, you'll probably be fine.

Yes, I agree, but the payoff is in Convience in having materials in Post and the Materials/Gold you will get from "Highly Salvagable" items. I agree, dont waste it on silly little items, but do use it on HS items where you get 5-10 materials from a peice.

I have been scrounging along, making a living (for my character) in at least 6 MMOs now. Guild Wars, based on my limited experience of it, is pretty easy so far as making money. I would offer these tips which are tried and true in the past.

1. It doesn't do any good to make a lot of money if you waste it. Buy things when you need them, not just to be buying things.

2. There is nothing you have to have this minute. Just because your buddy got a new item doesn't mean you have to have that item this minute. If you are an overeager purchaser you will get fleeced by player sellers or end up dumping what you have accumulated in a fire sale.

3. Get your money's worth out of what you buy. That is, don't blow a lot of gold on a set of armor you are only going to wear for a little while. Wait and buy a better set that will last you longer.

4. Wait for the buyer with the big wad of cash. If you have a lot of something saved up, say, wood, keep it in the vault and wait for the guy who comes into town desperate for a lot of wood and willing to pay a fortune for it. Oh, and don't be that guy lol.

5. If you find some mobs with good drops that you can kill easily, pound them for so long as your patience can stand.

6. Keep in mind the time it takes to run all over the place. The time it takes to trapse around is time you could have spent killing things that drop cash; this comes out of any profit you get from returning to town.

7. Never spend a fortune on an item unless it is really going to make a difference for you. You would be amazed how much stuff you can kill with crappy weapons and gear. Just because an item makes you a teeny weeny bit more powerful doesn't make it worth a King's ransom. Besides, if you get good at killing stuff with lame gear, it makes you a better player. Imagine how you will do one day when you get your nice gear.

8. There is no such a thing as uber low level gear. It all sucks. Seriously. Save your pennies for your end game gear and you will thank me later.

9. Spend the time to learn the value of things. It doesn't do any good to get good drops if you don't know it is a good drop and vendor it. Find out what is valuable and keep your eyes open for it.

10. Never buy anything that doesn't help you kill stuff. No one ever killed anything with a cape.

To follow up on Redfang's post, I'd just like to say that you can pretty much do all the missions with the crappy, generic armour (you know the one, it's always the armour which is cheapest to make in terms of materials). Save your rare and precious materials for masks and lvl 20 armour.

I misread it... Not quite like you misinterpreted though.. lol.
I misread it as Monkey Mating Scheme.
Good read, good info...
I'm definentl going to be doing that to stock up before the academy.

When and on which item should I use an expert salvage kit instead of a basic one?

After wasting some expert kits on items which gave me only a few basic materials, my rule of thumb has become to use expert kits only on salvage items (Shaman Garb, Mind Spark Garb...) which can drop a rune or a rare crafting material (silk, steel or linen), or on a weapon with crappy stats and a good component.

Same question for ID kits. Is it a good idea to identify all items? I tend to identify only the items with decent stats for my lvl, or items from late missions.

Where is the first place you can come across a vault keeper?

I've found that the fastest way to get gold is to travel through an area that's still gives you experience. If you decrease the henchmen you need, the wasted gold will rise. Another item that you want to keep ahold of are salvage packs, maybe four or three(-300 gold). No matter what zone you're in, you'll eventually run out of room for carrying equipment. Other than that, you may make more money exploring than going through missions since the mission monsters tend to be easier to deal with, and you can always return to a spot to pick up something you left behind if you die.

Expert Salvage Kits seem to work better on runed armor, equipment that unlocks combat abilities, and identified colored items that unlock runes. Rare items sell very well to outfitters. Highly salvageable usually gives a lot of items or occasionally a few rare crafting components. I believe you need to use the expert salvage kit to obtain the rare components, but I can't back that statement up.

in ascalon - at least in post-searing. I was never in pre-searing this last beta, so don't know if there is one there.

In post-searing Ascalon. There was none in pre-sear, but that may all change in the full release, though.

on the first page someone said they got around 30-35 scale fins near fort ranik i love scale fins i will buy them for 15 gold a piece,(sorry i am a collector) so anytime anyone here has scale fins bring them to Lazerous Demnivanni. I LOVE SCALE FINS!!

speaking of making golds in game...
i would like to share my experience.
i bought a rune of holding which costs 500 gold in a town.
instead of subtracting 500 golds...i actually earned 500 golds for free..plus a rune of holding.
i was like....cool!!! free golds plus a rune!!!
but i reported it right away...so i think it is fixed now.
it helped me to gather gold for my armour bit faster though lol

just sharing my story

Redfang,

That sounds like good advice for a MMORPG or for life. You can look/act rich or you can be rich.

Cheers,
Lews
www.freecorps.net

ya um why would u report it? jerk

I'm probably not going to be at a point to make use of this anytime soon....

so what about buying expert salvage kits in Yaks Bend, mapping back to early post-sear locations and selling them for 150% - 200%?

I know that I've got some items I'd at least like to try an expert kit on and won't get a chance to get one for a while.

So far, my favorite gold scheme in pre is also a very risky one:

Just south of Barradin Estate is a merchant in Green Hills, there is another southeast in what looks like a gypsy camp. Either of these two merchants, or any that are in explorable areas, will work for this trick.

The trick is that I drop my entire inventory at the merchant's feet, then am able to fill every slot with valuable items in the surrounding areas. Come back, sell all, grab your goodies and head back to Barradin to reset. Rinse, repeat, leave pre-searing with 2 plats like I did. =)

If you try it, just keep praying to your respective god that the game doesn't crash or the server doesn't go down, because you lose all but your gold if it does. Luckily, the merchants aren't smart enough to pick up the stuff at his feet rather than paying you for it.

Or, rather than dump all your loot on the ground, you could make due with the empty inventory slots you have and just make multiple trips to the merchant. Less risky, and besides, just how much stuff are you carrying around that you're not willing to sell? I believe I had seven slots allocated to things I wanted to keep. The rest was empty after any visit to a merchant.

I kill lots of shatter gargoyles, they drop scales, I sell them for way to much

Shatter Gargoyles have scales? My E/Me Lvl 9 needs some of those to buy the pyromancer armor in Ascalon! Where's the closes place I can find some of these beasties?

Do you guys know if this is stil valid ? I just started a new character..and well..i know where to get the belts --> I know where to find the collector who will give me a pouch --> but i dont see any "outfitter" near there and the "standard merchant" buys the pouches for 5g each only They removed this, or did i just look at the wrong places (all around ashford and abbey) Thanx in advance

Right outside Ascalon in Old ascalon. Turn right at the first junction and walk to the end pressing c, probly the first monster you see will be a gargoyle of some sort. And flash gargoyles are usually acompanied by their pals, shatter gargoyles. To kill more just go to the desert section, there are dozens there. In fact all of old ascalon is infested with them.

Patched. They now offer 5g for belt pouches. I once got offered 6g for one by some merchant, but that's still not a profit.

Regarding salvaging things in pre-searing, I salvage everthing that isn't "precious". Salvaged materials stack, non salvaged weapons/armor don't stack. I'm a raw material horder (the term for "a woman that is easy" is filtered ).

Yeah they only go for 5g now to merchants, but you can easily sell them to other players for 50gold...unfortunatly you cannot trade them in the trade window. The only way to do it is to go to a PvE area with them in your party, and drop the bag on the ground, then have them give you the money.

I did this for 3 pouches, none of the 3 people tried to rip me off, and I got an easy 150gold for it. Course it is a little annoying that you have to do this...wish they would just let you trade empty bags.