Why do people bother selling Althea's Ashes?

Obviously there's a way you can farm them in bulk, but don't they realise how much time they're wasting trying to sell that crap? Their time can be spent more profitable elsewhere, plus most of the people I see doing this are level 20's.

Assuming you get a ridiculous number of ashes each run (let's just say 100 ashes for 5 minutes, I have no idea what it really is), any ashes you sell is pretty much all profit. Since it's a quest item, I'm pretty sure it sells for 0 at the merchant.

I've seen people sell individual ashes for anywhere from 25g-200g, but on average it seems to be 100g-150g per ash. My question is how many can they possibly sell per hour? 20? 50?

An average run from Ascalon to Beacon's costs 2k-5k and takes about 35 minutes.

Running (worst case scenario-1 runnee and 2k payment): 57g/min
Farming (Ettins and Minotaurs): 9-11g/min
Selling Ashes (assuming 125g per ash): ?g/min

To keep up with running's worst case scenario you would need to sell 1 Altheas Ashes every 2.19 minutes (highly unlikely) or every 10 minutes to keep up with farming.

I just feel that there are better ways to make money, but every time I go into Piken's Square there's always an ashes spammer.

I assume that some people see this as a good source of income, and may also be inable to farm or run because they dont know how, or have the wrong character type.

All level 20's regardless of profession can farm with a better income/min than selling Althea's Ashes.

Regardless of profession or level, all characters can trade.

If they want money so bad, build a farming or running character. Besides, any primary Warrior / Ranger can be used for running.

but honestly speaking, unless you're a drok or desert runner, how frequently do you have business for runs? how often do people want to get run from ascalon to beacon's?

it's just the source of income they chose, and they're doing nothing wrong by letting someone else skip a long and annoying quest.

People don't make a career out of selling ashes: they are seeing how profitable it can be and quickly discover what you are pointing out: that it is much more trouble than its worth. You can get ash as quickly as you can click your mouse, so it can be thousands of ash every minute. But it is stupid to try to sell it.

You should do that run and time it sometime before throwing around numbers. I'll give you a million gold if you can run me from Ascalon to Beacons in 35 minutes. I'll give you a million gold if you can run me from Ascalon's to Beacons in under an hour. Most people have no idea how much trouble various runs are, either, or how long they really take, which is why many people don't charge enough to justify their time running, either, and quickly move on to other things. The only people who do it regularly are the ones who charge enough to become true experts, build excellent reputations, and justify their time doing it.

does that offer stand if i make the run in under an hour... on a non w/mo?
=P

Is that a wager? I use a stopwatch every time I run. My best time from Ascalon to Beacon's (including Piken's, Courthouse, Yak's, Ice Tooth) is 29min 42sec. I'll take that 1 million now.

2k is on the low end for a Beacon's Run. The only time I do it is either 5k for a single person, or a full group of people paying 2k to justify my time for doing it.

Ironically you're in a guild called "The Runners Academy".

Edit: Apparently you even have people pay you to train them in running:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=56099

I'm really biting my tongue in this post, but you really have some balls to call me out on my running skills when you know absolutely nothing about me. The only run that requires any skill at all is the Beacon's to Droknar's Forge.

Just because I'm not "famous" on these forums doesn't mean I don't have a group of patrons that pay me regularly for runs. You need to get off your high horse about the difficulties, reputations involved, about running.

Edit 2: I'm not going to stop, you are ridiculous with your accusations and prices. 60k for Ascalon to Droknar's? Average prices now are Ascalon -> Beacon's for 2k, Beacon's -> Droknar's Forge for 3k.

The only scamming runners you need to be worried about are those who ask for money up front.

Perhaps you need to spend more time playing the game rather than shooting your mouth off. It should be called the Academy of Overpriced <insert explicit here> instead.

I don't expect a response from you Blue Steel because your arguments had no foundation to begin with.

Edit 3: Cheap way to learn running: pay for a runner and then suicide yourself. Then watch the runner from his point of view.

nevertheless, selling ashes is retarded

Whoa, relax, there, AncientPC. I'm not trying to say you can't make the physical sprint portion of the run in 35 minutes. If I go with a speed build (W/Mo or W/R set for maximum speed) I'm embarrassed if the run portion takes me more than 30 minutes (though admittedly, it does take almost 30 minutes most times). I should have been clearer when I said 35 minutes or an hour, because I am talking about from a business perspective, the way you are talking about the ashes. How long does it take you to set up your skills, find the party of customers, collect the fees, answer the questions, and make the runs with the continuing questions and messages coming in throughout? All I'm saying is that if you want to compare income efficiency between the selling of ashes and the selling of a running service, you have to compare apples to apples. It takes longer to sell the ashes than it does to collect them, and likewise it takes longer to sell the running service than it does to provide it. That was what I was trying to say in my post, and I'm truly sorry if it came across as offensive.

At any rate, my sincerest apologies for my lack of clarity. If you can get me there in under an hour, I'll give you that million gold, but we start the clock when we first talk, not when the party is set up and you are standing at the gate (that way I can make sure it is impossible for you to make it in an hour, which incidentally a passenger can do anyway ). I have made tens of millions of gold running people, but in all my pricing and statistical records, I calculate for the time involved in being on the forum, answering questions in game, and setting up the parties and coordinating the schedules. When I start the stopwatch, it is an effort to find a fair price that compensates for all the time involved, behind the scenes and otherwise, to make the business viable and most importantly sustainable. That is what the ash salesman isn't thinking about, and what the 5K runners don't consider. They are trying it out and not covering their investments well. Or they don't value their play time highly.

By the way, the drok's run is a cake walk compared to other runs in the S. Shiverpeaks, like the run to copperhammer.

Sorry about going off the wall there. The remark about how it couldn't be a run, and then reading your academy thread with an elitism underlying tone (in my opinion) set me off.

I agree selling the running service does take a long time, but I spend most of my time trading for primary income while running is a secondary income.

However it's like trading, selling something no one wants will take an excruciating long time. Rather, looking for that LFR tag will make a quick sale and quick run.

But it's just two opposite ends of the spectrum. You prefer high payout, long turnaround time while I go for the opposite. It's probably because we look at running differently from two perspectives as well.