Guild Wars 2

I hit 80 and had a look at some of the runes i can use in my armour…

The prices are crazy!!! 8+ gold for a single Superior Divinity rune!!! Is this to force people to use the cash shop? :-(

You realize that players dictate what price the stuff on the trading post is, not ANet, right?

So don’t use the superior runes, there I fixed your problem.

Then just use another rune. There are many cheaper ones out there and you can also use crests and jewels, which are extremely cheap and give more stats than most runes, especially some of the cheapest (in stat budget) +crit damage% in the game.

Rustypipes.6238:

So don’t use superior runes of divinity or the eagle, there I fixed your problem.

fixed your fix.

The benefit of Superior Runes of Divinity over some of the cheaper rune sets is negligible. Most sets are relatively reasonably priced and are meant to be accumulated over time.

When you hit 80, don’t kit yourself out directly with full Exotics with Superior Runes and Sigils because you won’t be able to afford it if it’s your first 80 and you haven’t been playing the market. Its much more effective to just upgrade a fresh 80 with a full set of lvl 80 Rare armor and weapons, lvl 80 Masterwork accessories (the price for Rare accessories is absurd for the tiny stat difference) and a mix and match of smart Major Runes and Sigils.

Most of my level 80s start off with 2 Major Runes of Speed and 4 Major Runes of the Pack so that I can maximize Swiftness buffs. That combo is pretty dirt cheap and it makes running around between events much easier allowing me to gain cash faster so I can eventually kit out in what I want.

The beryl orbs look good, could they be used in armour? or just in trinkets?

the price is because the margins on the ectos have been reduced so now the next biggest money maker is the gamble on upgraded forge runes. So they will continue to spike until the masses catch on and start bringing the margins for those down and then ecto margins will go up again.

Find it easier to do the last 20-30 levels in AC and TA exclusively, then when my alt reaches level 80 i have enough tokens and gold for full suit of Exotic armor and weapons. The runes and the trinkets are the expensive part, but you can slowly buy them as you progress.

Yes this is boring way to level the last part, but if yer determined to get to 80 it is surely one of the fastest and more lucrative.

Budchgon.2108:

The beryl orbs look good, could they be used in armour? or just in trinkets?

You can use them in armor. Ruby orbs tend to be the most popular.

Craft your own or do map completion, i got 2+ divinity runes doing all the 70+ areas

Also look at dungeon runes, they are sometimes good enough to use. TBH I’d be happy if you just were wearing exotics/crests of the soldier or something like that.

Even tho I am one of the loudest people complaining about the effects of DR on the economy they did do one thing well and that’s add stats to multiple types of runesets. I like that because it gives much more choices and you’re not stuck as much with runes as you are with armor sets.

DR, lower drop rates, RNG on globs of ecto all lead to one thing, and that’s higher prices on everything. Right now we’re witnessing this in the TP. Until they fix the loot issues or until the players get fed up and leave the prices will remain this way. Heck if they removed RNG on anything that you can craft that would solve the issues everyone’s having. Return the T6 mats to the karma vendors including the materials for Runes and you won’t have people charging outrageous fees in the TP anymore.

FYI to those who suggest crafting your own, the items needed for crafting have to drop first before this will happen. If you don’t get drops as many of us don’t then there’s nothing to gather to make for ourselves. I have four level 400 maxed crafting disciplines and 0 drops, see the issue?

you can also look at mixing and matching of runes. certain runes (e.g. “Rune X”) will go for a LOT. so when if you’re doing say a “Rune A” x2 + “Rune B” x2 + “Rune C” x2 mix, and “Rune B” has the same level 2 (2/6 runes) stats as “Rune X”, the really expensive ones, you can opt for “Rune B” , since you’re not going for a full set.

so do some research look into your build and armour and weapons and try to find the sweet spot. ; ))) i’ve been having a ton of fun with different runes and experimenting. slowly acquiring them when i come up with something new.

What I’d like to know is, how many of these ominous power sellers/buyers are there and what is their real impact on the TP? I can’t, for example, understand how Unidentified Dye prices go over 10s, or dyes like Abyss 8g+. Runes and Sigils also keep rising and rising, and all of a sudden 250 Mithril Ores sell for way over 1g but Elder Wood logs drop to 30s/250. That’s all pretty mysterious to me.

Shadestrike.4372:

You realize that players dictate what price the stuff on the trading post is, not ANet, right?

To a certain extent, in the real world most definitely, but most costs of upkeep on part of the seller do not exist in the game as they do in the real world, making the economy always favor the seller over the buyer, which causes inflation that no lack of demand can drive down.

Xolo.3580:

What I’d like to know is, how many of these ominous power sellers/buyers are there and what is their real impact on the TP?

There are a few hundred players with a wealth beyond 1.000 g and at least about a dozen players who exceed 10.000 g.

The wealthiest player managed to make several hundred thousand gold from the TP, abusing every little design flaw.

This is achieved by (there are more tricks, bugs & exploits used ):

• Use of “hacks” to automatically extract the information from the TP (guess how GW2Spidy works, it uses a basic “hack” to update itself by accessing the TP server directly)
• Use of external tools to calculate margins on forgeable items (includes salvaging, regular crafting and MF crafting)
• Use of external statistic tools to predict daily / weekly / event based price fluctuations
• Cheating around TP fees (it is possible, not all traders do that)
• Placing orders, selling and withdrawing items automatically (this is new, since December there are bots which can do the TP without human interaction, not all traders do that)

What does that mean?
Well, when statistic shows, that there is an “overproduction” of a certain items type during rush hour, then the programs will tell the trader to buy everything of this certain item up to an certain price. Later this day, when the prices go up again, the trader will start to sell for higher prices, again because his programs told him so. Little to no risc, but a steady profit.

But playing the TP was only enabled by a different missconception in the first place:
The TP offers you INFINITE STORAGE. You can sell as many items at the same time as you like, and you can also “store” close to infinite items by simply not picking them up.

If the devs had been consequent on the “limited storage” thing, then TP players would have been limited to a REASONABLE throughput, but right now they can hold several dozen stacks of every single items in stock.
This is also what enabled them to cause the disaster with stuffing and glue on wintersday, only a handful players decided to buy stuffings and glue, worth several hundred golds (at the original price of 2-3c / piece!) which equals several dozens to hundred(!) stacks per trader.

The global TP concept itself is vulnerable to abuse (and it’s being abused), and that can’t be avoided. But the TP can and must be protected from individuals, who have achieved such wealth, that they can manipulate the market “singlehanded”, forcing prices which are unnatural: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Apply-storage-limit-to-the-TP-pickup-zone/first#post1178359

Shadestrike.4372:

You realize that players dictate what price the stuff on the trading post is, not ANet, right?

You realise people buy the runes using gold bought from gems thus driving up the price right.

morrolan.9608:

Shadestrike.4372:

You realize that players dictate what price the stuff on the trading post is, not ANet, right?

You realise people buy the runes using gold bought from gems thus driving up the price right.

Thats now how things work, learn to watch more closely.

The 8g is, what “powertraders” ask you to pay. If you want to know what the “regular” customer is willing to pay, look at the buy offers. Now skip those buy offers where only a handful of players tries to buy a dozen each, because those are the same “powertraders” and they just buy those items en gross to resell them at higher prices. The “actual” prices are below that.

And the other thing: People rarely buy gold via the gem store. Well, some newbies may do, but experienced players either grind for their gold or they go the “cheap” (compared to the gemstore!) way, goldsellers.

Has nothing to do with powertraders. Some things ARE very rare (500+ hours of play, no Abyss dye here), so it will obviously be expensive.

If you had played GW1 you would have known that things like Dyes were already mad expensive in the first game, especially black & white.

I do not see a problem with the prices of superior runes and sigils. Gold is easy to come by at 80. Also, having the highest grade of runes is part of the process for completing your character. Buy the Majors first, then break into Superiors when the gold flows in.

Generally there’s a much cheaper rune that offers most of the same main stats.

Runes ARE too expensive and you cannot get them back from the armor you put them in without breaking the armor itself. This is just another bad barrier to experimenting with various builds and are one of the worse part of GW2.

Exterminans.9723:

And the other thing: People rarely buy gold via the gem store. Well, some newbies may do, but experienced players either grind for their gold or they go the “cheap” (compared to the gemstore!) way, goldsellers.

In my opinion, the people who buy gold with gems fall in one or more of the following categories:
- have a steady, high income job, preferably with overhours paid in cash
- people who realize this game is cheap to play and want to support it with a “monthly”
- honest people who adhere to the concept of “pay for stuff you like” as proven to work by HumbleBundle
- casual people who play 2 hours a day max, which is already a considerable amount of time by all human standards. These people usually have a life and use gems to catch up in their hobby, just like they’d spend 4k on a racebike they use 3 times a year.
- people who don’t want their accounts banned due to buying illicit gold

If I’m close to a goal, it wouldn’t be beyond me to dump a hundred euros into gems and then gold. This game is my main hobby, I don’t have any other hobbies that require that amount of money and I have a ton of disposable income. I’m also honest enough to pay for the “free” expansions, because nothing in life is free.

Why do people always say “zomg so expensive, they’re forcing us to use cash shop!!!”, it’s like buying gold is the auto option when an item is of high value…. that is totally not true… for this mmo or any mmo, or are people so used to buying gold illegally that when this option is risky in this game this is the natural conclusion?

The 8g comes from supply and demand. The rune is rare and provides a flat bonus thats usefull to all classes and all playstyles (there are better combinations for nearly every build, but those require to spend time thinking out your builds).

Dropped exotics aren’t cheap either- so you got to 80 and you look at the high-end items and wonder about the high prizes? Do you complain about the prize of a porsche as well or are content to buy a smaller one as soon as you get your drivers licence?

Shadestrike.4372:

You realize that players dictate what price the stuff on the trading post is, not ANet, right?

I think this is only partially true. In the trading post, the price is dictated by the intersection of supply and demand. Players demand and item driving the price up, but ANet could reduce the price by increasing the drop rate.

Of course, if someone is manipulating / speculating on the market, the drop rate may need to increase substantially before an effect is felt.

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

Hmm, to my understanding is.. as long as you’re not injecting any code into the gw2 game to do this and hold no unfair advantage over others, it sounds fine.. though I have no idea how spidy works but it’s fabulous!

Wonder if John Smith has seen The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

Spidy has an API that you can use. The advantage is that it means you don’t have to ping ANet’s servers to collect data, which decreases any potential performance hits on the game.

Exterminans.9723:

Xolo.3580:

What I’d like to know is, how many of these ominous power sellers/buyers are there and what is their real impact on the TP?

There are a few hundred players with a wealth beyond 1.000 g and at least about a dozen players who exceed 10.000 g.

The wealthiest player managed to make several hundred thousand gold from the TP, abusing every little design flaw.

This is achieved by (there are more tricks, bugs & exploits used ):

• Use of “hacks” to automatically extract the information from the TP (guess how GW2Spidy works, it uses a basic “hack” to update itself by accessing the TP server directly)
• Use of external tools to calculate margins on forgeable items (includes salvaging, regular crafting and MF crafting)
• Use of external statistic tools to predict daily / weekly / event based price fluctuations
• Cheating around TP fees (it is possible, not all traders do that)
• Placing orders, selling and withdrawing items automatically (this is new, since December there are bots which can do the TP without human interaction, not all traders do that)

aaaaaaw .. NOOOES!
you forgot one aditional tool those kittens use – calc… shh, not so loud .. calculators! cheaters i tell you, they are all cheaters! rofl the spidy-hackers ^^

Cures.7451:

Exterminans.9723:

Xolo.3580:

What I’d like to know is, how many of these ominous power sellers/buyers are there and what is their real impact on the TP?

There are a few hundred players with a wealth beyond 1.000 g and at least about a dozen players who exceed 10.000 g.

The wealthiest player managed to make several hundred thousand gold from the TP, abusing every little design flaw.

This is achieved by (there are more tricks, bugs & exploits used ):

• Use of “hacks” to automatically extract the information from the TP (guess how GW2Spidy works, it uses a basic “hack” to update itself by accessing the TP server directly)
• Use of external tools to calculate margins on forgeable items (includes salvaging, regular crafting and MF crafting)
• Use of external statistic tools to predict daily / weekly / event based price fluctuations
• Cheating around TP fees (it is possible, not all traders do that)
• Placing orders, selling and withdrawing items automatically (this is new, since December there are bots which can do the TP without human interaction, not all traders do that)

aaaaaaw .. NOOOES!
you forgot one aditional tool those kittens use – calc… shh, not so loud .. calculators! cheaters i tell you, they are all cheaters! rofl the spidy-hackers ^^

Yeah, and it’s a website! Shame those gw2spidy developers, using a website to distribute data that is available to everyone else

Cures.7451:

aaaaaaw .. NOOOES!
you forgot one aditional tool those kittens use – calc… shh, not so loud .. calculators! cheaters i tell you, they are all cheaters! rofl the spidy-hackers ^^

Put your voice down man. People can hear you.
Also I heard people are using excel, but only high profile hackers do that.

Nozdrum.2894:

Cures.7451:

aaaaaaw .. NOOOES!
you forgot one aditional tool those kittens use – calc… shh, not so loud .. calculators! cheaters i tell you, they are all cheaters! rofl the spidy-hackers ^^

Put your voice down man. People can hear you.
Also I heard people are using excel, but only high profile hackers do that.

but … but … no. that would be …

Crud, I use excel… they’re onto me.
Puts on a wig and sunglasses
I’m outta here.

stof.9341:

Runes ARE too expensive and you cannot get them back from the armor you put them in without breaking the armor itself. This is just another bad barrier to experimenting with various builds and are one of the worse part of GW2.

You can test almost every runeset in the pvp lobby, and how they work with builds for free. So if you’re really not sure about a rune investment just hop over there, beat on some golem dummies and find out for yourself.

Fnarist.8467:

stof.9341:

Runes ARE too expensive and you cannot get them back from the armor you put them in without breaking the armor itself. This is just another bad barrier to experimenting with various builds and are one of the worse part of GW2.

You can test almost every runeset in the pvp lobby, and how they work with builds for free. So if you’re really not sure about a rune investment just hop over there, beat on some golem dummies and find out for yourself.

Let me know when the pvp lobby includes a high level fractals party simulator.

you can easily make 20 gold a day just buy doing fractals, and losestone farming with 150+% MF gear:).

Ouroboros.5076:

Has nothing to do with powertraders. Some things ARE very rare (500+ hours of play, no Abyss dye here), so it will obviously be expensive.

And I got one from a level 30 moa right at the beginning (and sold it of course) Chance can be annoying.

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

As long as it is read only access of information available to the public anyways you surely can ( I realize your post was a try in sarcasm but as the other posters already said spidy even provides the source to use).

goldi.3129:

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

As long as it is read only access of information available to the public anyways you surely can ( I realize your post was a try in sarcasm but as the other posters already said spidy even provides the source to use).

It actually wasn’t sarcasm. Spidy is not exactly real time and idk if using such open source info with a diagnostic tool is frown upon (i have too much vested in my account to risk it). Basically it would turn tp flipping/investing into a color by numbers type of activity as the out of game program would do all the number crunching in real time as well.

Essence Snow.3194:

goldi.3129:

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

As long as it is read only access of information available to the public anyways you surely can ( I realize your post was a try in sarcasm but as the other posters already said spidy even provides the source to use).

It actually wasn’t sarcasm. Spidy is not exactly real time and idk if using such open source info with a diagnostic tool is frown upon (i have too much vested in my account to risk it). Basically it would turn tp flipping/investing into a color by numbers type of activity as the out of game program would do all the number crunching in real time as well.

You probably can’t get the whole market data real time- as you’d have to send too many queries to the server to keep it 100% current.

goldi.3129:

Essence Snow.3194:

goldi.3129:

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

As long as it is read only access of information available to the public anyways you surely can ( I realize your post was a try in sarcasm but as the other posters already said spidy even provides the source to use).

It actually wasn’t sarcasm. Spidy is not exactly real time and idk if using such open source info with a diagnostic tool is frown upon (i have too much vested in my account to risk it). Basically it would turn tp flipping/investing into a color by numbers type of activity as the out of game program would do all the number crunching in real time as well.

You probably can’t get the whole market data real time- as you’d have to send too many queries to the server to keep it 100% current.

You wouldn’t need the whole market data if you were specializing in flipping just a few items.

JK Arrow.7102:

goldi.3129:

Essence Snow.3194:

goldi.3129:

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Quick Note:
GW2 Spidy is not hacking, they are not doing anything illegal, it’s a fantastic site.

May I use similar method to obtain automated info to use in an out of game notification tool?

As long as it is read only access of information available to the public anyways you surely can ( I realize your post was a try in sarcasm but as the other posters already said spidy even provides the source to use).

It actually wasn’t sarcasm. Spidy is not exactly real time and idk if using such open source info with a diagnostic tool is frown upon (i have too much vested in my account to risk it). Basically it would turn tp flipping/investing into a color by numbers type of activity as the out of game program would do all the number crunching in real time as well.

You probably can’t get the whole market data real time- as you’d have to send too many queries to the server to keep it 100% current.

You wouldn’t need the whole market data if you were specializing in flipping just a few items.

True but than you’d only have a very small market window.
Flippable items are usually very volatile and the items that can be flipped quickly enough to make real time analyses an issue (like runes and sigils) change very often. And even with 20 items you’d be on the verge of getting blacklisted for a DOS. If you’d keep those queries running all the time. Try hammering a webserver with a small amount of queries who come in short time stamps and see how long it will take till you’r ip is blacklisted there

edit But this is just speculation I don’t know how the server from anet is configed nor have I looked at gw2spidys api

Budchgon.2108:

I hit 80 and had a look at some of the runes i can use in my armour…

The prices are crazy!!! 8+ gold for a single Superior Divinity rune!!! Is this to force people to use the cash shop? :-(

That’s nothing! How can anyone justify 450 gold for a single item? most of the legendary stuff can’t be bought without spending real world money on gems – and as much as I enjoy GW2 I am NOT spending more money after buying the collector’s edition !

Aurrynthea.7581:

Budchgon.2108:

I hit 80 and had a look at some of the runes i can use in my armour…

The prices are crazy!!! 8+ gold for a single Superior Divinity rune!!! Is this to force people to use the cash shop? :-(

That’s nothing! How can anyone justify 450 gold for a single item? most of the legendary stuff can’t be bought without spending real world money on gems – and as much as I enjoy GW2 I am NOT spending more money after buying the collector’s edition !

If you check the general forum, there are people who have over 1500hours of playtime. If you take a (low) average of 1g an hour… well

John Smith.4610:

You should never be surprised that your preferences are not representative of the preferences of the population.

+1 John.

Something popular will sell much better then some “unheard of” or “no use” item. Divinity rune is great to sell if you ever get any. It leaves alot of room for spec swaps on the fly since it just buffs every stat u got = everyone and their mom wants it.
Best you can do OP is farm up/sell mats, run around Orr for events with a group, kill dragons, do your daily/monthly, or play the TP for profit. But save any & every coin you make, walking is free but waypoints cost an Arm & a Leg.

John Smith.4610:

Aurrynthea.7581:

Budchgon.2108:

I hit 80 and had a look at some of the runes i can use in my armour…

The prices are crazy!!! 8+ gold for a single Superior Divinity rune!!! Is this to force people to use the cash shop? :-(

That’s nothing! How can anyone justify 450 gold for a single item? most of the legendary stuff can’t be bought without spending real world money on gems – and as much as I enjoy GW2 I am NOT spending more money after buying the collector’s edition !

You should never be surprised that your preferences are not representative of the preferences of the population.

All trolling aside, the market in GW2 is not controlled by Anet. It is controlled by the players. The more money they have, the more money they can invest into getting more money.

While I see why some people may not think 450 gold is reasonable, you just have to think about how we think with less gold. If I have 2 gold, I’m fine with spending 2 gold to craft a piece of my armor. So if I had 450 gold, I might find it reasonable to buy something worth 450 gold. Especially if you consider it an investment, and plan to sell it later.

And a big thing is that the sellers are just trying to maximize profits. If somebody will buy your item for 450 gold, why would you sell it for less than that?

I think the big problem with the market though is that there are a LOT of players using the market as a big stock exchange. But not just for a select number of items, but for almost everything. People will buy 100 greatswords, then sell 100 greatswords to make small amounts of profit.

And since this is the only safe method of obtaining items through trade, it ends up making it so that items which would normally be traded like dirt are instead hiked in price due to having a lot of investors.

My opinion of course, but I’m one of those people who does this, so I’m well aware of how it affects the market. In GW1 for example, an item would be released and would have a value set by the players. Over time this item would increase in value (if it had a limited production) or would decrease in value (if it had an unlimited production). The same isn’t the case in GW2. At least not to the same degree. Even minipets keep rising and falling constantly, because people are trading them back and forth to make money.

The patient are making money and the impatient are “losing money”.

I don’t think there are many people who have more than 50g and do not
a.) play the auction house (flipping orders)
b.) buy gems and change those to money

Option a.) is relatively time-consuming and I don’t like to do this activity when I could be playing the game. This is basically an anti-fun mechanic. Yeah now lots of peope probably would disagree, because this is the way they become rich and are happy with it. Perhaps some of those people even like this activity – find it fun. I can only speak for myself: I don’t like this.

In my opinion, I don’t have the numbers though but I guess depending on the reality in our guild, the difference between the amount of money some rich people have (those who spend most of the time in the tradingpost or with much RL-money) opposed the amount of money poor people have (those who actually are in the gameworld) is far too big.

At least money isn’t everything in GW2.