Guild Wars 2

I am a fairly new player to the world of Tyria and absolutely love the game in so many ways but, by the same token, I have some major issues with it also.

The environments are beautiful, the game play is excellent and there is enough diversity to maintain interest for a long time to come.

I bought this game for both my son and I to explore an interesting world together and to that end this game has delivered in full. I have also convinced my brother to buy the game and one of my good friends to buy it too. We have gone on to form a small guild together on Fissure of Woe.

Unfortunately due to other issues in the game, our enjoyment has been impaired somewhat.

The major issue for us right now is loot and gold. This is where the beast has impacted upon the beauty of the product and an area in which ANet have lost a little of my respect.

Whilst I appreciate that some level of monetisation is required to keep the game up to date and deliver fresh content, the current model may well turn out to be the thing that drives us from the game in search of pastures new in the MMORPG genre.

Both my son and I have reached the level cap of 80 and whilst there is still a huge variety of things to do, it is becoming increasingly restrictive due to the amount of gold required just to do the most basic of stuff (travel, wvw, better gear etc) If this levelled out with loot drops and better financial rewards for quests / farming etc then fair enough but, it doesn’t. On the route to level 80 I think I have had maybe 3 – 5 rare and 1 exotic item drop as loot. (Finding treasure is important to me in a game of this nature)

We have made several gem purchases (converted to gold) and spent way more than we would on a monthly subscription for other games in the genre. Truth is we could have just about paid for an annual account each on WoW or Rift or something similar. No matter how much gold we have purchased though, we will still need infinitely more with no real means of making it in the game itself. This is a major problem.

We would love to stay in the game for a long time to come but, it feels too much like a pay to play right now and that’s not what we thought we were buying into initially, when purchasing the game.

It’s not that I mind dipping into my pocket from time to time in order to support the developers of such a great product but, I do object to having to do it in order to do the most basic of stuff within the game itself.

I’d much more readily buy the gems if I didn’t feel that I had to and feeling pushed into buying them makes me more resentful of buying them. What will this equate to for ANet ? Probably a loss of potential revenue and reduced player base (albeit by four players). A much happier middle ground would be where we feel like we are purchasing gems to support the developers/product voluntarily, rather than feel like we are purchasing them just to play the game.

Over monetisation and low income potential within the game itself is becoming a game breaker for me and whilst I’d hate to have to leave the game, I think it will become a growing inevitability unless the potential exists within the game itself, to simply make a living. I hope ANet take note of this and address this issue in the future because as things stand the beast, is strangling beauty.

I have never bought gems to convert into gold, and I am no farming player (I loathe farming with a passion).
You don’t need gold for gear – if you run dungeons you can work toward exotic gear while making gold. Or you can spend karma in Orr. You need gold for travel, but one DE or heart usually is more than enough to cover that expense, so unless you bunny hop all over the maps you should be fine. Same goes for repair expenses.

So I really wonder: what are you spending so much gold on?

How can you have money problems when almost everything you do gives you money?

I have never converted gems into gold, I don’t farm, and I never run into money issues.

If you want gold, farm bosses and sell the loot, or if you have a lot of spare time, farm the Cursed Shore. There’s two waypoints east of the Temple of Melandru where events go off involving defending them from Risen for like five minutes or so, so all I do with my GS Guardian is run in, pull five guys from a trash mob towards me, AOE, kill a ton and get a bunch of loot that I sell off on the Trading Post (I tend to make around 50s this way, not bad for five minutes). The money situation isn’t ideal, and spending money on the Protector armour set just because I like the look of it pains me (79 gold for chest, legs, boots and gauntlets, are you kidding me), but it’s the fastest way to farm I think.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

Have you considered that your money woes come from overspending rather than under-earning?

My thought exactly. I haven’t had any problems with such basic things as repairs and waypoints. Armor can be got easily without spending as much as a copper. Gold can be earned through a variety of means. while gold gain is slow in this game, there’s not much to spend it on bar cosmetics. Max stats can be reached without spending 1 copper.

Grandma Funk

I have no money woes. It’s not a question of affordability. I could finance as many gem purchases as I wish and pay to get ahead but, I simply wouldn’t want to do that. I’ve even been advised against crafting in this game as there is literally no way to make a decent in game living from it.

You should be able to work in game and make enough money to facilitate involvement in other aspects of the game but, it appears that this cannot be easily done in GW2.

Over monetisation is driving the product in a direction that is not entirely compatible with my gaming ethic. Despite it being a rare thing of beauty in gaming terms, it feels devalued by it’s uglier side, the focus on monetisation and profit at the players expense.

As stated previously in my original post, I’d be far happier contributing financially if I felt I was doing so voluntarily to support the devs/product. If I feel pushed into it, I’m far more likely to push back and withdraw that support. I’m also far more likely to leave the game completely and therefore reduce ANets income potential to £0.00

Better that they get a little of my money on a goodwill basis than get none at all. That’s basically what I’m saying here.

TactiCol.8450:

I have no money woes.
…
You should be able to work in game and make enough money to facilitate involvement in other aspects of the game but, it appears that this cannot be easily done in GW2.

Well which is it? Do you have enough money or don’t you?

Here take this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_1QqW0iGg8

Unless you’re just staring at the landscape, you should be making some sort of cash. Every day I either do dungeons, level alts, or WvW and I have plenty of gold to spend on whatever I wish.

Hm, I’m poor as a churchmouse in that game with around 20 gold spread over all my characters and I hate farming but it actually never occured to me that I couldn’t proceed without spending real money and converting it into gold.

When it comes to several special cosmetic items gold may play an important role but normal stuff such as waypoints, repairs and even exotic gear are quite affordable, imo. Especially Exotic gear can be obtained through different ways to play (like karma and map completion) so that money doesn’t even have to play a role at all.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

TactiCol.8450:

I have no money woes.
…
You should be able to work in game and make enough money to facilitate involvement in other aspects of the game but, it appears that this cannot be easily done in GW2.

Well which is it? Do you have enough money or don’t you?

I have enough money in this world to support an in game lifestyle of some affluence but, that goes against my gaming ethic and if I feel it’s almost mandatory rather than voluntary, then I’d sooner be an in game pauper or find another game.

I love the product, don’t misunderstand me on that. I also understand ANet’s position on monetising the product to generate revenue streams but, I feel that is sailing very close to the bay of pay to play and that is not what I thought I was investing into to begin with.

You DO NOT have to spend real money on this game to get gold. Assuming I didn’t misread your posts but this seems to be what you’re implying. Most of us made our gold from events, dungeons, trading post, etc.

Also, would you rather pay a subscription? Servers cost money to maintain and run. There’s also the cost of the staff that maintains the game and develops new content. In game purchases is the new tool used to find these activities over monthly subscriptions.

TactiCol.8450:

I have enough money in this world to support an in game lifestyle of some affluence but, that goes against my gaming ethic and if I feel it’s almost mandatory rather than voluntary, then I’d sooner be an in game pauper or find another game.

Ya, I was talking strictly in terms of in-game currency. Your complaint is about not having “enough” gold earned through game play.

What a few of us have tried to do is try to have you look at your spending rather than your earning. When you say you don’t have “enough” gold… enough for what specifically?

-how often do you use waypoints?
-how often do you upgrade your equipment and how?

TactiCol.8450:

Grandma Funk

I have no money woes. It’s not a question of affordability. I could finance as many gem purchases as I wish and pay to get ahead but, I simply wouldn’t want to do that. I’ve even been advised against crafting in this game as there is literally no way to make a decent in game living from it.

You should be able to work in game and make enough money to facilitate involvement in other aspects of the game but, it appears that this cannot be easily done in GW2.

Over monetisation is driving the product in a direction that is not entirely compatible with my gaming ethic. Despite it being a rare thing of beauty in gaming terms, it feels devalued by it’s uglier side, the focus on monetisation and profit at the players expense.

As stated previously in my original post, I’d be far happier contributing financially if I felt I was doing so voluntarily to support the devs/product. If I feel pushed into it, I’m far more likely to push back and withdraw that support. I’m also far more likely to leave the game completely and therefore reduce ANets income potential to £0.00

Better that they get a little of my money on a goodwill basis than get none at all. That’s basically what I’m saying here.

I think the “money” people are referring to is in-game gold.

I have to agree with the other posts, I’ve never bought gems and I’ve been able to get ahead just fine. GW2 is definitely not a pay to win game by any stretch of the imagination. You can gear your characters in full exotics for free from doing dungeons, and that’s all you need to be maximally effective in PvE/WvW.

Crafting wont be profitable until you max out the levelling, and even then it’s a matter of choosing the correct items to craft given the current market conditions. If you’re not interested in the trading post game, just playing the pve content should earn you enough money.

What have you been doing with your gold that you find yourself running out so frequently?

TactiCol.8450:

You should be able to work in game and make enough money to facilitate involvement in other aspects of the game but, it appears that this cannot be easily done in GW2.

-Explore the world.
-Do events.
-Do dungeons.
-Gather materials and sell them.

All these basic things should earn you enough money to fund travel and repair costs + keep extras.

TactiCol.8450:

Grandma Funk

I have no money woes. It’s not a question of affordability. I could finance as many gem purchases as I wish and pay to get ahead but, I simply wouldn’t want to do that. I’ve even been advised against crafting in this game as there is literally no way to make a decent in game living from it.

You should be able to work in game and make enough money to facilitate involvement in other aspects of the game but, it appears that this cannot be easily done in GW2.

Over monetisation is driving the product in a direction that is not entirely compatible with my gaming ethic. Despite it being a rare thing of beauty in gaming terms, it feels devalued by it’s uglier side, the focus on monetisation and profit at the players expense.

As stated previously in my original post, I’d be far happier contributing financially if I felt I was doing so voluntarily to support the devs/product. If I feel pushed into it, I’m far more likely to push back and withdraw that support. I’m also far more likely to leave the game completely and therefore reduce ANets income potential to £0.00

Better that they get a little of my money on a goodwill basis than get none at all. That’s basically what I’m saying here.

how about running dungeons, doing fractals, buying gear with dungeon tokens, salvaging and selling it, doing dragon events, doing high level zones? I bought most of my character slots and minies by converting GOLD to GEMS. Never had ANY money problems. You’re doing something terribly wrong in this MMO.

I have to agree with most of the other posters…I have never bought gems and converted them to gold, yet I have purchased several bank slots, minis, town clothes, etc. All with gems converted from in-game gold. I am not a farmer, or even a dungeon runner. In fact, (lol), I rarely get my characters out of the lower levels. You can make a decent amount of gold just by selling off the low-level gathering materials, certain things you craft, (its hit or miss with me, I don’t even investigate what might sell well), the rares you get from doing the boss events, DEs…this and that. I rarely use waypoints, and rarely need to repair. I am now halfway to Golden..yay.

I am afraid I just do not understand why your game experience seems to necessitate so much gold spending.

This works for me, but perhaps you would not enjoy my playstyle.

My wife and I have been playing since shortly after launch, and beyond the price of the game boxes themselves I’ve spent a grand total of $50, this was a birthday splurge on two $25 gem cards for her and I. Yet I never lack for money even while leveling two of my toons to 80 and keeping multiple toons in level-appropriate gear and working occasionally on crafting.

Some things to keep in mind:

Don’t travel to waypoints on the other side of the map, it gets expensive especially at higher levels. In each race’s home city is a portal to/from Lion’s Arch. It can be cheaper to WP or walk to the nearest city, go to LA, then go to another city and travel onwards from there. Don’t WP unless you have to, explore the entire zone over the course of a couple days, do a few DEs and gather some loot and you won’t even notice the WP fees.

Sell stuff on the TP whenever possible, not to the vendor. “White” equipment and the things you break down into crafting mats sell pretty well on the TP especially when there is the “recycling” daily.

Depending on the stat bonuses, a lot of lower level equipment sells well too. Bags of random stuff that drops from enemy kills sell for much more than the vendor price, too. Instead of opening them and getting a handful of copper and a crafting mat worth 25c, sell it for 1.5s instead.

These kinds of things vendor for 5 or 10 copper but can sell for 10x that or more on the TP. I have a steady income just by selling the loot from drops on the TP.

If you craft, accept that it’s a gold sink and unless your intention is to outfit your entire guild in exotic armor, you’ll end up spending more than you save. A lot of crafted armor sells for 1c above vendor price, which is foolish because you pay 15% to sell on the TP, so the majority of items sold this way lose money vs. selling to a vendor. But it’s a buyer’s market, instead of using 10s worth of mats to craft one piece of armor, buy it from the TP for 2s1c.

Then sell the 10s worth of mats you’re not using and you get paid more than it costs to upgrade your armor. Even low level mats sell well, every time you swing your pick at a pile of copper ore, it’s worth 10c. You can pay your WP fees just by harvesting whatever mats are near the WP.

If you don’t care about saving up for Ascended gear, do the daily whenever you can and buy dyes. A pack of 10 unidentified dye you get for free can sell for about 1.7g every five days. You can make nearly 3g a week just for playing the game! (More if you count the money you get for completing the daily)

So:

Don’t go to the vendor without checking the prices for dropped loot on the TP, you’ll make a lot more money in the long run.

Sell goodie bags, crafting mats, and unopened dyes on the TP for lots of quick cash.

Don’t WP all over the map, explore one zone for a while and you’ll pretty much get all the money you need just by playing the game.

Work smarter, don’t just get out the credit card whenever you run low. This game can be played forever just for the price of the game itself.

Mirta.5029:

how about running dungeons, doing fractals, buying gear with dungeon tokens, salvaging and selling it, doing dragon events, doing high level zones? I bought most of my character slots and minies by converting GOLD to GEMS. Never had ANY money problems. You’re doing something terribly wrong in this MMO.

I am not a dungeon runner tbh and am not interested in making lots of in game money. I’m just concerned with the loot drop rate and low in game incomes. I have to finance two accounts and my son does most of the spending on his account. I am an adventurer by trade (in game wise) and have played MMORPG’s since the day Anarchy Online came out. I have ran several guilds in other titles and I am well seasoned in the dynamics of the MMORPG.

Whilst it is possible to get by with the most basic of gear in this title, it’s is very difficult to gear up without making a financial contribution. I have not really had this problem in other titles in the genre, although most were subscription based.

There is no element of surprise in the loot table, little to no money to be made from gathering and very tight margins on crafting. Short of running dungeons repeatedly (A form of grind I thought ANet was against in principle) what other methods are there for making a living in game ?

TactiCol.8450:

Mirta.5029:

how about running dungeons, doing fractals, buying gear with dungeon tokens, salvaging and selling it, doing dragon events, doing high level zones? I bought most of my character slots and minies by converting GOLD to GEMS. Never had ANY money problems. You’re doing something terribly wrong in this MMO.

I am not a dungeon runner tbh and am not interested in making lots of in game money. I’m just concerned with the loot drop rate and low in game incomes. I have to finance two accounts and my son does most of the spending on his account. I am an adventurer by trade (in game wise) and have played MMORPG’s since the day Anarchy Online came out. I have ran several guilds in other titles and I am well seasoned in the dynamics of the MMORPG.

Whilst it is possible to get by with the most basic of gear in this title, it’s is very difficult to gear up without making a financial contribution. I have not really had this problem in other titles in the genre, although most were subscription based.

There is no element of surprise in the loot table, little to no money to be made from gathering and very tight margins on crafting. Short of running dungeons repeatedly (A form of grind I thought ANet was against in principle) what other methods are there for making a living in game ?

Crafting in this game is more like something to do as a hobby.
The game encourages you to do dangerous stuff – run dungeons, do map bosses, run fractals, WvW without buying siege weapons ties in a nice amount of money if it’s going successfully, exploring the map gives you a lot of money too.
I never needed a financial contribution to gear up. Buy karma gear in Orr if you can’t get the materials to craft it, if you don’t want to get it with dungeon tokens and if you don’t want to buy it with gold off the TP.

I think Tolunart has the way of it, if you ain’t selling your stuff on the Trading Post (and you can sell from anywhere then pick your money up later) you’re gonna lose a lot of money.

Since I bought the game I have put about twenty bucks into it for things I really wanted, like armor skins. You’re right, there are a few things what are super expensive … never try to buy a Precursor unless ya really want to throw your money away, and a few of the very rare or popular armor sets are expensive once you start adding the pieces up. (Superior Runes of Lyssa for 3.75 Gold!? And I need six of them … sigh) But that just means it’s something to work toward – to save your in game money up for.

Unless you’re really impatient there shouldn’t be much you need ta spend real life money on; character slots, armor skins, maybe transmutation stones if you aren’t clearing maps, (I went through a dry spell there for a bit) but if you’re spending more than an average of even five bucks a month, you should probably sit back and reconsider your in game spending habits.

TactiCol.8450:

not interested in making lots of in game money. I’m just concerned with the loot drop rate and low in game incomes.

So… do you not see how you keep contradicting yourself in these posts?

TactiCol.8450:

I am well seasoned in the dynamics of the MMORPG.

Which means you have a bunch of preconceived notions you probably need to unlearn.

tolunart.2095:

My wife and I have been playing since shortly after launch, and beyond the price of the game boxes themselves I’ve spent a grand total of $50, this was a birthday splurge on two $25 gem cards for her and I. Yet I never lack for money even while leveling two of my toons to 80 and keeping multiple toons in level-appropriate gear and working occasionally on crafting.

Some things to keep in mind:

Don’t travel to waypoints on the other side of the map, it gets expensive especially at higher levels. In each race’s home city is a portal to/from Lion’s Arch. It can be cheaper to WP or walk to the nearest city, go to LA, then go to another city and travel onwards from there. Don’t WP unless you have to, explore the entire zone over the course of a couple days, do a few DEs and gather some loot and you won’t even notice the WP fees.

Sell stuff on the TP whenever possible, not to the vendor. “White” equipment and the things you break down into crafting mats sell pretty well on the TP especially when there is the “recycling” daily.

Depending on the stat bonuses, a lot of lower level equipment sells well too. Bags of random stuff that drops from enemy kills sell for much more than the vendor price, too. Instead of opening them and getting a handful of copper and a crafting mat worth 25c, sell it for 1.5s instead.

These kinds of things vendor for 5 or 10 copper but can sell for 10x that or more on the TP. I have a steady income just by selling the loot from drops on the TP.

If you craft, accept that it’s a gold sink and unless your intention is to outfit your entire guild in exotic armor, you’ll end up spending more than you save. A lot of crafted armor sells for 1c above vendor price, which is foolish because you pay 15% to sell on the TP, so the majority of items sold this way lose money vs. selling to a vendor. But it’s a buyer’s market, instead of using 10s worth of mats to craft one piece of armor, buy it from the TP for 2s1c.

Then sell the 10s worth of mats you’re not using and you get paid more than it costs to upgrade your armor. Even low level mats sell well, every time you swing your pick at a pile of copper ore, it’s worth 10c. You can pay your WP fees just by harvesting whatever mats are near the WP.

If you don’t care about saving up for Ascended gear, do the daily whenever you can and buy dyes. A pack of 10 unidentified dye you get for free can sell for about 1.7g every five days. You can make nearly 3g a week just for playing the game! (More if you count the money you get for completing the daily)

So:

Don’t go to the vendor without checking the prices for dropped loot on the TP, you’ll make a lot more money in the long run.

Sell goodie bags, crafting mats, and unopened dyes on the TP for lots of quick cash.

Don’t WP all over the map, explore one zone for a while and you’ll pretty much get all the money you need just by playing the game.

Work smarter, don’t just get out the credit card whenever you run low. This game can be played forever just for the price of the game itself.

All good advice and I do try to observe that already. It doesn’t even give me in game financial stability though, let alone the opportunity to accumulate in game wealth to further character progression.

I am going to run an experiment this week with my son on mat gathering and see what the numbers are at the end of the week. We will probably do 2 hours per day over 5 days or something and factor in all our income and expenditure. Maybe it will change my mind and I’ll realise I am completely wrong about it, or maybe it will just confirm what I have already said. I’ll report back with my findings after the coming weekend. I’ll then look at crafting in the same manner and evaluate the numbers again.

TactiCol.8450:

Whilst it is possible to get by with the most basic of gear in this title, it’s is very difficult to gear up without making a financial contribution.

little to no money to be made from gathering … Short of running dungeons repeatedly (A form of grind I thought ANet was against in principle) what other methods are there for making a living in game ?

Just ta let ya know, I don’t run dungeons more than once, I don’t grind – ever – and I have full exotics on my character easy. Most exotic pieces aren’t gonna cost you more than a gold and a half on the Trading Post, if that.

Aside from using the TP more, I don’t know what to tell ya. Are you exploring the maps and hitting the jumping puzzles? They don’t really give you enough money ta turn your life around, but it’ll be a little extra cash. Are you clearing maps? I make all my money simply from killing mobs in the process of clearing maps … I love exploring so this is hardly a problem for me. Gets to the point, sometimes, where I just leave drops on the ground because my Inventory’s mostly full and I don’t expect it ta be any good. But I have 75 slots in my inventory and each time I clear out to use the Trading Post I make a few silver.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

TactiCol.8450:

not interested in making lots of in game money. I’m just concerned with the loot drop rate and low in game incomes.

So… do you not see how you keep contradicting yourself in these posts?

TactiCol.8450:

I am well seasoned in the dynamics of the MMORPG.

Which means you have a bunch of preconceived notions you probably need to unlearn.

There are no contradictions at all to be perfectly honest. I’m being entirely clear on the points raised. Perhaps it is a matter of perception.

The only preconceived notion around here at present is your preconceived notion that I have preconceived notions that need unlearning

I came into this game with very little by way of expectation and in many regards, the game has fulfilled it’s promise on any expectations I may have had. The game itself is a treasure and has a place in my top 5 games of all time. It would be a shame to find myself putting it away in the game collection cupboard though, on account of the issues raised here.

@TactiCol:

I am vastly curious what gold you require which you do not earn as you play. I’ve never been rich like the people who try flipping stuff on the Trading Post (seriously, you do need a nice investment egg to start that . . . and a lot of luck) but I’ve been able to support my gear.

I am running in 1/6 Ascended gear (I could have more, but decided it wasn’t worth my time yet) and the rest is Exotic with two Rare weapons. I have gone to 400 in three Crafting professions now, and have only had to purchase roughly 40s in materials off the Trading Post when I felt too lazy to go find where Tier 3 Fine materials drop.

I am an active member of a guild, which has perhaps taken more of my gold currency than it should. It still is about as much as I spent on Waypoint travel, which is to say I’m figuring about 12 gold over eight months.

Where is your expense coming from?

If you are having problems, you can do a few things to try making some money back:

- Don’t cross-continent travel via Waypoint if you can avoid it. Drop into Heart of the Mists and then go to Lion’s Arch. This alone shaves off 1-2 silver, but if you then use the asuran gate hub to go to the closest city? You can come in under the cost of a straight transit.

- Try to kill things at either end of a Waypoint travel so you essentially make your money back on Green items.

- If you’re not ever going to craft, sell your crafting materials on the Trading Post.

- Don’t do WvW.

TactiCol.8450:

All good advice and I do try to observe that already. It doesn’t even give me in game financial stability though, let alone the opportunity to accumulate in game wealth to further character progression.

By trading gold I got from selling mats and loot drops into gems, I was able to go from 0 – 15+ gold several times to buy extra character slots for my wife and I, in addition to purchasing armor, weapons and upgrades every few levels on multiple toons. This is mostly since January because I took a break during Nov-Dec when the game got boring and I was doing other stuff.

Without really trying, I’d say the two of us make about 10g per week. The biggest thing you can do to make money fast is to set aside crafting for a while and sell all the mats you get. Later when you want to work on crafting put in buy orders for 100s of the mats you need at minimal prices. If you sell 1000 copper ore at 10c each and later buy 500 copper ore at 5c each you still end up ahead. But it’s very hard to craft items and sell them for a profit because the mats are more expensive than the items they produce.

tolunart.2095:

But it’s very hard to craft items and sell them for a profit because the mats are more expensive than the items they produce.

Strangely, I may be wrong, but certain food items from Cooking seem quite desired enough to cost a bit. However, getting to the skill to make them can be . . . daunting.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

@TactiCol:

I am vastly curious what gold you require which you do not earn as you play. I’ve never been rich like the people who try flipping stuff on the Trading Post (seriously, you do need a nice investment egg to start that . . . and a lot of luck) but I’ve been able to support my gear.

I am running in 1/6 Ascended gear (I could have more, but decided it wasn’t worth my time yet) and the rest is Exotic with two Rare weapons. I have gone to 400 in three Crafting professions now, and have only had to purchase roughly 40s in materials off the Trading Post when I felt too lazy to go find where Tier 3 Fine materials drop.

I am an active member of a guild, which has perhaps taken more of my gold currency than it should. It still is about as much as I spent on Waypoint travel, which is to say I’m figuring about 12 gold over eight months.

Where is your expense coming from?

If you are having problems, you can do a few things to try making some money back:

- Don’t cross-continent travel via Waypoint if you can avoid it. Drop into Heart of the Mists and then go to Lion’s Arch. This alone shaves off 1-2 silver, but if you then use the asuran gate hub to go to the closest city? You can come in under the cost of a straight transit.

- Try to kill things at either end of a Waypoint travel so you essentially make your money back on Green items.

- If you’re not ever going to craft, sell your crafting materials on the Trading Post.

- Don’t do WvW.

Expenses are the guild itself, character gear, waypoints and WvW across two accounts. I have been storing mats rather than selling them in order to up my crafting skills later without having to buy everything.

TactiCol.8450:

Expenses are the guild itself, character gear, waypoints and WvW across two accounts.

Break it down with actual values.

One thing that I found to balance the expenses was to check everything on the TP before depositing it into Collectibles or NPCing it. Of course, anything that I am not going to be using in the immediate future gets sold on the TP if it has a significantly higher cost.

Also, just dillydallying in Orr or WvW gets much easier when you realize that you can sell the Heavy Moldy Bags and Heavy Loot Bags for like 3 silver each.

I have been storing mats rather than selling them in order to up my crafting skills later without having to buy everything.

Other than Legendaries, there isn’t much reason to level crafting. Crafting gives good experience and you can make your own gear, but most of the time the materials are worth more than the end gear. And there is no difference between a piece of gear bought from the TP and one you made yourself.

Hmmm.. What are you spending your gold on?

Hmmm.. What are you spending your gold on?I do not farm or grind (hate it), and I have never did the gem to gold thing. Yesterday, I threw 40 gold at my guild in influence and still had some left over.

Hmmm.. What are you spending your gold on?I do not farm or grind (hate it), and I have never did the gem to gold thing. Yesterday, I threw 40 gold at my guild in influence and still had some left over.I am by no means rich, but I am not begging for money either.

TactiCol.8450:

I came into this game with very little by way of expectation and in many regards, the game has fulfilled it’s promise on any expectations I may have had. The game itself is a treasure and has a place in my top 5 games of all time. It would be a shame to find myself putting it away in the game collection cupboard though, on account of the issues raised here.

That would be unfortunate, because it is a complete reversal of my own experience, where I have made a specific decision to avoid using real cash to fund my gaming.

When I first started playing, it was very hard to make money, but I realized it was my own doing and not the game. I used to break down most of the loot that dropped, opened the tiny bags and such and ID’d the dyes to see if I got anything good. When I stopped doing this and started selling them on the TP my income increased dramatically. Just cleaning out the accumulated crafting mats from my bank gave me 6 gold in less than an hour.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

tolunart.2095:

But it’s very hard to craft items and sell them for a profit because the mats are more expensive than the items they produce.

Strangely, I may be wrong, but certain food items from Cooking seem quite desired enough to cost a bit. However, getting to the skill to make them can be . . . daunting.

I haven’t done much cooking so I don’t know what items sell… but I’m thinking too of the cost of getting X points in the skill to be able to make the things that sell… you can’t make money unless you have money, but if you have money, you don’t need to make money…

tolunart.2095:

Without really trying, I’d say the two of us make about 10g per week. The biggest thing you can do to make money fast is to set aside crafting for a while and sell all the mats you get. Later when you want to work on crafting put in buy orders for 100s of the mats you need at minimal prices. If you sell 1000 copper ore at 10c each and later buy 500 copper ore at 5c each you still end up ahead. But it’s very hard to craft items and sell them for a profit because the mats are more expensive than the items they produce.

I’ve held on to the mats but I will try selling them over the next few days worth of gathering and see how that affects my income. As you say, the mats are worth more than the items they produce which in my mind at least, suggests that something is broken and needs to be fixed.

TactiCol.8450:

I have been storing mats rather than selling them in order to up my crafting skills later without having to buy everything.

Mats go up and down in price. The min price for copper ore may be 5-6c in the morning, 10-12c in the evening, and even go up to 14-15c during particularly busy evenings. For quick cash I sell it at whatever the current price is, if I don’t mind waiting I list it for like 12c each and wait for the lower-priced stuff to sell and make a few silver.

You’re probably sitting on 10-20 gold right now.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

TactiCol.8450:

Expenses are the guild itself, character gear, waypoints and WvW across two accounts.

Break it down with actual values.

Yeah hang on, I’ll just fetch my calculator and my favourite accounts package.

I don’t know the values as it is based on 2 months of game play. All I know is that I’m spending way more gold than it seems possible to make in game. Guild Research, WvW siege deployment, waypoint travel, repairs and character gear are the main money sinks right now. Spent a little on crafting too but have given that up for now until I research it further.

tolunart.2095:

TactiCol.8450:

I have been storing mats rather than selling them in order to up my crafting skills later without having to buy everything.

Mats go up and down in price. The min price for copper ore may be 5-6c in the morning, 10-12c in the evening, and even go up to 14-15c during particularly busy evenings. For quick cash I sell it at whatever the current price is, if I don’t mind waiting I list it for like 12c each and wait for the lower-priced stuff to sell and make a few silver.

You’re probably sitting on 10-20 gold right now.

You are probably right as I’ve done the buy more at trading post option on some of my mats and there is a good few golds worth. I’m going to evaluate it again whilst selling everything I collect over the next five days. Just so I’m a little clearer on the numbers involved.

Waypoint costs should be trivial, if they are not, you’re overusing them. Quick value check: after using a waypoint, make note of how much it cost you. don’t use a waypoint again until you’ve earned at least twice what the first one cost you.

WvW siege: get blueprints through map completion and JP reward. If you must buy them, do so only with badges.

Idk, you seem to be spending way too much money. I don’t have any issues with money. There is nothing you actually need in game to play that you can’t get pretty easily. There’s no need to go to the cash shop at all, unless you happen to want to buy mini pets or skins (all of which are vanity items anyway).

Way point costs can easily be made up with DEs. You don’t even need to buy exotics with gold(the cultural ones are way over priced anyway, you’re better off getting exotics from the trading post). You can go to Orr and get exotics from the karma vendors at the temples. In fact, the highest level of gear Ascended is not even obtainable with gold. You can only get them through fractals, dailies, monthlies and guild missions.

If you don’t like doing dungeons you can run around the Cursed Shore doing pent/shelt and Plinx events for money. They aren’t as profitable as they once were, but they still net some gold. Plus there are also the temple events for a guaranteed rare item which you can then salvage for ecto. And it’s not just the temple events in Orr. Many major zone events give these chests. Shadow Behemoth, Frozen Maw, Fire Elemental, Shatterer, Tequatl, Claw of Jormag are all big DEs worth going to.

TactiCol.8450:

I’ve held on to the mats but I will try selling them over the next few days worth of gathering and see how that affects my income. As you say, the mats are worth more than the items they produce which in my mind at least, suggests that something is broken and needs to be fixed.

Broken? Maybe, but it can’t be fixed.

In other games, when two players’ toons go to a node, the first one to get to it mines the ore, chops the tree, etc. and it’s gone. In GW2 both players can gather from the same node, in fact everyone who comes across it can gather once, then it regenerates in an hour or so. This means there is a lot more crafting mats floating around than other games.

So as my wife and I roam the world together and each gather from the same nodes, she sends me the mats she gets and I have twice as much to sell as I would have if I gathered alone.

The game is set up to discourage “farming” behavior – for example if you stay in one area and repeatedly kill the same creatures as they respawn your loot drops will soon go down in value and finally all but disappear. But there are still people who insist on “farming” and spend all day wandering around collecting mats, or have bots that do the same.

Also, you can learn two crafting skills per toon at a time, and picking up a new skill is free. Most recipies are discovered, not bought, and combined with a market flooded with crafting mats it makes it easy for people to make their own stuff. Of course in the process of discovering new recipes and raising your skills, you end up making more stuff than you can use, so a lot of it goes to the TP.

Because people can’t be bothered to learn how to factor in the 5% listing fee and 10% selling fee they just try to undersell whatever is already there, bottoming out at the minimum price allowed by the game, 1c above vendor price.

So, yeah, crafting in the game is kinda broken. But short of tearing it out and remaking the entire gathering/crafting system from scratch there’s nothing they can do about it.

TactiCol.8450:

GrandmaFunk.3052:

TactiCol.8450:

Expenses are the guild itself, character gear, waypoints and WvW across two accounts.

Break it down with actual values.

Yeah hang on, I’ll just fetch my calculator and my favourite accounts package.

I don’t know the values as it is based on 2 months of game play. All I know is that I’m spending way more gold than it seems possible to make in game. Guild Research, WvW siege deployment, waypoint travel, repairs and character gear are the main money sinks right now. Spent a little on crafting too but have given that up for now until I research it further.

you shouldn’t spend money on guild research. You should accumulate the influence over time like most small guilds do. No reason to buy siege weapons in WvW either. Other things should not be expensive at all.

Somethin’ that just occurred to me – are you gathering and selling your gathered materials: stone, wood, plants, etc.? That is something super easy to do and a major source of income for those of us what don’t care to grind, farm, whathaveya.

Mirta.5029:

you shouldn’t spend money on guild research. You should accumulate the influence over time like most small guilds do. No reason to buy siege weapons in WvW either. Other things should not be expensive at all.

No wonder you’re spending a lot! Are you sharing guild and WvW costs among several people or trying to finance it yourself? You might need to focus on one thing at a time, or accept that you’re making a lot of optional purchases and it’s not the game’s fault you’re spending a lot of real money.

It may be enlightening for all of us to hear from you what a day in the life of TactiCol is (in game, of course). This might help us put a finger on why you are spending more gold than you are making.

Many people have already given helpful tips. I’ll see if I can add one or two things.

Have the appropriate gathering tools equipped and as you clear maps, make sure you’re gathering. You Don’t have to go out with the mindset of farming gathering nodes. Make it incidental. If you were headed to the next point of your story mission, start from the nearest city (which you can get to for 0 silver by using the Heart of the Mists to Lion’s Arch to the Gate Hub) and run there, gathering whatever happens to be relatively close on your map.

Waypoint less when you choose to clear maps. If you must waypoint to a map, so be it, but make sure you are accomplishing goals there (finishing heart quests, doing dynamic events, gathering) enough to recompense your waypoint cost.

Use basic salvage kits for whites and blues. At level 80, you should be salvaging any white and blue Light and Heavy armor. Vendor white and blue medium armor.

Do dungeons for fun. No seriously. If you’ve got decent gear and you’ve got your son and three friends, do some dungeons. If you’re new, choose to do the Easy dungeons first. (You’ll need to do story mode to unlock explorable mode, too.) Try doing one new one a night. Read the guides or watch the videos to know what you’re up against.

Are you aware that you can loot monsters after killing them?

On the topic of earning influence. It can be challenging earning influence for a small guild. Check the wiki to see how to maximize what influence you guys are earning.

For example. If a guild member completes an event by themselves, they earn 2 influence for the guild. If two guild members get together and complete that event, they earn 20 influence for the guild instead.

If you’re wvw focused, make sure your guild isn’t running around solo, get together and hang out with the zerg. You’ll complete tons of events very quickly doing that.

TactiCol.8450:

I have enough money in this world to support an in game lifestyle of some affluence but, that goes against my gaming ethic

In other words developers should work for free. Do you work for free?

Times have changed buddy. Back in our day we’d be lucky to get any patches for a game after release – games nowadays are continuously maintenanced and added to.

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

I have never bought gems to convert into gold, and I am no farming player (I loathe farming with a passion).
You don’t need gold for gear – if you run dungeons you can work toward exotic gear while making gold. Or you can spend karma in Orr. You need gold for travel, but one DE or heart usually is more than enough to cover that expense, so unless you bunny hop all over the maps you should be fine. Same goes for repair expenses.

So I really wonder: what are you spending so much gold on?

Like they have a horrible LFG system, so is no point go for dungeons and farm. And is boring and boring. Also dungeons itself isn’t interested. I think this game is just for free to play players, where no need to think about contest. You just playing same game like others free to play. Nothing interested.