Guild Wars 2

I’m just wondering because I just hit 60 on my first character and I cannot afford the training manual – not by a long shot. I’ve spent some on crafting and the level 40 manual (which I was just barely able to get at 40), but I don’t buy anything or waste gold. I try to walk/warp everywhere and avoid waypoints as much as possible. I sell everything (and try to sell on the trading post when it’s profitable) and only salvage the cheap stuff. I do about 95% PvE, some crafting, and a tiny bit of WvW (but I can’t do it much since it’s so expensive to play it – repair costs are high and you don’t really make money doing it; I’ve never bought a single upgrade or siege weapon). Haven’t had enough time to try a dungeon yet. At this point most of the waypoints cost about 1% of my net worth. I’m sure I must not be doing something right, because I’m constantly dirt poor. My only thought is that I tend to be constantly over-leveled for my area since I like exploring and 100%ing maps. I’m guessing I just need to skip way ahead to a 60-70 zone and maybe the events will start to give more than a few copper? It seems like this will still come back to bite me though since crafting is so expensive. Without exploring the right areas I’ll never get the drops I need which will end up costing even more when I have to use the trading post. I hate to just wait till 80 to craft but I’m not sure how else you can afford it?

Just wondering how others have done. It seems like a lot of people (or at least all the vocal ones) rushed to 80 and flipped a bunch of stuff on the TP to amass vast fortunes, but for those of us who hate both of those things I’m wondering when/if you actually make gold. I’d like to buy another character slot one day but that seems laughable right now.

I remember I had more than enough at 60 but I held off buying it. If memory serves me right I would have had like 3 gold leftover.

Since it refunds your traits anyway I didn’t buy the book till I was 80. But I never spent much money on crafting. I might have the bigger advantage over you in that I got to 80 a bit faster when the game released so when I could make rare weapons using wep smithing I’d link it in map chat and get a lot of “omg where did you get that?”

So I did get quite a lot of levels for free by crafting weapons for people using their mats. I did pick up tips too which helped.

oh maaan i empathise with you here..... I remember fondly about getting to 60 and not being abe to afford the manual until i was 80

‘I’ve spent some on crafting’
Found your problem-crafting is a pain and massive gold sink.
I was sitting on about ~9g at 60 just by selling all my mats

I had money for the book, but I didn’t get it, cuz I had the 40 book on my main. My alts, neither of them bought the 2nd book. For leveling, especially, I don’t think you need a 30-pt trait, do you?

You make the most money by selling stuff that people find hard to get. In this game, the money when I was coming up was in crafting mats, the blue types and cloth. So gather, salvage, sell, you’ll have plenty.

WvW I actually find fairly lucrative, cuz the events pay well and you don’t spend hardly any money w/ WP being free.

I am 80 and I still don’t have my third book.

I blame myself entirely since I am a craftaholic, the moment I hit 400 on my chosen two professions on my 80, I started crafting on my alts.
I would also love to make myself an exotic set – I guess my skill book will have to wait a while longer.

@Swagmag: I don’t really have the ability to corner a market since I didn’t already rush to 80.

@Windwalker: As I said, I hate to just wait to 80 to craft. I’d like it to be useful while I level. I’ve already resigned myself to just one profession since leveling two is impossible. But certainly I agree that skipping crafting altogether is much more profitable.

Glad to know I’m not alone in this.

@mulch: I find my experience to be different than yours. I use every blue mat I find and then some, and I never have enough cloth. In WvW events never function. I have never seen a “guard a caravan” or a “stay here until workers are finished” event ever do anything. The only time I have had an event work is when you capture something, and you can’t really do that without a zerg. Also, waypoints may be free but they don’t exist unless someone buys them.

I’ve leveled up two characters, and did much better financially on my second. I think the big difference on the second time through was learning to vendor ALL blues and not salvage them like I did most of the first time. This made a big difference for my income. I also gather a lot as I go along, do events, and explore some (which sometimes nets chests in those little mini caves around the world). Overall I’ve always had enough money to pay for books with purely those activities, and occasionally buying gear off the TP.

Just hit level 60 and I’ve got 6g50s. I also have 300+ armorsmith and keep buying things I probably don’t need on the broker.

I also sell all mats I don’t use for my professions on the trade broker. Helps me break even on the stuff I do buy on the broker.

I’d say the gold I have is roughly average as I play with my gf and she’s also 60 with closer to 7.5g (but does no crafting).

When I got 60 on my guardian, I had more than enough gold for the book. Currently have over 20g from my 65 guardian and 55 mesmer(also already have my 60 runes for my mesmer). I’ve also have spent 2-5g on dyes for fun and try my luck.

Do you just walk by gathering spots(ores, wood, herbs)? It’s good money and if you 100% a map while also getting all the mats you see on the way, you’re granted to make a gold or more depending on the map. When copper ores were still 21c each, I would make over 1g per 1-15 map(get out of one with over 200 ores), then add on that woods and herbs, in addition to other random mats from salvaging and drops, plus 100% box reward. Minimal usage of way points helps too, but I personally aren’t limiting myself too much yet, yet I make way more money than I spend on waypoints.

Play how you wish to. Don’t skip everything if you don’t want to. I’ve always been exploring lowest level maps, yet I never had problem with my income. I haven’t touched the crafting system yet, so my guess goes there, is that money problem comes from crafting.

I did say that I had that as an advantage over you, but I didn’t buy stuff from the TP for my crafting. I think that’s where you ended up screwing yourself over a bit.

I did also level with 2 other friends one went jeweler the other went tailor. So between us, I got all the ore and wood, my one friend got all the gems, and my other friend got all the cloth and leather. Maybe see if you can strike a similar bargain with some guildies.

I always vendor blues or check out if they’ll sell for an actual profit on the TP. I always do events and gather constantly. I don’t buy gear on the TP (well, I did once – but that was because it vendored for a few copper less than what I bought it for).

So far crafting seems like the real culprit on two fronts: first, it’s incredibly expensive. Second, since it also grants you levels (which is nice), you can outlevel an area much more quickly. I’m sure running around in an area 15 levels below my character level is causing me to lose out on more profitable drops/events, but on the other hand it allows me to actually gather the mats I need.

My plan for the future is to skip to a 60-70 zone and see if that makes up the difference. It’s just hard when the gold sinks are tuned so tightly that unless you’re flipping on the TP it’s really hard to make money. (I guess that’s why you can also pay to get ahead?)

Crafting is a gold sink so if you want to acquire wealth, don’t craft. Sell your loot and mats instead. But even so, I had about 2g at 60, without selling anything and keep all my mats for crafting. Not a fortune by any stretch, but decent given that I wasn’t doing anything to make money besides events and hearts.

I like that in the time I took to post three more people replied with essentially the same response: skip crafting.

@Blacklight: I’m sure you’re right; if I hadn’t spent anything on crafting I’m sure I’d have scraped up to 2g by 60. But I’d also still be making tier 2 crafting items at 60.

I didn’t mean for this to turn into a “how do you make money” thread, because I know the answer: you don’t. You either flip things or you play a lot; otherwise you’re poor. I really was just curious as to how many other people were feeling the crunch. I guess it’s just a little frustrating because it seems like Anet is trying to tune the game for the rushers but when I just play a few hours a week and like to explore, I feel like I can barely keep up with the gold sinks.

I wish 100%ing a zone (including the finish bonus) was enough to craft a single tier of even one profession to completion, but it just isn’t. For every tier I’ve had a guildie’s help or I’ve turned to the TP. And I guess that’s the point, but it just makes the other gold sinks seem even more weighty.

I had like 10 silver when I hit 60 because of crafting, but wanting the book I held off crafting and got the book around lvl 63.

I seem to remember having just over 7g at 60, allowing me to buy the book straight away.
I haven’t had as much gold at once since. I’ve spent lots, but not managed to save much at all.

2-4g depending on which character. My current alt will likely have 10g+ as I understand the economy better and not trying to power level crafting. (Farming for mats versus buying mats.)

About 20g – 25g at 60 since I rarely use the way point and craft

arabeth.2361:

I like that in the time I took to post three more people replied with essentially the same response: skip crafting.

I don’t know though, I haven’t skipped crafting at all, I’ve leveled up 4 professions on two characters. I think it’s pretty tough to keep say both weaponsmithing and armorcrafting current without buying some off of the TP, but definitely going one of them and cooking, for example, can be just fine.

I didn’t have a problem buying the level 40 book. I had a gold leftover.
I use waypoints all the time. Although I don’t craft and I’ve only bought a couple cheap auction house items. I only went into WvWvW once and the gear damage did suck, plus the game crashes on me due to the 32bit issue going on. So I never went back.

I just do all the heart quests really, and I sell any junk in my invintory, even the crafting material.

I’m sure you could make some money selling your crafted stuff on the auction house.

I had about 12g on my first lvl 60 after buying the manual.

I gave up on crafting during the first day. After that I just sold everything I found to a vendor or on the TP.

Basically don’t craft until your 80 and have already bought everything you want.

1,5 gold.. what do you all people need even the money for?

When I hit 60, my Jewelcrafting was around 300, and even though I dumped money into it, I still had several gold at that level. I would suggest selling crafting mats that you do not use, and also adventure in higher level areas. Make sure you 100% maps since the later ones give you about 20+ silver, but also give you exotics you can sell at least above 50 silver each. I typically salvage all blues, and whites, but if you need extra money, selling blues and greens you don’t need at vendors will help out a lot(though i suggest checking some greens on the tp just in case). Doing events help out, and if you need new gear, you can find some nice things at the karma vendors so you don’t spend more gold on gear.

Between 20-24 gold.

Straight selling everything I found and getting 100% completion in every single zone up to my level.

I had about 2g… but I also hit 60 before the game even hit the mass release, so it could have been a lot more.

@Mastermind: Thanks, that gives me hope that I can be back “on track” shortly!

Still more responses that boil down to “skip crafting.”

@Hawken: My experience is different than yours. I think jewelcrafting and cooking have their own eccentricities, but trying to level one weapon craft or one armor craft – even without doing another profession – has proven impossible for me simply with “mats found.” I’ve had to go to the TP (or guild mate) every time to avoid going back and farming (even after 100%ing the zone I went through and being several levels ahead). It’s not even the gatherable mats (except cloth of course), but the blues. If it weren’t for everyone skipping crafting altogether, blue mats would be a gold a piece.

Thanks for all the responses, everyone. This thread seems to confirm that if you try to craft it is very likely that you will not be able to keep up with the gold sinks. Hopefully skipping ahead a few zones will get me back on track, even if I still have to go back and buy mats!

I just hit level 69 on my guardian last night, and I hit 60 about 3 or so days ago. When I hit 60, I had around 8 gold after purchasing my last book. I had around 30% world exploration complete at that point, and I was right around on-level with my personal story. I had not done very much crafting at that point, maybe had spent about 3g on it.

As far as my personal habits go:
-I upgraded my inventory size as early as possible, so I have my main backpack and 4 10 slot bags
-I constantly store all my collectible items in my bank, which you can do while out in the world by opening your inventory, clicking on the gear icon at the top right, and pressing the “Store all collectibles” option. This gives me more inventory space to pick up items
-Every time I’m either at a merchant OR I need space in my inventory when I’m out in the world, I open the Trading Post window and sell anything that’s profitable to open up more inventory space. Again, this can be done while out in the world.
-I would say I use waypoints rather liberally, and I’m not too concerned with saving gold by walking instead of porting.
-I have spent literally ZERO of the karma I’ve accumulated so far (about 25k at lvl 60)
-I would say I participate in about 70% of the dynamic events that I encounter
-I am not diligent about gathering materials at all. I mine if I have a pick but I don’t usually have one on me. I think I’ve chopped down like 2 trees and maybe picked a few carrots in my adventures so far.

So all in all I’m not filthy rich but I’ve never been strapped for cash. I even splurged a little bit once I hit level 60 and bought myself an entire rare set of armor and a new rare greatsword. When I hit lvl 80 I imagine I will have enough gold to buy an exotic greatsword and a set of rare armor.
Hopefully this gives you some insight into how to have what I would call -adequate- finances throughout your travels. =)

After I bought the level 60 book I had a 2-3 gold left over. Not as much as some people but it’s enough. A few tips on easy ways to earn enough money to level without being forced to put in the effort to grind somewhere or play the market:

-Gear doesn’t really sell on the TP unless it’s yellow or better since a lot of people get leveling gear for free by playing the game in various ways and only buy if it’s a nice yellow piece as the rest is not worth it. So I salvage everything that’s not yellow and that’s not a personal upgrade. I keep the crafting mats I need (Cooking and Tailoring) and sell the rest. Crafting mats always sell well. The only things I sell to the vendor are junk items.
-Don’t buy anything for crafting that’s not a vendor mat. I’m leveling crafting mostly with mats I either gathered, salvaged, or bought with Karma. I’m not going to be max crafting when I hit 80 but that’s fine, I have plenty of time once I hit 80 to do so.
-Do same level hearts/events/story quests. They give more money and gold.
-WvW I actually end up making a small profit. You just have to adjust your playstyle. Learn what you can offer without dying too much (or just learn how to run away from a bad situation) and make sure you don’t spend too much time on a lost cause. Do events that will actually succeed. Spending an hour trying to attack a keep you’re not going to get into is a waste of time if you’re still leveling up. Doing activities that will succeed and finish in a timely manner earns you more XP, Karma, and gold per hour.
-Gather everything you see and don’t be afraid to run a bit out of your way to get to a node. Mining, Gathering, and Logging, do it all. You’ll get a lot of mats you can sell on the TP (or use whichever ones you need for crafting which also saves money) and you sometimes get other items like gems which you can also sell.
-Posting an item on the trading post and waiting for a buyer instead of selling it to the highest bidder immediately is often more expensive in the long run. Make sure that matching the lowest seller is worth it before doing that because it incurs an extra cost that selling immediately does not. On the flip side, make sure the highest bidder’s price isn’t ridiculously low.

Edit: You don’t have to skip crafting, just don’t expect to keep it equal to your character’s level if you want to not be broke.

@Scera: I do all of those things, too, except where I should be making more money (gather more, waypoints less, 90%+ events). I think your post could also be summed up as “skip crafting.”

The design of the game and our economy favors saving crafting for alts, or post-80.

All the way to 80 I got gear from the TP for just a few copper more than it vendored.

If you think of crafting as a way to get sub-80 gear, you’re wrong. Basically nothing you make from 1-79 is worth as much as its ingredients, and there’s always lots of gear available on the TP. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy crafting in MMOs and am working my alts via crafting. There IS pride in wearing something you crafted (altho we lack the “crafted by mulch” marks on the gear that you’d see in other games). It’s just for your first character or two, gamewise you’d be better off waiting to craft unless you have another source of gold.

3g currently, I’ve bought an extra slot and have purchased another 500 gems (that means I’ve bought 1300 gems, @ 5 g worth). I’ve probably made 1 gold in the TP from selling stuff.

Recomendations:

Don’t repair until you absolutely need to, most gear only lasts 5 levels and you will more than likely replace it before you would need to repair it. For most people repairs before lvl 80 are a waste of coin.

Fully complete each zone, the coin rewards are huge.

‘store all collectables’ this clears your inventory so you can hold more stuff to sell.

All HQ givers become karma vendors after you complete the HQ, go sell junk to him, there is no reason to ever be full in the explorable areas.

Take a look at commonly bought items in the TP. Dye was selling for 5 S for a while I think it’s down to 4.5 now. I’m happy to sell off my early dye drops because I really don’t care that much for dye right now. I have lots of time to find dye drops later.

I had about 6g at 60 on my first char about a week after launch, including keeping one crafting prof up with my level.

My new alt only has 2g right now at 60, without leveling any crafting and getting all his gear made by my main. Don’t quite understand it.

mulch, you’re right: I have noted that you can get all the crafted gear you want right now for coppers above the vendor price, making -renting- equipment thousands of times more profitable than -crafting- it. I hate that it works that way (i.e. makes crafting worthless), but it does.

Ugh, I hate to do it, but I will probably just skip crafting for my last 20 levels and come back to it once I can afford it. It sucks because I wanted to play the game a different way, but I guess that’s what alts are for.

I would’ve had enough to afford it but I spent 1.5g on crafting in the upper 50s.

Just forgot about the manual, haha. I’m 64 now and I should have enough money for the manual in the next 2-3 levels.

Guess you gotta start farming man, it gets rough with all the waypoint costs, repair fees, etc, things you want at level 80.

I had roughly 50g at level 60. (plus or minus a few gold).

I was so poor at 60. I want to say there wasn’t even 1 gold on my character. What I did to purchase my training manual, was go through every collectible in my bank, and vender almost all of it. That gave me about 6 gold total.

After buying the manual, I decided to treat myself since it was looking like welfare for life, and purchased midnight fire dye. Luckily during one of my expeditions around game, I was able to loot a white dye.

My armor, at least, is now a color combination I can really enjoy, even if its levels below what it should be. My engineer is currently 74 and she has about 3 gold total. This game is pretty hard to save money in. Not to mention the loot is not exactly raining out of the trees. Repairs, way points, and every other thing mentioned by others, can really keep you down if you don’t spend VERY wisely.

I craft but gather the stuff I need. If you buy materials and ingrediants you will be broke for sure. I also only finished 4 zones as I followed where the personal story went. I am at level 40 and have gained over 6 gold. I have determined that one can easily make 1 gold per hour if determined to do so. Hearts and DEs are not the only source of coin. Other players are a significant source. Chances are you will get green or higher quality items that will be of value to them. You can sell ore, wood etc as well if you want to take the time to gather for that. There are all sorts of ways to gain more coin. And be wise on how you spend what you get so you don’t whittle it away.

I’ve hit 80, had enough gold to trade for gems and to buy myself 3 more character slots and a bank slot. Could have had more if I didn’t use so much on crafting (and by extension sold all of my mats and didn’t salvage so many items).

Just as a follow-up, level 60-65 netted me about 1g. What I’ve learned is that the way I like to play is just extremely unprofitable. 100%ing zones, WvW, saving all the mats you gather for crafting, and honestly doing any crafting at all are all terrible for your bottom line. If you want to make gold, put all your mats on the TP, don’t craft at all, and do everything you can to run from event to event. Doing hearts can be useful, but nothing is as good as events from what I can tell. I haven’t sold my mats but otherwise I just ran around completing events and vendoring drops (after checking the TP of course, but 95% of drops are already on there for 1c above vendor price – i.e. a net loss of 15%) and that is how I started actually making a tiny bit of money. Also, never waypoint anywhere.

I’m only lvl 35 but have ~20g.

I had no problem buying the book at 60 on my main, but I’ve spent a lot more money on my 2nd character, so he might have a little trouble getting there (he’s 56 now). I’ve sunk a lot more into his crafting. It’s not something that worries me, really; I’ll find a way to get it for him or just wait a bit until he has the coin.

Question, for anybody who’s tried it. Can you buy the Grandmaster tome if you haven’t bought the Master tome, and will it unlock the whole tree for you, or must you buy all three tomes to unlock the entire tree?

I have 2 80’s and one at 58.

My 2 80’s had more than enough, and my 58 has more than enough for when he reaches 60.

You’re either warping too much, or buying too much, or not selling anything.

LOOT everything you can. There are merchants everywhere and in higher areas the “junk” is worth more. Also do events when you can. The karma and gold will be worth a lot to you when you hit 80.

As a lvl 60 I’d suggest going to Sparkfly Fen. There are events all the time there and generally a high population since it’s great for leveling and making money at that level. It also has Tequatl and a krait event that spawns like every 5 minutes that lasts awhile (but it’s 65, but a 60 should be able to get gold easily). If you’re tagging everything and getting xp, you’re also getting loot. The loot can be worth a lot, and there should be a lot since the event is like 8 minutes long.

Sell all that to a merchant, or sell the rares if you get them on the TP (never sell to the lowest buyer, that’s a person that’s going to sell it for more later on).

You should have the money in no time.

I disagree about WvW being a waste of money. You need to stop playing solo, or watch the battle carefully. I hardly die in WvW, even when we lose a keep/tower or our zerg gets outnumbered. You have to play smart. The only time I die is when an OP thief that badly needs a nerf kills me with 4 backstabs in about 3 seconds and stomps in stealth (all which need nerfs asap. My main is a thief, I’m not just a QQer, it is MUCH easier to play than all the other classes, which I also play).

Buying the training manuals has virtually bankrupted me every single time. Its like you can either save your mats and level crafting, or you can sell your mats and level your traits. Gold flow is somewhat flawed. Events should award more.

All you people who complain about a lack of money – what do you do with it while you are AFK?

There is no charge for cancelling a buy order. Every night, and each morning before I go to work, I setup a selection of buy orders at relatively low prices.

Now that it’s working on the FIFO system I know that if enough is sold I will eventually be the one buying them.

And when I get back I set up sell orders and cancel any remaining buy orders (getting 100% of the collateral back when I do so).

How many of you do something useful with your gold overnight and how many just let it sit in your bag / bank?

Draknar.5748:

Just hit level 60 and I’ve got 6g50s. I also have 300+ armorsmith and keep buying things I probably don’t need on the broker.

I also sell all mats I don’t use for my professions on the trade broker. Helps me break even on the stuff I do buy on the broker.

I’d say the gold I have is roughly average as I play with my gf and she’s also 60 with closer to 7.5g (but does no crafting).

The bold part is where a fair bit of coin can be made. I am not quite level 60 but have 3g to my name. I was hitting the cap of 250 units of collectables in my storage while still having partial stacks in the actual bank slots. Solution? Sell the full stacks on the TP for bank and stick the partial stacks in the collectibles slots. Full stack of soft wood logs and a full stack of iron ore netted me 97 silver and a few copper.

If you craft while leveling it will lessen profits. I’ve chosen to craft after I reach 80 so that I can fluff my coin purse for repairs/waypoints and skill books.

Cheers!

I realized a little late but thankfully not too late just how much of a gold sink crafting is. I’ve got like 30 levels in a few crafting professions on various characters and it got me nowhere. Now I sell all my mats and only use crafting for 8-slot bags for new toons. Currently at lvl 50 & have just over 3g. I have a stockpile of mats I’ll be offloading tonight that should net me a tidy sum.