Guild Wars 2

lackofcheese.5617:

Does anyone have a good explanation for why baking powder is selling at 2-4c when it costs 8c per unit to buy from a cooking merchant?

Is there some other source of baking powder?

It is because most people who need baking powder simply buy it from the merchant, hence there is little demand on the TP.

The greater supply comes from people who overbought it from the merchant (happens easily while leveling your crafting) and just want to get rid of it. The 2-4c price is still higher than what you would get if you vendor it (The same vendor who sells it at 8c will buy it at only 1c each)

Hi guys,

GW2 is my first real MMO and I’m fascinated by how complex and unpredictable the in-game economy can be.

I personally think the GW2 economy is a relatively healthy one and market manipulation is not possible or profitable without an underlying supply/demand shift. As such, most trends should have a supply/demand based explanation.

I’ve created this topic to hopefully generate some discussion on price movements of goods that are not easily explained, as least by myself.

Alright, I’ll start… Why did elder and seasoned woods prices shoot up 50% on the weekend, while the fine crafting materials (blood, claw, totem) on the same tiers were going down in price? I just can’t explain the sudden increase in demand for elder/seasoned wood.

Yes, that’s correct.

You pay the 5% of 20s upfront, that’s 1s. After the item has been sold for 20s, you pay another 10% of that 20s, ie. 2s, that’s why you end up with 18s.

5% listing is only enough to discourage people from randomly putting high prices on goods, but not enough of a gold sink. Hence the additional 10% after sales.

swilkers.5938:

The trading company is a great idea except the fact that there is absolutely nothing worth paying actual money for. One hour upgrades? You will need to do much better than that for real world money. Please, by all means make this a good deal and get people to use it by offering ACTUAL things worth buying other than sunglasses for your stupid character and a whole one hour bonus XP.

What sort of stuff do you think they should offer? I think if you can buy really powerful stuff using real money then the game will become “pay to win”. Most people don’t like that…

Fluffycalico.2715:

You have it backwards it has no positive effect on anyone trying to do anything but kitten over everyone with huge market grab/markup, If raised alot it will have the bad effect of making it quick and easy to monoply and kitten over everyone.

No it does not make it quick and easy to monopoly, it makes it quick and easy to compete. Monopoly exists when other sellers are unable to enter the market, which can never happen in the Trading Post.

And yes, it has a positive effect on the general public by facilitating easier competition between traders, which means greedy traders are less likely to succeed. They can lose a lot if they try to place huge orders to take advantage of big profit margins, which can be instantly made smaller by less greedy traders.

Very solid arguments Risingashes.

Removing the limit on buy/sell orders has no negative effect on the general buyers/sellers while making trading much more efficient. If anything it helps the economy because more efficient trading only means it’s easier for traders to fight AGAINST EACH OTHER.

I know some people hate traders because they make money while seemingly doing nothing, but actually if you’re not a trader, you want as many traders participating in the economy as possible because it means more competition and smaller profit margins, ultimately benefiting the general economy.