I’m a relatively rich farmer-monk (820k in storage and growing) – I help a lot of players learn to make money with just a few pieces of advice.
1.) Check your spending. Don’t buy the biggest/best up front. Wait until you have some resources before you buy that new item or upgrade. As a rule, when starting out – try not to make purchases that leave you with less than 1k in the bank. Because, as in life, you need money (salvage kits, etc) to make money.
2.) Farm for raw materials. This isn’t the sexiest way to fortune and fame but it’s the most foolproof and reliable. Keep your wood, granite, iron etc on you at all times. When a “lousy” item drops for you – apply your salvage to it and collect the raw materials. This saves you space in storage as well as builds your resources. On a raw material run I’ll leave with 4-5 expert salvage kits and 2 ID kits. Some people like to keep their materials in storage – that’s a mistake because it forces you to keep transferring between runs (… or quests). Monitor the buy prices at the materials merchant – and when it’s high just sell it all to them for a big chunk of profit. And be patient. I’m sitting on nearly 1000 iron that I’ll unload when the price is right. It really works. I can make 2-4k plus in raw materials alone on a good run. That’s not including rare items and gold I might find along the way.
3.) Gold or purple weapons etc. Some people walk around Lion’s Arch or Ascalon all day trying to sell their gold max-uber bow. In my opinion, time is money. If the weapon is fantastic – I won’t spend more than a few minutes on the trade chat. After which I’ll put it in storage and go back to farming. And I’ll sell for a fair price, if at all. You can waste a lot of time trying to get that extra 10k or 15k from your precious item. But, in the long run, you’ll find that 10k is nothing – really.
4.) Selling raw materials to players. I might sell some iron or wood to someone who is posting WTB on the trade chat. But I’ll sell for a price that’s comparable to a good day for me at the materials trader. If they try to haggle I just walk away. I’m in no hurry to sell. As in life, learn to walk away from any bad deal.
5.) Selling collector items is a nice way to turn a profit. I used to sell collector’s weapons and make good money. But nowadays I’m tired of that scene. I just don’t like to haggle anymore. Now I just sell the seeds, jawbones or wings to other people who DO like to sell collector’s items. I maintain a list of contacts who will always buy them from me – and we have a fixed price. Otherwise I’ll just give them up to the merchant for a little change.
6.) If you haven’t noticed – this method is all about preserving time (no haggling – just farming) and space (salvage almost everything you find). When you have the money – use expert salvage kits for most everything – that way you find yourself salvaging out steel, linen, leather and silk. My best salvage was a “highly salvageable” sword that yielded 10 steel!
7.) Farm alone. Finding the right build takes some time – but the effort is worth it. Even if you can’t farm alone you can do the same salvaging on normal quests – just takes a little longer.
Anyway that’s what I do. There are some finer points as well, but you can figure them out yourself if you’re creative and observant. When reached 400k it was no problem for me to get that new armor, equipment or rune (only if I needed it). Now I have 3 different sets of 15k armor - I even experimented with colors mixing blacks with other colors, etc. My point is, it's fun to be able to afford to do that stuff. My goal is to reach millionaire status in a couple of days. Good luck and happy farming.
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