Whether it’s upgrading skills or buying a nice outfit, money is a nice thing to have in any MMO world. Incarnica and I are rarely among the wealthiest in a game, but we are almost always comfortably well off. Don’t let your online life reflect your real life. Read this guide for a few general tips on how to make sure you have enough coin on hand for those shinies you want.
Identify the real currency
In most games you need gold, or whatever the equivalent is. This isn’t true of all games though, even games that have an in-game cash currency. When we played Ryzom, the system of coinage was totally broken. Rather than use the in-game currency (or Dapper), the community worked by a system of barter. In this game, good materials and farmable experience boosters were the main form of currency people used. In Forsaken Worlds, gold coin was a much desired resource, the cash shop currency of Leaves was actually held as more valuable.
Just because a game has a system of coinage, it does not mean there is any value in that coin. Take a look at which payment methods are actually consumed. Ryzom didn’t have any cash sinks so the cash economy broke. Whereas for Forsaken World, Leaves were readily exchanged for coin as needed, but more often they were traded for cash shop items because it is a pay to win (P2W) style of game. Identifying what the primary currency is allows you to better focus your earning potential.
Playing the Auction House
Most games these days include some sort of auction house. Auction houses are an ideal way to create a balanced cash economy. People want stuff, others want to get rid of stuff they won’t use, so the auction house allows for that exchange no matter the time of day or locations of the players.
A new auction house will always take time to balance out. When first established, prices will fluctuate wildly as people struggle to find the most effective sale price. If you have a solid understanding of the game and can predict which resources will be in top demand, you can make serious coin trading on a new auction house. Most of the richest people in Guild Wars 2 got that way from being there at game launch.
Once a market has stabilised, the best way to make money on the auction house is a process called ‘flipping’. Flipping works much like the real world stock exchange; you try to buy low and sell high. The keys to success are manyfold. One method involves a high cash outlay to buy lots of a resource that is guaranteed to rise in price. You hold the resource until the right time, then release it in a steady stream when you stand to make a profit. Most of the time this method is slower, but it should be reliable. Daily variations in item price can help here, so this method can work well for people who play outside of the American prime time, as prices drop outside of that time. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a few big ticket items that will flip for more than others. Most of the time such items only remain good for a time. Be aware of auction house fees and be sure you calculate them into your projected profits.
The second method involves more gamble. Let’s say there is a patch due that will make a resource more in demand. Buy up before the patch and then hold the goods. The earlier you can jump in on the market the better, because I can guarantee you others will be doing the same. Once the patch hits, the price will quickly climb to an all-time high. Pick your moment, then sell. The risk element comes from the fact that most projected patches are still in playtest and you can never be sure what the final result will be in game.
If you have the coin you can also try to manipulate the market. This method only really works on smaller auction houses, but it was popular in World of Warcraft for a time, as their auction houses were only server wide, and thus much smaller than the player base would suggest. This method involves buying up all you can of a particular product, thus inflating demand. The risk here is manyfold and thus it is often combined with other methods for greater security. You have to choose a product that’s not easily acquired, otherwise you’ll only encourage people to go gather more product to sell, so you’ll never get the price as high as you’d like. You also run the risk that someone is already holding a lot of that product in storage, perhaps due to a failed flip, and they will use your manipulation to suddenly dump a heap of product on the market. It’s risky but if done well it can provide a regular revenue stream.
The issue I have with the auction house is that it requires a lot of research to do well. I do find the auction house a very valuable tool for the other methods of money generation I’m going to discuss later. I could go into so much more detail but let’s keep it simple and move on.
Crafting your way to gold
It’s a horribly sad fact that in most games, crafting cannot generate wealth. The reason for this is depressingly simple; the goods for manufacture are in higher demand than the finished product. Many people buy goods in order to improve their crafting. They then dump the finished product on the market for cheap, just trying to recoup some of the losses their leveling incurred. The result is that raw materials are in high demand and finished goods are not.
If you look carefully, you will find some things slip through the cracks. Consumables often sell for more than the raw materials because they are readily consumed by the devoted raiders and end content grinders. Pick the right product and you can just buy the raw materials at auction, make the product, and sell the product straight back at profit. Potions, scrolls and other forms of buffs used at end game tend to be best to craft for sale. People also often neglect the mid level ranges, so you can often craft good products for profit for mid level characters.
I have found that in GW2 people level their craft by making resource efficient low grade gear, but people want higher grade gear to adventure. So, it was possible to purchase raw materials to produce rare grade gear for profitable sale. I traded primarily in weapons usable by most classes. While the price on armour and some weapons looked like they should turn a good profit, because they were used by fewer classes they just didn’t sell. Items with a high turnover made less profit per item, but kept generating coin as fast as I could craft.
The auction house stuff took so much time to cover and I was trying so hard to be succinct! Still, let’s leave the rest for Part 2. Have fun and happy trading!