There are many ways to make money in Guild Wars game. Over the next month or so I am going to be supplying the details to wealth, glory and fame in Guild Wars¡­ well, maybe not the glory and fame things, but definitely wealth. So here goes my attempt at boiling down hours and semesters of boring economics lessons (please oh please don¡¯t tell my former professors I thought they were boring, I still use them as references) into a couple of basic ways to gain money in Guild Wars. The nature of economics is to look like common sense, so forgive me if you are all knowing or your name happens to be Greenspan, but I¡¯m going to start with the basics. So here goes.

It¡¯s all about giving people what they want for a price your willing to sell it at. If there is a lot of something, then it¡¯s cheap, if there is a little, then it¡¯s expensive. The same goes for the want for an item or service, even if there is a lot of an item. Take dye trading or running for instance, but there is an even greater demand for these services/items then the price goes up. Use accordingly, by this I mean don¡¯t go selling your black dye for 700 dollars or don¡¯t go running from the Beacon to Forge for less then a platinum bar and whatever you do, don¡¯t buy shares of the Brooklyn Bridge for your noob guild.

This last point brings to my attention something I¡¯ve noted in Guild Wars that is confusing to me. Why would one person give a complete stranger thousands of pieces of gold for nothing in return? You wouldn¡¯t do it in real life, so why when somebody promises to do a service for you do you give them 2 platinum bars and then rely on them to live up to their promises? I¡¯m sorry folks, but here is something you need to know. Economic ethics are different then moral ethics. I know it¡¯s a shocker, but really, just because we in our morals want people to be honest and forthright with us, doesn¡¯t mean that it's going to happen. If you are paying for a service or trading for a service, do one of three things. 1. Agree to pay half at the beginning of the run/swap/farming expedition and half at completion. 2. Wait until halfway through the rn so that you can tell if you have a real runner or a conman. Then pay them your first installment. If you don¡¯t pay by that agreed upon point, the runner can always leave the group or map travel leaving you high and dry. 3. Pay upon delivery. This leaves the problem of the buyer of the service being able to scam the seller though, so I¡¯m not too fond of this one either. What ever you do¡­ class of 1997, wear sun screen¡­ um, I mean, sorry, wrong advice. Whatever you do don¡¯t put yourself in a position to be scammed or screwed out of your hard earned money. Here is an example of what I saw and a perfect analogy of what not to do; only one name has been changed to protect the innocent, the other guy, well he isn¡¯t innocent so he doesn¡¯t deserve to have his name changed now does he. ¡°Hammer Guyyy: Running from From Beacon to Draknor¡¯s Forge, 3k a head. whisper-Noob: hey I¡¯ll go with you. Hammer Guyyy: ok, trade me the gold and we can get started. whisper-Noob: ok, here you go. You have traded 3k gold to Hammer Guyyy whisper-Noob: ok, now invite me so we can go, Hammer Guyyy is no longer online.

So back to the main theme. How to make lots of money in Guild Wars¡­ ok here is the secret to instant wealth and success¡­ You ready for it? Ok, here it is¡­

¡°There is no secret to instant wealth. Instant wealth does not exist, only hard work¡±

Whew, now promise to keep that secret ok? Shhhh, don¡¯t tell anybody. Thanks. So anyway, that said, you have several different ways of earning money created by the game programmers. 1. Farm, fight from point A to point B, gain money and gear and sell them to a merchant. 2. Rather then selling to merchant, find good items and announce them on the trade boards in busy cities (the lower the district number the busier the district is, the more people your advertising will reach). 3.Get an expert salvage kit and salvage gear for crafting goods both common and rare. Always sell rare crafting goods to a rare goods trader; the same goes for runes. If you get a weapon upgrade or rare weapon, meaning a good purple or better, then don¡¯t just sell it to a merchant. Somewhere out there somebody wants your item. Best place to go selling purple weapons are places where new characters congregate. I suggest Ascalon City at Post-Searing and Ft. Ranik at Pre-searing. Get something simple that everybody in that area needs and sell it at a price undercutting your competition. Perfect example would be Ft. Ranik in Pre-searing if you have unnatural seeds, spider legs and other things needed for people to get their new armor. Furthermore, if the other traders are bidding 10g a seed, you do 9 or 8. Common goal of trading is to underbid the competition, but make sure you sell it at a price you can live with. 4. Do missions. Some missions give gold, enough said. 5. Barter. If there is one skill you should learn to do well in Guild Wars economically, it¡¯s the art of bartering. If you want to sell something, don¡¯t just say 100g because the next guy is going to say 80g. If you want a certain price, start the bidding out at a higher price then what your willing to sell it at. If you get below the minimum price that you are willing to sell the item at, then don¡¯t sell it. To barter successfully, you buy an item from one guy for a low price and sell it to another for a higher price.

Seems like common sense doesn¡¯t it? Well here is my last hint for Economics 101. When trying to sell an item, gear or service in Guild Wars, do your research and find out what the going rate is. Don¡¯t try and sell silver dye for 800g when it is to be purchased by a trader for 600. You will be laughed at and called a Noob. Don¡¯t sell black dye for 600 gold, you will be robbed blind. Rather, go to the merchant selling the item, look at what it would cost to purchase that item and advertise for slightly lower then that price. Make people want to purchase from you rather then the merchant. If you are doing running, see what other people are charging for the same distance. And the same goes for good weapons. Visit a couple of cities and see what similar items are being sold for, then price similarly. And finally, practice. Just like anything else, your keen intellectual mind will pick up on the ability to wheel and deal better the more you do it. If at first you don¡¯t succeed, don¡¯t give up. Keep working on it; just like anything in life you should give yourself some time to learn the ropes. And have fun. For God¡¯s sake it¡¯s a game people. It's not life and death, and if you get the bad end of a deal, then learn from it and go on.

So that¡¯s the end of my Economics 101 for Guild Wars. If you think you have some tips or ways to earn money in game and are willing to share, then please let me know and I will up date this some time. Good luck to you all and enjoy the game.