Basic ways of making money.

so you want some cash to spend on something in gw2? well so would I. so would anyone really as money in MMO's is something just about anyone craves.

ok first of I need to put a disclaimer in here. I have never played Gw2 as a free to player. I have always had at least the base game with all its content at my disposal. so I have no idea what the free to play restrictions are on the auction house and other content.

anyway time to get on with the guide. keep in mind though that if you are a free to player some of these things may not work for you because of free to play restrictions.

So starting off at level 1 the first thing you should focus on is just having fun and leveling up. leveling up will grant you armor and weapons as rewards for doing so. this saves you money on buying this sort of stuff later. the hearts (or quests) you will do will also reward you with money but a very small amount.

anyway while you are leveling up you will most likely collect a lot of small bags to open. you can either sell these or open them and see what they have. there is a chance that what they have will cost more then the bag itself. or you can just deposit everything you collect in your bank for use later with crafting and such.

another way to get decent money is gathering as many herbs as you can. its actually better to harvest the low level herbs in the level 1 to 15 zones as they have a higher chance to drop what you want. black pepper corns and garlic. these both sell for a lot.

don't forget to chop down every tree you see and mine every node of copper as well. they don't offer as much money but it all adds up. speaking of copper i'll include a map of queensdale with 2 rich copper veins maxed. these will always be here no matter what.

and can either be mined every 2 hours or once per day.

Don't forget about checking the prices of anything you loot as well. you might find something valuable and not even know it.

Next up I'll explain some things to avoid. first off don't worry about silver nodes at all. they sell for a pathetic amount and it isn't even useful transmuting them into something else.

gold can also be avoided as its mostly found in places with iron. although gold is worth a bit more then silver so if you want some extra xp go ahead.

Butter (which sells from low level bags.) is another thing to avoid. it doesn't sell for much and is far more useful in cooking then being sold anyway.

this next one may seem a little odd but trust me it works. Avoid doing things that you hate. if you hate doing something then it will start to feel like a chore. so focus on doing the thing that you like the most.

can't stand wandering aimlessly but enjoy the combat of GW2? then try farming the many world bosses that all happen one after another.

or if you just want to turn your mind off and listen to podcasts then wander the world collecting resources. (that is if you can stand wandering naturally.)

and if you find all that too boring then trading post flipping might be the thing for you. if you don't already know what it means trading post flipping is just another term for the age old tactic of buying low and selling high.

anyway moving on, its generally a bad idea to farm certain low level enemies. remember how I told you how it was a good idea to sell small bags? well understandably enemies like Minotaur's raptors and boars don't drop any bags.

so even though there is for example, a rather large amount of Minotaur's in ascalon. (charr starting area.) you would be far better of killing the flame legion that spawn there. or going to queensdale and farming centaurs instead.

I know i only gave one example here but its pretty easy to figure out what will drop bags and what won't. just look at the enemy you want to farm. if it looks more intelligent and has villages/huts/camps then chances are they will drop bags. if not then they most likely won't.

Since I've covered a lot of early game stuff this last part of the guide will focus on some higher level things.

first off is a farming spot so good im dedicating the second picture slot just for it. its waypoint is called "pagga's waypoint" and to get there just follow the red lines and arrows i've drawn heading south from lions arch. Once you are there head directly west from the waypoint and you will find a statue of dwayna, or was it lysa? (dwayna and lysa are gods in the guild wars 2 lore.)

the tree's that are here tend to sell for about 1 silver and 50 copper to 2 silver. it depends on the current market. the reason why this spot is such a good money maker is because it refreshes every 2 hours.

and it can be chopped by every character you have.

Yes. every. single. friken. ONE. this means that you could if you wanted to create extra characters who exist solely just to farm these tree's. just park them there, set a timer on your phone (or your PC or clock. they both work as well) and chop the tree's every 2 hours.

next up you could try asking some help off a friend who plays GW2. just offer to do something in return for them. or if you have a friend who is really really nice they may even be ok with grinding a bit of money for you. just try not to be pushy. no one likes to feel like they are being forced to do anything.

and if you don't have any real friends in real life or none of them like GW2 try joining a guild and offering to help someone in return for some money.

which moves on to another excellent way of making money. doing jobs for people. it could be as simple as escorting them form one place to another or helping them get a hard to get achievement.

just be careful around complete strangers. some sadly may try to scam you. so you may want to demand payment upfront. just make sure you do the job you accepted otherwise you may be reported for scamming and will probably build up a nasty reputation.

well that's all I can fit in. hope it helps.