Problem with Acquiring Gold & Profession Materials...

[Huehuecoyotl]

So, crafting might not be a great idea at low levels. What about gathering? Should I bother with resource nodes while I go around?

Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes. Always keep the appropriate level gathering items on you, with spares in your bag. Gather everything you come across as you travel. You can either store it in your materials bank, sell it, or do it the hybrid way like I do; keep collecting until you have a stack in the bank (250 of an item) then start selling. You will be amazed how quickly it starts to translate into a decent amount of gold.

Walking past resource nodes is like walking past free gold.

[Fencers]

Gold comes much easier at the higher levels than the lower levels as well. I still don't see how someone gets up over 100g though lol, it seems like everytime I get that high I end up spending it all on something.

There is little to nothing that one routinely needs to buy in GW2. The only gold sinks are like crafting and various toys.

Run dungeons and fractals often enough or fast enough and you make more gold than is stuff needed to spend it on. At a certain point, and barring vanity items, you are "done" buying anything of necessity in Guild Wars 2 that requires great wealth.

So, crafting might not be a great idea at low levels. What about gathering? Should I bother with resource nodes while I go around?

Crafting is a good idea while leveling. It helps you level alongside typical play.

Crafting while leveling might not be a good idea if one is new, has little to no established wealth or just doesn't understand how to craft.

Gathering you should always be doing in the overworld. It's like 70% of the reason why one is out in the overworld, the other 30% being a combination of event farming, POI globe trotting and leveling such as one desires. Slight hyperbole but that is a huge reason you are out in the world in GW2 in perpetuity- gathering.

Gather, salvage and sell everything.

[lawow74]

A tip for early crafting: Make yourself some bags. You can do this right out of the box with the six armor/weapon profs and it's an easy way to get a jump on some extra space.

Another tip for making money: I personally do not recommend you salvage everything. Items which only exist as salvage items, unless you need the mats they give, are better off being sold on the TP. IME you lose more than you gain. Same with item bags(other than champ bags, which can't be sold anyways).

[Gray_Matter]

A tip for early crafting: Make yourself some bags. You can do this right out of the box with the six armor/weapon profs and it's an easy way to get a jump on some extra space.

Another tip for making money: I personally do not recommend you salvage everything. Items which only exist as salvage items, unless you need the mats they give, are better off being sold on the TP. IME you lose more than you gain. Same with item bags(other than champ bags, which can't be sold anyways).

I am slightly different. I salvage everything except rares that sell for more than 40s. I still make enough to live comfortably on

OP, which server are you on?

[Svifnymr]

Assuming you sold the mats on the trading post, buying them from the trading post shouldn't be a heck of a lot more.

Remember you can sell on the TP anywhere in the world, you just need to access the TP to retrieve the money.

Also, there's a "starter" kit in the Laurel vendor that gets you a bit of a boost, not sure if it's worth it or not.

[Rust in Peace]

Congratulations on managing to massively misrepresent every aspect of GW2 in a single quote. You win a cookie.

He's not wrong though. GW2 is a gold grind. The rewards for playing aren't very good and there is an incredible amount of RNG with low drop rates for anything worthwhile.

That being said; don't worry about maxing out crafting if you are leveling your first character. Just stockpile everything you find and figure it out once you hit 80. There's lots of great guides out there on how to max out crafting in the most cost effective way. If you're just looking for some gear upgrades while leveling it's much cheaper to just buy blues or greens from the Trading Post than to level crafting and use materials to craft your own gear before you hit 80.

[lawow74]

But there's almost no grind needed for gold unless you want a Legendary or Ascended gear. You can literally spend less than five minutes a day now and make an average of around 1.5G each day. You log in, keep your daily rewards progressing. Flip your Laurels for T6 mats that you sell on the TP. One Laurel averages out to around 80s profit(IME at least). In 28 days time you get 55 Laurels(35+20 from the Ascended chest). So around 42.5G made in 28 days, that's 1.5G a day, with some wiggle room up or down. For doing nothing but logging in and handling a couple minutes' trading. Combine that with whatever other play you want to engage in for leveling or enjoyment however you take it, it's not hard at all to have money to get what you really need, which IMO amounts to nothing more than Exotic gear at lvl 80.

[Rust in Peace]

You don't need gold... as long as you don't want good gear or rare items.

Like I said, you need to farm gold to get anything. Ascended gear is a huge investment and everyone should be doing it. Good runes are also very costly and if you want any cosmetic stuff, like cultural armor skins etc. you're already looking at hundreds of gold and 1.5g a day is nothing in this game.

[Fencers]

Why should everyone attempt to gather ascended gear? It is the maximum stat cap, sure. But I do not believe it is wholly necessary for everyone.

[TequilaFlavor]

Aquiring gold becomes a lot (and I mean: A LOT) easier once you're level 80 and can run dungeons, farm worldbosses (effectively) etc. so I wouldn't rush professions too much until then. Just don't stress out over crafting or gaining gold, just level to 80, take your time doing it and enjoy the journey - worry about gold later, if ever.

[lawow74]

Like I said, you need to farm gold to get anything. Ascended gear is a huge investment and everyone should be doing it. Good runes are also very costly and if you want any cosmetic stuff, like cultural armor skins etc. you're already looking at hundreds of gold and 1.5g a day is nothing in this game.

But you don't need Ascended gear, you don't need the most expensive Sigils(I do get Sup armor runes, but they're not that much), and there are tons of cosmetic options without having to buy the cultural skins(most of which I think are hideous anyways). Exotic gear is perfectly fine for any content you want to do. 1.5G a day is far from 'nothing', unless of course you have the patience of a five-year-old...

[Valeron]

I've been playing since the beta and I don't have any Ascended armor or weapons for any of my characters. I have plenty of ascended trinkets but got those mostly through laurels. Ascended gear is not needed anywhere and no one cares if you have it or not.

[Jinxz]

If you're new to the game please do not worry about gold whatsoever, enjoy the leveling and gather everything you see. Gold with start flowing in at 80.

[Vizardlorde]

The only place where ascended TRINKETS are mandatory is at 20+ fractals. you can play the game in full excotics and barely notice any change from ascended other than bragging rights.