MMOries of a Gamer: Economy

Welcome everyone, to a new gaming year. 2011 could be one of those special years when several major MMOs hit the market. Many of you avid gamers are veterans that know a lot about your favorite games: quests, gear, raids, dungeons… but, what about MMO economy? In all these years playing, I’ve realized that earning money in an MMO (virtual money, of course) can be such a pain. Let me tell you of my experience with regard of this topic.

When I was starting with MMOs, all I wanted was to explore everything I could. I wanted to get as much as possible from the game, going in every single zone and every single dungeon. The thing is that, after some time, I used to end up frustrated, due to the lack of gold coins in my pocket. Let’s face it, economy is important in every MMO, as some cool things you want, (like mounts, houses and other things) are usually acquired with in-game money.

I know many of you are true masters of MMO economy, but for all of those players finding it difficult to get the coins they need, and all the players beginning their MMO “lives”, here’s how I became a decent money maker. If you follow these simple instructions, I promise you’ll have money enough for all the important things you want to buy on a MMO.

First: (this may seem ridiculous, but it works) you have to spend some time dedicated to the economy. Money won’t come by itself, you need to spend some time working your economy in the game you play. That’s basic. Try to manage your playing time, if you play 2-3 hours a day, spend 20-30 min. taking care of sales. Browse the market, revise your bank and sell those stuck items full of dust; sell them and turn them into money, etc…

Second: Never leave any kind of loot to rot on the floor. Loot EVERYTHING until your bags are full. It’s simply amazing how many players screw tons of money, due to the huge amount of things they simply refuse to loot because aren’t “shiny”. Loot all you get from the mobs you defeat, especially all stackable things, then go to the nearest vendor and sell all that junk; junk which is precisely designed by the devs to make money. If you don’t want to loose time going back to a vendor, remember you must spend some time dedicated to money making, so just do it.

Third: Become familiar with the Auction House (if the game you play have that feature) and spend some time learning the market. You need to know the normal cost of the things you want to sell, because that will let you know the right cost for all the stuff other players want and it lets you find some good sale opportunities, like finding a very cheap item you could sell later for a higher cost (earning a significant amount of money in the process.)

Fourth: Sell cheaper than the rest, it works. If everyone is selling the Crazy Gobbo Gun of Doom for 1oo coins, and you have one you want to sell, simply put yours at half price. You will sell it for sure. This seems to be a bad tactic, (and it is if you do this with only one item) but if you do this with everything you sell I promise you’ll have a daily income, instead of the typical “Gosh, no way to sell this item, too much players trying to sell it, like me.” It works on every MMO, you’ll get a lot of money.

Fifth: Do some research and look for those items that players demand like mad, then simply spend some time farming the item. If you find out the market wants tons of Purple Fart-Boar tusks, go and spend some time hunting them and get those precious tusks everyone wants to buy. Then, use the fourth rule, sell them way cheaper than anyone else. If, after some time, the item goes too cheap and is not worth your time anymore, find another item. If you have any doubts, remember the first rule.

Sixth: Plan how you spend your money and never get anxious. Lots of players waste money. Of course you need money to use it, but do it with sense and you’ll avoid wasting lots of coins buying gear, when you have quests rewarding you with better items. You could find yourself crying loudly because you spent all your precious coins on a shiny new breastplate, right before going to a dungeon where the ultimate reward is a breastplate just for your class that’s better than what you’ve just bought, and you’re the only player of that class in the group. Think and plan; it saves money.

Seventh: The best tactic I’ve found is to plan wisely, your trade skills and if you can’t get a nice combo on a single character, do it with two. Make a character focused on mastering your crafting profession and another to gather all the trade skills resources you can. With all the materials you need for your profession, simply use them, the rest are to sell. Sell gathered trade skills resources, those are the most wanted things in every MMO in-game market. Selling resources wisely could even make you rich, but for sure will give you the money need for several mounts, your house and lots of gear, even before you can use them.

There are other, more complicated tactics, but I wanted to tell you a method that lets you enjoy the game and not spend too much time with in-game economy. I’ve tried it on many MMOs and since I use it (I used to be poor in every game) I’ve always had the money needed, even becoming quite rich in some.

I hope this helps all those players that think that earning money in MMOs is too time consuming and difficult. MMOries of a Gamer: Economy, came to my mind, reading the general chat of a certain MMO I was playing, taking note of several complaints about how expensive everything was. Try this and tell me how it goes, on the comments section.

Happy New Gaming Year!

MMOries of a Gamer updates every Sunday.