Losing steam or not, Tyria is much too beautiful to abandon. Rift feels a bit old school after the open questing style and more active combat in GW2. It might feel better in a static group or guild. Soloing felt very lackluster. I suspect other games would now feel ancient in comparison to what I’ve quickly become accustomed to as far as questing is concerned. I missed playing GW2 while I was out of town last week. Just before leaving, I was determined to find “my something” to do at max level in GW2.
In my post raiding life, crafting is what I like to do as end game. Unfortunately, the profitability of the LARGE AMOUNT of recipes I labored to discover in GW2, sell for less than the materials needed to create them. Silly desperate constant under cutting sellers notwithstanding, I decided to take another look. I mean seriously, with that many freaking recipes at my disposal there must be some money-makers in the bunch. With the help of GW2 Spidy and a spreadsheet, I found several winners.
GW2 Spidy is a browser-based tool that aggregates the sales taking place on the Trading Post and provides min/max selling price, average profitability per item, etc. It’s like the NASDAQ of the GW2 economy. Using the information on this site and validating prices on the live market, I identified profitable items for my professions.
I listed the items I identified on the Trading Post. Using the “What I’ve sold” option data, I recorded my actual sales into a spreadsheet. After a few days, I averaged my actual sales per item and ranked them based on profitability. These rankings help me to decide which items to create first when I’m short on materials, as well as providing a focused list for farming. Granted, I farm everything within a reasonable distance when I’m in a zone but this list of items takes precedence. Within 5 days, I was able to double the modest amount of gold I have deposited in the bank. “Ah, sweet sweet loot. All mine!”
I’m not rich by any means. Players who are doing repeated dungeon runs or are in active WvW teams are bringing in more. However, this allows me to have my own end game, based around an activity that I enjoy and it is done 100% in my own time and fashion. Sure, I could farm and sell all the materials and possibly make more gold. But the gold itself isn't the point for me. The point was to fashion a viable end game for myself in GW2 as I have in other games.
Word of caution when using the GW2 Spidy Margin data. I find the calculations flawed in that they assume the cost of purchasing everything from the Trading Post, and for many items, don't let you choose that you've harvested it yourself. You can easily deduct those cost from the handy list of costs displayed on the individual item sheets. However, this means that you can't accurately sort your Watchlist by margin. *Sad panda face*
Since my crazy nights and weekends of hardcore raiding in WOW, my end game is about creating a business of sorts out of crafting and/or player housing. I’ve found that post WOW, if a game can’t provide either of those options, as in has a busted crafting design/market and lacks player housing, I’m generally gone a couple of months after hitting max level.
Tyria is gorgeous. I’m still not tired of wandering leisurely through the zones and discovering new nooks-n-crannies. The difference now, is that I have a focus for myself that keeps me entertained and invigorated in between content patches.
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