Please excuse any typos or grammatical errors. I’m trying to get a lot of basic information out in a short amount of time for people who may be entering beta or alpha for the first time. There is so much to learn and figure out in the first few days of playing ArcheAge.
At some point, all MMO players have to figure out how they’re going to earn money, especially if they decide to hang in for the long haul. ArcheAge is not too different from other MMOs, in that it contains the classic revenue generating opportunities. However, it does contain options that are rarer and as such, require explanation.
You have many options for earning gold in AA. This allows you to mix it up to keep things fresh or find something you enjoy doing. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, you CAN’T farm mobs to make money. Normal quest mobs don’t drop coin, gear or crafting components. You receive coin and gear from completing quests but not enough to bank roll you.
- Mining Ore – common and easiest way to make money. Mining nodes are world spawns. You don’t need special gear or skills to mine ore. However, you can earn a mining gear set which I do use on my character.
- Harvest and sell base craft components – use a Public Farm or your own farm to grow produce, or conduct husbandry, and sell the byproducts of that effort. These are items crafters will need to advance in their professions. It’s cheap for you and can generate a steady income.
- Harvest and sell processed components – to do this in decent volume you need a farm of your own. The newbie Scarecrow farm which is (8x8) will suffice. Grow produce, grow trees or conduct husbandry. Process the byproduct and sell that on the market. The difference between this and the one above, is that you can get the additional XP by “handling” what you produce. Remember that harvesting AND processing components all provide leveling XP in addition to advancing trade skills.
- Produce and sell crafted items – do the whole shebang from start to finish and sell your wares. This takes more time and effort. Recipes are a bit complex. They are more along the lines of EQ2 than let’s say WOW. I don’t recommend this for new players, especially if you don’t have a larger farm where you can produce most of what you need.
There are a few exceptions to this rule, items that can be easily produced and will sell well. The most common is Hereafter stones (HS). HS are used to teleport to places you’ve recorded in your log book. It’s a basic consumable needed by all players. Producing and selling HS, is within reach of every new player. Mine ore, process the stone received into bricks, purchase wedges from the general merchant and produce HS to list on the auction house. Going rate is about 9G per 100, which isn’t a large quantity if you mine ore regularly. - Produce trade packs – producing trade packs is the backbone of getting gold into the economy. I don’t believe it’s feasible without having the 8x8 farming plot at a minimum. Trade packs are higher quantity specialty combinations of items you create and transport to a specialty NPC vendor. What you’re producing and the region of origination (distance from NPC) factor into the fee you’re paid.
You can participate in this activity without ever encountering PVP. Own land in uncontested zones and only transport to NPCs in uncontested zones. Easy. The difference is the fee you’ll be paid for those goods.
For example, I produce a trade pack of Goose Down in Marianople and transport it to Two Crowns. Two Crowns is a different region but it’s adjacent to Marianople, making it not “that” far. Okay, it feels hella far on foot or an un-buffed donkey. For that trek I get roughly 3 gold.
Creating the same pack in Gwenoid, which is I believe 2 regions away from Two Crowns, I receive 6+ gold. Transporting the very same package to one of the other continents, which means crossing water and possibly encountering pirates, I get 9+ gold. See how that works? It’s your choice. The amount of materials doesn’t change but the distance (effort) and risk change, thereby impacting the value of your service and fee. I’ve done all three, transporting the same trade pack. - Fishing earns decent gold from what I’ve heard. I haven’t tried it myself. You can make a decent amount fishing off peers or using a rowboat. You’ll need to craft yourself a fishing pole. That said, the big money is in the open waters catching fish like Marlin. Most doing it at that level have a fishing class ship. Remember that open water fishing means you’re subject to pirate encounters.
- Be a Pirate – Like EVE Online, piracy is a legitimate play style. Rob people mounted or on foot in contested territory or rob people on the open seas. If you’re good at it you will profit. ‘Nuf said.
- Farm Rare Items - you can farm end game dungeons for coveted gear. You can attempt harvesting rare opportunity crafting components like Thunderstruck Trees that are going for 1K+ right now.
- Resell Gilda purchased items – Gilda is a special reward currency received by completing certain quests. They are then used to purchase items that players can’t make, such as house and ship designs, upgraded gliders, special potions, costumes, etc. If someone wants a house, they have to get a hold of a house design. Period. If they don’t have the Gilda to purchase it for themselves, they have to buy the design from another player. The downside to doing this is that you may need your Gilda later and won’t have it and will have to farm it up. *ick*
- Sell your services – I see people offering transportation of players with trade packs to the various NPCs. It may be a little while before someone has a donkey geared to move at max speed or can afford a farm wagon which is even faster. If you have a wagon, you can offer rides along established trade routes in safe areas.
- Be inventive – this is a sandbox game and there is more than one way to skin a cat. There are guilds who’ve have formed Home Owners Associations in contested areas. They charge each home owner a set fee for local protection and escort to the coast. Some have built general houses stocked with trade and craft vendors that they will make available to their participants.
Thanks for this. It will be helpful once I finally get into the game.
Posted by: Winged Nazgul | July 30, 2014 at 11:43 AM