Capitalizing on those lazy players on day one. Don't be one of them!

On opening day and the days following there is going to be a massive demand for trophy's in Guild Wars 2. One of the first things I started looking into when I began working on the Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide was trophy farming.  The most profitable ventures in MMO's are the supply and sale of commodities that other players need.  Players are always going to take the path of least resistance.  Therefore many are likely to buy their materials rather than farm them for themselves.  Use this opportunity to capitalize off of others lazy behavior and don't fall victim to the temptation of doing the same.

The strategy that I plan to use is to wait just a measly 48 hours after the game launches before I start to really hammer away on my professions.  In my guide I stated that you need to get your crafting disciplines on their feet as early as you can.  I still stand by that 100%; however, I also would consider saving money to make money and that would make waiting quite beneficial.  I'm not saying to let your disciplines sit there and collect dust though.  I am saying play the game as you normally would.  All the trophies that you collect which help out your disciplines you should certainly use to advance them and discover new recipes.  Everything else should be sold.  Sell it early because those prices are likely to fall quickly.  Learning from past MMO experiences I am expecting this to happen.  I will explain a bit.

When an MMO first turns it's servers on there are almost no markets which are established.  There are a few that are going to have set price points because they are created using purchasable items, but for the most part we are rolling with a clean slate.  It is because of this that people will go to the trading post and throw their items up for ridiculous amounts of gold.  I don't know any hard numbers for you right now because like I've stated before there is no existing economy to measure against and obtain that data.  With prices sitting sky-high everyone, including you, are going to be posting their items trying to make easy money.  When the undercutting begins the prices are going to start to roll off that cliff and within days will be at a fraction of what they were.  They are going to be driven into the ground.  It is just the nature of players and it always happens.  (I am going to detail how to profit on this in a later post by the way.)

It is this brief period that you are going to sell everything that you possibly can that doesn't directly help you.  You are going to amass a sizable amount of gold by unloading all those trophies.  While other players may be out spending 100 gold on a stack you will get it just 48 hours later, if you choose to buy it, for much less.  Maybe even half the cost.  At this point you can get much cheaper materials and level your discipline for much less.  This all falls under that age old saying "If you are saving money, you are making money."

If you are a bit worried with this strategy just keep a general eye on the markets when the beta rolls around.  It is going to be a bit artificial since people know that they have a finite amount of time to play, but they are still going to have a certain sensibility about what they are purchasing.  When the servers go live on July 20th just jot down on a piece of paper what the prices of ore are on the trading post.  Wait four hours and track them again.  Then wait another four hours and track them again.  Do this as often as you are willing to spend time doing it.  I assure you that after plotting it out on a graph you will see a declining trend in those prices.  Whatever that trend happens to be just remember that it is with people who are radically spending their money.