There's a
lot
of different things to do in Guild Wars, more than enough to eat up
anyone's time. That said, I am continually amazed by how large the zergs
are that tour the World Bosses, going from one to the next and picking
up just a single measly rare and some greens each time. People wait for a
solid half hour for Ulgoth the Modniir and the Megadestroyer without
even bothering to speed things up by lending a hand with the pre-quests.
By all means, go to the world bosses if you enjoy the fights (Jormag
and Tequatl are a lot of fun), or if you need to pick up pieces for a
legendary precursor quest. But I quizzed people the last few times I
turned up to some of those fights, and a disturbingly large number of
them said that they were doing the tours
for the money. A yellow and three greens for 20 minutes work is
terrible
money. Especially when you can't even autoattack and afk while the HP
sponge drops down, since so many cause you to drop targets, or put up
AEs that'll kill you, or move around, etc. It's to those people that I'd
like to point out some more profitable things you could be doing with a
few minutes to spare, that aren't as mind-numbing as Silverwastes
Chest-farming or as dependent on finding a group as meta-events or
dungeons.
Node farms
Yes, it seems kind of silly to log on to an MMORPG just to be a
potato farmer, but node farms pop once a day, less than 30 seconds from a
waypoint. In literally less than three minutes, you can earn what you
would have gotten from the Inquest Golem in twenty.
- Potatoes (10-15 x 2, selling for 2-3s each). Go
slightly south of Loreclaw Waypoint ([&BMcDAAA=]). Also slightly
north of Akk Waypoint ([&BEIAAAA=]), jumping up some platforms.
- Flax (15x seeds, selling for 6-7s. Occasionally a
flax fibre or two selling for 15s). This one requires at least the
first level of Gliding mastery. Go to Jaka Itzel Waypoint in Verdant
Brink, jump off the north side and fall/float to the bottom.
While you're in Verdant Brink, you can also hop across to each of the
other waypoints and harvest any nearby flax/mussels/etc. Not always
worth it, though.
There is a second Flax farm in Tangled Depths, slightly northwest of
the Ogre camp, but it's not always available depending on metaevent
progress.
- Passion Fruits/Flowers (3x flowers, selling at 60s each. 20x fruits, selling at 2s each)
Start at Pearl Islet Waypoint ([&BNUGAAA=]). Work your way north to
the next nearest waypoint, swinging east and west to harvest every
Passiflora and especially every Blooming Passiflora node. You
can only harvest three Blooming nodes per day, but each is guaranteed to
give you a Passion Flower selling for 50-70s. If your server is doing
particularly well at WvW, you might get a few extra harvests out of the
blooms as well.
If you didn't get your three Blooming nodes, quickly check slightly
north of Owain's Refuge Waypoint ([&BNgGAAA=]) for two more possible
nodes. If you still don't have the third, come back to Pearl Islet
waypoint later when the Passiflora have repopped and moved around. They
can spawn in other spots, like west of Point Lion, but this is a minimal effort/maximal gain guide.
- Spinach (10-12, selling for 1-2s). This one's
not as good since spinach goes cheaper than potatoes, but it's still
less than 30 seconds from Provern Shore waypoint ([&BOQAAAA=], climb
up the hills to the northwest), and there tend to be 2-3 soft wood
nodes within sight. Since soft wood is currently selling quickly at 4s
each, each node is 12-16s.
- Elder Wood. Go slightly west of Pagga's Waypoint
([&BKYCAAA=]) for a stand of five cypress trees. The area is also
typically very dense with other nodes worth picking up, like
omnomberries and ghost peppers. There's another stand of cypress
slightly west of Waywarde Waypoint ([&BPgCAAA=]), but the waypoint
is often contested.
- Platinum (~10 per node, selling for 3s each). Go
to the Old Sledge Waypoint ([&BNQCAAA=]), run north and swing left
at the platform where the Inquest Golem spawns. Underwater is a Rich
Platinum node. Then go north from Flamefrog Waypoint ([&BMwBAAA=])
and into the cave at the river. Another cave East-North-East of Rustbowl
Waypoint ([&BB4CAAA=]) for a third. There are a bunch of other rich
nodes, but those three are the fastest.
- Iron (~10 per node, selling for 3s each). Go
through the passage to the northwest of Oldgate Waypoint
([&BF4BAAA=]). Another just south of Gallowfields Waypoint
([&BGMAAAA=]), south of Snowhawk Landing Waypoint ([&BL8AAAA=]),
West-North of Demetra Waypoint ([&BKsAAAA=]), etc...there's a lot
of Iron around, but each rich node is still worth around 30s. Those ones
can be reached in less than 2 minutes, though chances are you'll be
stuck in combat at the end.
There are a few other spots you can go to and things to do, but these aren't as profitable or quick as the above.
- Coarse sand. From XX:40 to XX:00 every hour,
there's a dust storm in Dry Top. Go to the Vinebridge waypoint
([&BIYHAAA=]) and head east, then back and forward south and north
killing Dust Mites. Every one drops 1-5 Silky Sand, and every 10 sand
gives you a chance at a Coarse Sand (as well as Zephyrite Lockpicks,
geodes, crests, etc). Back in the first few days after the HoT launch
this was crazy good money. These days the price has
crashed to a more reasonable 10-12s per (you can get about 10-12 in a
single storm), meaning you only get 1g for 20 mins work. Still better
than World Bosses, but probably not great once the novelty has worn off.
As an aside, there's another node farm slightly north of the
Vinebridge Waypoint in the oasis, with carrots, cactus, and some other
junk.
- Soft Wood. The legendary precursors have caused
the price of soft wood to spike hard recently, with each log going for
4-5s. At that price, there are actually some pretty profitable routes
around Gendarren Fields, Brisban Wilds, Harathi Hinterlands, etc. that
focus specifically on areas with soft wood nodes.
- Clams/Pearls. Just throwing this one in here for
filler, really. Like the spinach node farm above, this isn't
tremendously profitable, but it's still quick and you can pick up some
soft wood, iron, and herbs along the way. Go to Mrot Boru Waypoint
([&BHUAAAA=]) and swim along the bottom of the river to the north
for a bunch of clams and pearls.
- Some world bosses. Southsun Cove's Karka Queen
(Camp Karka Waypoint ([&BNcGAAA=]) among others) in particular is
fast, easy, and gives some of the biggest rewards. Even the pre-quests
for her are fast and rewarding, and you can always just do the Passion
Flower/Fruit farming I mentioned above if you turn up too early. Frozen Maw (near Krennak's Homestead Waypoint at [&BMIDAAA=]) is the only world boss that you actually can sit on a ledge and plink with autoattack while afk to cook dinner and still get Gold, so he gets a mention. Tequatl...Tequatl
gives great rewards, but it's a long event, and you have to turn up to
Splintered Coast Waypoint ([&BNABAAA=]) 10 minutes early in order to
have a hope of getting into a winning map. If you have no shame, you
can zone in at the prerequisite ten-minute-early mark and begin touring
the zone for gathering nodes. If the map is well-organised enough to
win, people will be shouting to the zone about the progress - just
teleport back when the second "BACK" is shouted to cap off the event.
You lose the smaller dragon chests for low participation, but still get
the Exotic one and the main chest on top of the 3-4g you collected from
hard wood and platinum.
- Silverwastes Breach (go to Hidden Depths waypoint at [&BKwHAAA=]), Ogre Wars (go to Ogre Road Waypoint at [&BE8BAAA=]), and the various Orr Bosses
(Dwayna, Lyssa, Balthazar, Eye, Arah, etc). These are things to watch
out for on the Open World tab of the LFG tool. Each is faster than a
world boss (well, some of the Orr events drag on, especially if the zerg
wants to farm them), and gives equal or better loot. The Breach (or a
"95%" map) in particular gives 3 rares, 5 champ bags, and a Key of
Greater Nightmare that can be redeemed for another rare and assorted goodies, for less than 5 minutes work. The biggest thing these events provide, though, is a little variety.
I am not pretending that the above is the best way of making cash in
the game. I am also not advocating that you do all of the above in a
single sitting, or every day. Change things up, do one batch of nodes
for 15m one day, then different ones the next. I'm just saying that it's
better than the entry-tier World Boss Zerg that seems to
inevitably draw every new player in for a while, in terms of cash. I'd
still say that it's worth going to the World Bosses a few times, as they
are in general quite fun fights (though cheapened a bit by the sheer
size of the zerg).
If the
only thing you were after was gold and you had the
soul of a robot, non-stop
Silverwastes Chest Farming is probably still
the most lucrative thing to be doing. It's just that to me, it's so dull
that it doesn't seem like playing a game - I'd rather just put in some
overtime at work and buy the gold with cash-bought gems. Maybe to you
these node farms and spots are similar, or will be after a short while,
but I'm still having fun with them as a short semi-daily thing for when I
have 15 minutes free but not an hour.
SOURCE
