Converting Gold into Gems.

[Shimak.2047]

I've recently found out that it costs 25$ to buy all bag slots on a character PER character. This was quite shocking to me because I have a big case of altitis and will very likely be switching my "main" back and fourth. Even still, I wouldn't want my alts to have lesser bag space either to the point where it feels bad.

Now to what I want to ask. I see a lot of people complaining about this on the forums but never have I seen someone present a very obvious solution. Converting Gold to Gems. Are people averse to this? I'm a practically brand new player, just hit 80 and about to go into HoT, however I have barely seen anyone mention the gold conversion as a good solution. How hard is it to earn Gold in this game? I asked map chat and was told you can easily make 60Gold a day but I feel if this were the case, people simply wouldn't be complaining so much about the Utility (sort of mandatory imo) space expansion that could easily be purchased with Converted Gold Gems.

I'd appreciate any answers to this, I don't personally feel that the Gemstore is egregious in any way due to this but there must be some important value to Gold that me as a new player, simply doesn't understand.

Thanks.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Shimak.2047

[Mell.4873]

First Tip: One of the biggest money sinks is upgrading 20 slot bags into 30 slot bags while the alternative is to just spend 120 gold(roughly) to buy 400 gems and then buying another bag slot. 

Ten 20 slot bags should be plenty. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Mell.4873

[AgentMoore.9453]

You can convert gold to gems (and this is a good thing that I'm glad we can do), but there are also many goals in-game that require gold and so it can be difficult/inconvenient to work toward both at the same time, even moreso if the time you have available to play is limited (meaning you're bringing in lesser amounts of gold each play session and accruing it more slowly). Something also to keep in mind is that the game is built to encourage you to have alternate characters, so whenever something (like bag slots, templates) isn't an accountwide purchase, it can become annoying having to make all of those purchases again every time you make a new dude.

This is by design. Inherently, ArenaNet would prefer that players spend their gold on in-game goals and their money on the impulse conveniences available through the shop. I don't fault them that, since that is their primary income method, but it's most likely the reason you see so many of these complaints even though, technically, a person can theoretically save up game currency and use that instead.

If you're okay with sinking extra time in order to achieve both game and gem shop goals, there are daily habits and activities you can get into to keep a steady supply of gold going for conversion purposes, but that isn't how everyone plays games, so you will always see differences of opinion as a result.

[Danikat.8537]

Yes you can convert gold into gems to buy bag slots, but I think many people feel it runs into pretty much the same problem: it would take a lot of time to get enough gold to buy all the bag slots for all your characters so it's just not worth it. Whether you're using gold or gems the bag slots seem too expensive for a per-character upgrade.

If you think it's worth doing then there's no reason not to do it. It does of course mean you won't have the gold available for something else, but that's true of anything you buy.
 

5 hours ago, Shimak.2047 said:

I asked map chat and was told you can easily make 60Gold a day

Did they tell you how?

There's three common pitfalls with comments like that.
1) They might literally mean a day, as in at least 8 hours in-game focused exclusively on gold farming which obviously is not practical for many people to do on a regular basis (or at all).
2) It might be something which requires a lot of set-up or otherwise isn't practical to do every single day. For example you can make a lot of gold crafting and selling time-gated items once per day, but at some point you'll run out of the materials and then you need to add in time to farm them or reduce the profit by buying them (and to do that effectively you need to plan ahead and place buy orders then wait for them to be filled). Either way it may end up that it's not worth the time required, especially if you only have limited time to play and end up spending all your time farming to get upgrades you then never really use because you're spending all your time farming.
3) They were being overly optimistic and while you can get to about 60g per day it requires a lot of good luck - like getting the best of the likely drops from multiple events.

Personally I just don't buy bag slots. I've got 20 slot bags on all my characters and especially since unidentified gear was added to the game to replace individual drops I rarely run out of space while playing. It does mean I have to split stacks of unidentified gear before opening it, but that's not worth buying extra bag slots for.

[Erise.5614]

So. gold a day is a funny topic.

First of all, most benchmarks calculate in gold per hour because days can be very different for different players.

10g-25g per hour is very possible depending on how efficient you play. Meaning 60g per day can be done in about 2.5 hours per day.

But, there's a few big caveats.

1. Gold per hour is calculated per actively farming hour. You real yield will be lower when calculated in playing time.
2. It requires very specific farming methods.
3. It assumes you sell literally everything. You keep no materials, you never craft anything. You never improve your account in anyway.

While I am technically increasing my account value by those numbers, I'm usually keeping most mats for myself and put them into ascended or legendary items. I technically increased my account value by over a thousand gold after a few months. Yet I rarely have more than a few hundred gold and investing those into gems can cut deep into my wallet.
In reality, I'm making about 2 - 5 gold per hour of gameplay. Plus a lot of materials that will come in handy later. And also I regularly play things that have abysmal gold per hour but which I enjoy. Further reducing actual income per hour. 

If your goal is maxing out bag slots it's certainly an option. You just gotta decide about your priorities. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Erise.5614

[Mell.4873]

Second Tip: Salvage kits take up a lot of bag space so the first thing you should buy is the Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic( Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic).

Third Tip: The next thing you make Mystic Salvage Kits (Mystic Salvage Kit) use this for rares certain stackable items like ectoplasm. If you have more gems to spare then get Silver-Fed Salvage-o-Matic (Silver-Fed Salvage-o-Matic) for the same purpose.

Fourth Tip: Put gem store items in shared slots so all your characters can enjoy them.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Mell.4873

[Peterson.5172]

converting gold to gems takes about 6 hrs farming (120g @20g/h)

in the uk, if you make minimum wage, after taxes will put you at around £7-8/hr(700-800gems), so 30-40mins real work

[kharmin.7683]

Been playing for over 8 years and have never needed max bag slots on any of my characters.  Selling to the BLTC from anywhere in the map is easy.  Selling junk to local map vendors is easy. 

[The Boz.2038]

The 20-slot starter backpack plus six 20-slot bags is my comfy standard for characters. One of the bags (the last one) is invisible, which helps organize and keep WIP stuff.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

You will usually need the gold you earn in game to progress your character. Unless you got a ton of gold, I would recommend against converting gold to gems.

If you can afford it, buy some gems / gem cards. Wait for a sale of the bag slots and buy the bag slots at a discount with gems.

This allows you to save the gold for buying crafting materials or the griffon mount for example.

[JSmooth.7654]

IMO, gold making isn't "easy" in GW2. The game is traditionally adverse to giving you currency gold. You are more likely to get materials or other rewards that you have to convert into gold. There are many guides online that can show you efficient ways to make gold. Check them out and see what looks the most appealing to you.

 

Generally I'd group gold making methods into 3 categories...

 

1) Passive everyday: Some examples would be farming your guild hall / farming your home instance / parking alts at special locations / time-gated crafting / etc. These activities are typically low intensity and bring a small amount of gold that adds up slowly over time.

2) Active farming: Fractals / raids / RIBA / Drizzlewood Coast / Meta trains / etc. These methods give you more gold in a short amount of time. But, they depend your tolerance for farming and how fun you find those activities. Some of the methods also require significant investment before you can even get started.

3) Limited time offers: Expansion drops / living world releases / festivals / etc. Some items are more valuable (or are only available) during certain time periods. Right now there are items in the new expansion you can buy / farm / craft that are in high demand. The price of those items will most likely drop over time as the demand drops and supply increases.

Edited April 5, 2022 by JSmooth.7654

[Danikat.8537]

2 hours ago, Peterson.5172 said:

converting gold to gems takes about 6 hrs farming (120g @20g/h)

in the uk, if you make minimum wage, after taxes will put you at around £7-8/hr(700-800gems), so 30-40mins real work

This is technically true, but I'm not sure it's practical advice for a lot of people.

The job I have does not allow paid overtime (short version, project funding is fixed, if I say I need overtime I'm more likely to get a meeting to review project objectives and workstreams to see what's taking up more time than it's supposed to). I could get a second part-time job but then I have to do it on their schedule, likely something like 4 hours every Saturday at a minimum. Although I'm unlikely to get that - they'd tell me I'm overqualified and then hire someone under 23, ideally (for them) under 18 because they can legally pay them less.

But the biggest problem for me is that I'd have to do in on their schedule. Even on a "zero hours" "flexible" contract almost all the flexibility and decision making is on their end and the employee does the shifts they're assigned or finds another job. There's no option to just do an hour or so when you feel like it.

Add in the fact that in GW2 gold farming can actually be fun because you're far more likely to be playing through entire meta-events than finding yourself a 'grind spot' to camp for hours like in some other games, and it means farming gold in the game is far more preferable for me, and I suspect a lot of other people, than getting a part time job even if on a purely profit-per-hour basis it's better.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Danikat.8537

[Gibson.4036]

Looking at GW2TP, the cheapest 15 slot bag is 1g1s, 18 slot is 2g65s, 20 slot is 12g11s.

I've never thought 10g was worth two slots. Most of my characters have the 20 slot starter bag, and four 18 slot bags, and that is plenty of space. As said above, use an invisible bag in the last slot for unidentified gear or stuff you don't want to salvage.

Deposit materials regularly, sell junk to vendors every time you see one, and you'll be fine with 92 slots. Over time you'll get weird random stuff that can't be salvaged or deposited to materials, but you don't want to carry that stuff around anyway. /Wiki to see what it's for, store it in the bank if you really see a reason to keep it.

Bank tabs expansions, at 600 gems, give 30 more slots. You'll get more bank for your buck, though a little less convenience, buying a character slot expansion at 800 gems, giving you in the neighborhood of 90 more storage slots after you get them some 15-18 slot bags. Long term storage things can go on that mule, leaving your bank for things you'll more regularly access on your various characters.

Having a mule also gives you access to more crafting disciplines and a character to hop on to access your home instance once you start getting nodes there without having to travel back to a hub on your main.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Gibson.4036

[garpu.6210]

I generally buy gems every few months or so.  I figure if I were playing another MMO I'd be paying monthly subscription fees.  It's very possible to make gold to convert to gems, though, but as others have said, it takes time.  I heartily recommend a long podcast series (Magnus Archives is awesome, if you like horror.)  It's chump change compared to some of the farming methods discussed, but don't forget that your dailies will give you 2 gold a day. 

[Orthonen.9470]

It's not hard if you learn how to do it, you have to be committed to what it is you want, if you start spending gold on stuff you don't need and will only use 1-2 days, you'll struggle to get those bag slots. Gold making in this game is an aggressively hard process that takes a great deal of stinginess and commitment. My advice to you, the new player, is that to succeed in this game you need to take big risks, the bigger the risk, the greater the reward. 

There are a lot of secrets that people don't know about in Guild Wars in regards to gold making, for now, just focus on getting the masteries done for your lvl 80, as that will actually help your gold generating feats.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Aridon.8362

[Farohna.6247]

As someone who plays about two to three hours a day, I definitely am not making 60g a day lol.  I save up for a while in gold, and will convert when the price drops a bit.  Occasionally I buy gems, like happy birthday to me, that kind of thing lol.  I was fortunate to sell an infusion last year and converted much of the gold to gems.

I have two characters with maxxed bags.  I bought them when the slots were on sale, not full price.  I would say it's overkill, about three of the slots are never used unless I open a ton of bags or gear at one time.  Do I like having those little spaces unlocked, absolutely.  Needed, no.  I use 20 slot bags, and one 32 slot from some collection.  

Short answer, depends on your space management, how long you like to go without cleaning out your bags, and saving gold is kind of a personal goal in game.  Depending on your hours of play per day, may be more efficient for you to buy gems for QoL items it your budget allows for it.  Don't waste money on something that you don't really want.

[Danikat.8537]

18 minutes ago, Farohna.6247 said:

As someone who plays about two to three hours a day, I definitely am not making 60g a day lol.  I save up for a while in gold, and will convert when the price drops a bit.  Occasionally I buy gems, like happy birthday to me, that kind of thing lol.

Same for me. Being told I can make Xg in a day reminds me of playing Ultima Online and being told I could max out a skill in a day if I went to the right location. I could never understand why when I tried it I never made much progress. It came as a real surprise when someone finally explained that when they said a day they meant 12 hours (not including time required to get there and get started), not the 1 hour I was allowed to play on our dial-up internet.

In GW2 since there's relatively little you need to buy to keep playing I prefer to do whatever I enjoy and just save up my gold until I can afford whatever it is I want. If I want more gold on short notice I go through my material storage for things I can sell (or refine/craft and then sell), although of course you can't do that too often because it takes time to build up more. I don't go out of my way to farm gold but I will often join in with meta-event chains which can be profitable, although I'm sure I'm not using the most efficient process for opening bags, salvaging/selling drops etc. to maximise the profit.

[Xelqypla.6817]

Anything in my bags are just in a layover between their flight from enemies to either Material Storage or Trading Post. Excess garbage is dumped on the numerous vendors that litter the world.

 

If something is building up in my bags, I am clearly not using it up faster than I get it, so it's probably not worth the bag space anyway. If it's important enough to keep, Bank it.

 

Time is gold. The more time you spend trying to sift through the garbage filling your bags, the more time you are burning for a meager amount of extra profit.

 

I'd be asking myself why I need extra bag space. What is taking up my precious inventory that makes it worth spending so much gold/time to make it worth keeping?

[Fuchslein.8639]

7 hours ago, Danikat.8537 said:

Yes you can convert gold into gems to buy bag slots, but I think many people feel it runs into pretty much the same problem: it would take a lot of time to get enough gold to buy all the bag slots for all your characters so it's just not worth it. Whether you're using gold or gems the bag slots seem too expensive for a per-character upgrade.

If you think it's worth doing then there's no reason not to do it. It does of course mean you won't have the gold available for something else, but that's true of anything you buy.
 

Did they tell you how?

There's three common pitfalls with comments like that.
1) They might literally mean a day, as in at least 8 hours in-game focused exclusively on gold farming which obviously is not practical for many people to do on a regular basis (or at all).
2) It might be something which requires a lot of set-up or otherwise isn't practical to do every single day. For example you can make a lot of gold crafting and selling time-gated items once per day, but at some point you'll run out of the materials and then you need to add in time to farm them or reduce the profit by buying them (and to do that effectively you need to plan ahead and place buy orders then wait for them to be filled). Either way it may end up that it's not worth the time required, especially if you only have limited time to play and end up spending all your time farming to get upgrades you then never really use because you're spending all your time farming.
3) They were being overly optimistic and while you can get to about 60g per day it requires a lot of good luck - like getting the best of the likely drops from multiple events.

Personally I just don't buy bag slots. I've got 20 slot bags on all my characters and especially since unidentified gear was added to the game to replace individual drops I rarely run out of space while playing. It does mean I have to split stacks of unidentified gear before opening it, but that's not worth buying extra bag slots for.

In the Commie-tag thread someone say'd you can easly make 100gold with a few hours of  meta trains.

I wonder what a few hours are for some people and of which meta they are talking.

----

@TE

For me it depends on what i like to do at the moment. At the moment i just do Open World stuff, and here and there a meta. This way i don't earn money fast.

The fastest i made gold was when i had the time to farm Meta-events, sell stuff and convert spirit shards. Because Fractals and Raids are restrictied. Raids more than fractals.
But i personally don't buy bag slots, its wasted in my opinion, even more when you do it on all your'e chars.
But this is of course just my opinion, i'm someone who enjoys fashion-wars, and i have a lot of skins who where not cheap and want more in the future who are also not cheap.

Btw, when you want to farm the most effetive way, look at this site

https://fast.farming-community.eu/farming/guides

Because most effective farming-route is not just one meta-event which you can farm all day. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Fuchslein.8639

[ugrakarma.9416]

Ppl don't suggest it because is too 'relative', its depends entirely  of u gold farming pace. u do 30g 60g day? for some ppl is too much, for others not. so is hard to say its a general solution for everyone.

But, if u really are in constant need of too much space, is because u is farming too much, so u can think about conversion.

Edited April 5, 2022 by ugrakarma.9416

[notebene.3190]

I do it all the time now!

When I first started playing, for the first several years, I decided to spend $10/mo in gems. It was a way to support the game, and I was already used to paying like $15/mo for my favorite game, so I just transferred the habit to this game. I get a 33% discount. I get stuff from the store. ArenaNet gets a paying customer. Wins across the board.

These days, I mostly rely on the gold-to-gem transfers. The money I carry on me goes up daily just from the money I pick up for the daily. My mat storage is at 1250, and when it's largely capped with the 'T' materials and basic stuff, so that all gets vendored. When I get up to maybe 10-20g over what 800 crystals will cost on that day (and I try to watch the market swings), then I'll take my money out of the BLTC, buy gems, and my 'carry around' cash now went up 10-20g. I keep a sense of my money going up, and I get gems.

That's enough to keep me in most things. Every so often I'll make a cash gem purchase if there's a few things I want above and beyond what I can get for that.

[jamesg.7128]

imo bag slots are not worth it since it's per char. I did get one on what WAS my main but I'm doing fine on my most recent main without one.

I prefer account wide upgrades, so bank slots and material storage expanders. 

As for getting the gems, when I want to add more of these things I just use $ to buy them when the items are on sale.

My gold I need for crafting mostly and occasionally buying something off the TP.

[Doggie.3184]

That's why I foamed at the mouth all of March as they tortured me by waiting till very end to do bag slot sale so I could finish race changing my main (by making a new character).

[Shimak.2047]

I appreciate all the posts and have read all of them. It seems the general consensus is that Gold is too hard to come by to be converting it for the sole purpose of buying extra bag slots. Buying multiple 18 slot bags is usually enough for most people and I should spend any Gems I get on Bank Space, Material Space and other things that are account wide and have an impact on future characters.

Thank you for the posts.