Looking to return... but not to a daily grind

[Vindred.1352]

I have been AWOL since early icebrood saga and was thinking about jumping back in.

 

The problem being that I can't play every day, due to life circumstances. I'll still get 8-12 hours in, but they'll be clumped up in two to three days.

Back when I stopped, that was a huge problem because the grind demanded daily attention, or I'd be taking months to get what other people had in weeks. Compounded with not having more than a few friends, the backlog just killed the game for me.

 

So I am wondering if the new expansion will be more "at leisure" with its grinds instead of heavily time-gated.

[sigmundf.7523]

What kind of grind you looking at ?

[Cyninja.2954]

24 minutes ago, Vindred.1352 said:

Back when I stopped, that was a huge problem because the grind demanded daily attention, or I'd be taking months to get what other people had in weeks. Compounded with not having more than a few friends, the backlog just killed the game for me.

 

So I am wondering if the new expansion will be more "at leisure" with its grinds instead of heavily time-gated.

There never was a "huge" grind required, unless self imposed. Some achievements where on the grindier side, but those where neither needed nor time sensitive.

If you were self imposing or pressuring yourself into getting optional goals done within unreasonable time frames, that can happen just as well today. That's less of a game issue though and more of a you issue.

The new expansion has story, achievements, new legendaries, new masteries, new strikes, etc. You get to decide how you approach the content.

FYI: if you are on a limited amount of time when playing an MMORPG, your goal should never be "be as fast as players without those time restraints". That never works.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Cyninja.2954

[jason.1083]

1 hour ago, Vindred.1352 said:

I have been AWOL since early icebrood saga and was thinking about jumping back in.

 

The problem being that I can't play every day, due to life circumstances. I'll still get 8-12 hours in, but they'll be clumped up in two to three days.

Back when I stopped, that was a huge problem because the grind demanded daily attention, or I'd be taking months to get what other people had in weeks. Compounded with not having more than a few friends, the backlog just killed the game for me.

 

So I am wondering if the new expansion will be more "at leisure" with its grinds instead of heavily time-gated.

The way the game works hasn't changed, so grinding from events does still require time. But to be fair the game never really required you to play daily and for extensive sessions to progress, I'm not implying that playing for half the hours of other people won't hold you back. But you shouldn't try to compare to them in the first place. 

What you should do is play when you want and have the time to, but when you do play, be on top of what's the best thing you should be doing for what you want to grind for.

[Danikat.8537]

6 hours ago, Vindred.1352 said:

I have been AWOL since early icebrood saga and was thinking about jumping back in.

 

The problem being that I can't play every day, due to life circumstances. I'll still get 8-12 hours in, but they'll be clumped up in two to three days.

Back when I stopped, that was a huge problem because the grind demanded daily attention, or I'd be taking months to get what other people had in weeks. Compounded with not having more than a few friends, the backlog just killed the game for me.

 

So I am wondering if the new expansion will be more "at leisure" with its grinds instead of heavily time-gated.

I've been playing on a similar schedule since day 1 and I've been fine with it, but an important part of that is understanding that it's not possible to finish things as quickly as other people if you don't have as much time, it can't be done.

But the important thing to know is you don't have to. Relatively few things are actually required to progress so you can focus on the things which interest you and skip the rest (or leave it for later) and you never need to rush. There's nothing in the game where you will lose progress by not doing it quickly enough.

 

When a new episode is released I prioritise doing the story, because that's what interests me most, then when I'm finished with that I'll look at the achievements and decide which ones I want to do. If any don't interest me I'll skip them, I know I can always do them later on if I want to.

Also there's nothing I do every day. I know some people always do the daily achievements and have a farming routine where they'll do certain events or metas every day but if I did that I wouldn't have enough time for anything else and if I'm not doing the stuff I enjoy I'm not really benefiting from the gold anyway so I don't need it.

I've even managed to make some legendaries, again by accepting it will take me longer than other people. I do bits here and there, as and when I feel like it and eventually I get it all done. It takes me months to make one, but like I said you won't lose any progress, even if you stop completely for a while you can pick it up where you left off later on.

The important thing is I have fun with the game. Without that anything you're doing is pointless.

[Vindred.1352]

7 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

There never was a "huge" grind required, unless self imposed

It might be the most extreme example I can use, but missing 4 days out of the week on skyscale was massive. Even ascended gearing at the time was slow going if you didnt do daily fractals.

 

My biggest problem was that I *was* putting time in. I'd play all day long on one or two of my days off. My problem was that the content itself would only let me make so much progress in a day. I'd be done with most of my stuff within just a couple hours, and end up just wandering around looking for stuff to do.

 

Thats why the new end of dragons stuff has me interested because it doesn't look so daily time-gated. Like I can spend a whole day and have most of that day count as progress.

 

TLDR; I would rather spend 12 hours in one day than 2hours across six, basically

[Linken.6345]

2 hours ago, Vindred.1352 said:

It might be the most extreme example I can use, but missing 4 days out of the week on skyscale was massive. Even ascended gearing at the time was slow going if you didnt do daily fractals.

 

My biggest problem was that I *was* putting time in. I'd play all day long on one or two of my days off. My problem was that the content itself would only let me make so much progress in a day. I'd be done with most of my stuff within just a couple hours, and end up just wandering around looking for stuff to do.

 

Thats why the new end of dragons stuff has me interested because it doesn't look so daily time-gated. Like I can spend a whole day and have most of that day count as progress.

 

TLDR; I would rather spend 12 hours in one day than 2hours across six, basically

No EoD is just as daily gated as previous content.

[Cernoch.8524]

I dont know if I understand it right but I think 8-12 hours in 2-3 days is still A LOT more than for how long most people play so I dont really see issue in time. There isnt many things that needs to be done daily and if you skip them nothing really happens. So I wouldnt worry about it and jump right in and enjoy the game!

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

5 hours ago, Vindred.1352 said:

It might be the most extreme example I can use, but missing 4 days out of the week on skyscale was massive. Even ascended gearing at the time was slow going if you didnt do daily fractals.

 

My biggest problem was that I *was* putting time in. I'd play all day long on one or two of my days off. My problem was that the content itself would only let me make so much progress in a day. I'd be done with most of my stuff within just a couple hours, and end up just wandering around looking for stuff to do.

 

Thats why the new end of dragons stuff has me interested because it doesn't look so daily time-gated. Like I can spend a whole day and have most of that day count as progress.

 

TLDR; I would rather spend 12 hours in one day than 2hours across six, basically

You're trying to think of it like achieving just one goal at a time. If you go after several goals at once, you can easily use up your entire day without much effort, and despite being time-gated on each goal you can finish them all at the same time. Its something called multitasking.'

 

I recommend using something like gw2efficiency to see the overwhelming amount of stuff you can actually do in a day. I also strongly recommend raiding and strike missions for your schedule, as they only need to be completed once a week for the most significant rewards, but you can still repeat them if you want other rewards (for example, see "Weekly Cantha Strikes").

Edited April 22, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Cuks.8241]

8-12h per week is close to what I can dedicate to the game. I do it over more days though. Maybe some weekends a bit more. 

I never felt that I need to grind for anything. Doesnt mean I don't grind. I can and do play pretty much all content and the grind I put in is completely self imposed for shinies. With this kind of schedule over 5 years I got me full legendary for some characters (2 armor sets) and a bank big enough I could just craft/buy a few more on the spot. I also have a full bank tab and half of my mule character's inventory of random ascended from drops which I will probably never use because legendary.

8-12h per week, especially clumped in 2-3 days (which means you can afford longer gaming periods which is great for raids for example) seems like a decent amount of time. I have a problem that I have little kids which leads to interrupts often so I really dont like to dedicate myself to raids because there is a decent chance I will need to bail in the middle.

[Randulf.7614]

Living World maps are very populated right now (I've been doing achievements without difficulty for two weeks now). The only skyscale grind that exists is the currency and you can get that from playing or the return to living world achievements.

This game is about as casual friendly as I have seen for an mmo. You should be fine whether you play 4 hours or 20 hours

[Cyninja.2954]

7 hours ago, Vindred.1352 said:

It might be the most extreme example I can use, but missing 4 days out of the week on skyscale was massive. Even ascended gearing at the time was slow going if you didnt do daily fractals.

 

My biggest problem was that I *was* putting time in. I'd play all day long on one or two of my days off. My problem was that the content itself would only let me make so much progress in a day. I'd be done with most of my stuff within just a couple hours, and end up just wandering around looking for stuff to do.

That's what I was assuming.

You have to realize that everything you mentioned, especially the Sykscale or ascended gear, is not necessary to acquire immediatly. There are players who spent weeks or even months on acquiring either and in the end, they are no worse off than every one else. On the contrary, often prices drop  for items after the new item flair has faded (see gen3 weapons which fell in price for a few weeks).

This game is designed with some gating to compensate for the lacking gear grind as well as to stretch out goals without making them unattainable with small increments daily (for more casual players).

7 hours ago, Vindred.1352 said:

Thats why the new end of dragons stuff has me interested because it doesn't look so daily time-gated. Like I can spend a whole day and have most of that day count as progress.

 

TLDR; I would rather spend 12 hours in one day than 2hours across six, basically

Depending on what you look at, EoD is designed the same way as other GW2 content. 

The exception maybe being the weekly rewards implemented, but those also barely constitue a lot of work.

Unless you approach the game with a different mindset (which can include just spreading yourself out over more goals to do in those 1-2 days), you will end up at the exact same place you were last time.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Cyninja.2954

[Vindred.1352]

10 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

That's what I was assuming.

You have to realize that everything you mentioned, especially the Sykscale or ascended gear, is not necessary to acquire immediatly. There are players who spent weeks or even months on acquiring either and in the end, they are no worse off than every one else. On the contrary, often prices drop  for items after the new item flair has faded (see gen3 weapons which fell in price for a few weeks).

This game is designed with some gating to compensate for the lacking gear grind as well as to stretch out goals without making them unattainable with small increments daily (for more casual players).

Depending on what you look at, EoD is designed the same way as other GW2 content. 

The exception maybe being the weekly rewards implemented, but those also barely constitue a lot of work.

Unless you approach the game with a different mindset (which can include just spreading yourself out over more goals to do in those 1-2 days), you will end up at the exact same place you were last time.

I think the more they expand "raiding" the better this game gets. Weekly lockouts are far better than daily ones, and the instanced content was the only stuff that ever mattered to me. 

I dont mind cosmetics being grind, because I can ignore them and still have all I need. The skyscale and gearing issues hurt because it actually reduced my capabilities.

 

I would love to just sit in a hub city and dungeon grind for the rest of my existence. So if EoD has a bigger emphasis on raids and other weekly instanced content, it might be worth it. 

[Linken.6345]

4 hours ago, Vindred.1352 said:

I think the more they expand "raiding" the better this game gets. Weekly lockouts are far better than daily ones, and the instanced content was the only stuff that ever mattered to me. 

I dont mind cosmetics being grind, because I can ignore them and still have all I need. The skyscale and gearing issues hurt because it actually reduced my capabilities.

 

I would love to just sit in a hub city and dungeon grind for the rest of my existence. So if EoD has a bigger emphasis on raids and other weekly instanced content, it might be worth it. 

This is not the game for you wow or ff14 is the way to go for your playstyle mate.

[Luthan.5236]

Compared to other MMORPG ... this is a lot less grindy. I mean ... for games with gear treadmill you have to grind same raids over and over (in hope of getting a lucky drop) to get the gear for the next raid. Then repeating the same stuff.

In GW2 most content can be done with a level 80 char and even exotic gear. There are additional achievements that can be grindy. But they are not required to play most of the content -  especially the story + the map metas (the main part of the game). Even Skyscale should not feel that grindy. Unless you force yourself trying to do it super fast. For the currency: A lot of people seem to have thought this was grindy. When for me it was not - I just played the season 4 maps a bit normally doing other stuff. Gathering it slowly. And now we have the "return to achievements" to faster get some currency.

Of course the collection stuff can be annoying - the ones where you need to visit a ton of places and jumping puzzles. But there are not many achievements that come with major stuff like the Skyscale. Mostly the grindier stuff is totally optional and rewards titles (the ... rock star thing was a grindy one on season 3 I think) and in EoD the mini from doing all the shrine guardians. That can be ignored. Unless you are a completionist. Then you will have trouble with most games nowadays though. Even single player games add a ton of achievements trying to sell it as "content" when they only exist to artificially increase the playtime.

Edit: If you say you want to play 12 hours a day for 1 day instead of 2 hours a day for 6 days ... it actually sounds more like you'd prefer to grind though. And complaining about time-gates that are intended to make stuff less grindier (so you can enjoy other parts of the game instead of grinding out one part) ... feels a bit weird when you say you do not want to grind.

The question should have been more like "does the game still prevent me from power grinding forcing me to split the grind in small parts?" - that would have more sense. Most of the other parts though ... have no time-gating. Maybe diminishing returnts but I do not grind that much and don't know a lot about it. Afaik you can still do certain metas repeatedly - playing them for 12 hours - to get certain stuff. Some rewards are once per day per char or per day per account though.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Luthan.5236

[Vindred.1352]

14 hours ago, Luthan.5236 said:

Compared to other MMORPG ... this is a lot less grindy. I mean ... for games with gear treadmill you have to grind same raids over and over (in hope of getting a lucky drop) to get the gear for the next raid. Then repeating the same stuff.

In GW2 most content can be done with a level 80 char and even exotic gear. There are additional achievements that can be grindy. But they are not required to play most of the content -  especially the story + the map metas (the main part of the game). Even Skyscale should not feel that grindy. Unless you force yourself trying to do it super fast. For the currency: A lot of people seem to have thought this was grindy. When for me it was not - I just played the season 4 maps a bit normally doing other stuff. Gathering it slowly. And now we have the "return to achievements" to faster get some currency.

Of course the collection stuff can be annoying - the ones where you need to visit a ton of places and jumping puzzles. But there are not many achievements that come with major stuff like the Skyscale. Mostly the grindier stuff is totally optional and rewards titles (the ... rock star thing was a grindy one on season 3 I think) and in EoD the mini from doing all the shrine guardians. That can be ignored. Unless you are a completionist. Then you will have trouble with most games nowadays though. Even single player games add a ton of achievements trying to sell it as "content" when they only exist to artificially increase the playtime.

Edit: If you say you want to play 12 hours a day for 1 day instead of 2 hours a day for 6 days ... it actually sounds more like you'd prefer to grind though. And complaining about time-gates that are intended to make stuff less grindier (so you can enjoy other parts of the game instead of grinding out one part) ... feels a bit weird when you say you do not want to grind.

The question should have been more like "does the game still prevent me from power grinding forcing me to split the grind in small parts?" - that would have more sense. Most of the other parts though ... have no time-gating. Maybe diminishing returnts but I do not grind that much and don't know a lot about it. Afaik you can still do certain metas repeatedly - playing them for 12 hours - to get certain stuff. Some rewards are once per day per char or per day per account though.

Yeah you are very right. I should have specified more of a daily grind rather than just throwing "grind" around vaguely. From my experience the meta events don't really award you with much that you can really use. Some gold, some tokens that you can get some gear with. But if you play only one character it gets kinda 'meh' after a while.

 

15 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

This is not the game for you wow or ff14 is the way to go for your playstyle mate.

Guild Wars 2 has the absolute best combat IMO.

The 'open' world is irritating 70% of the time, the story is dull, they basically ruined most of the cool lore from GW1, there is an ungodly amount of pointless talking in story missions, and their mechanical game design choices are questionable at best.

But good God their combat is well worth looking past all of that. Even though other games have what I'm looking for, this would still be my MMO of choice. Which is why I haven't touched once since I quit GW2.

[RavensSorrow.6128]

7 minutes ago, Vindred.1352 said:

Yeah you are very right. I should have specified more of a daily grind rather than just throwing "grind" around vaguely. From my experience the meta events don't really award you with much that you can really use. Some gold, some tokens that you can get some gear with. But if you play only one character it gets kinda 'meh' after a while.

 

If the issue is rewards, this game does them differently than most people are used to. You aren't getting items but rather skins or currencies. You don't get gold but instead you get crafting materials. This isn't to say it's not worth it to do these things. However, the rewards are much more reliant on going to vendors or the trading post to get the most potential out of them.

With the horizontal progression it's difficult to reward the upgrades you are used to from other titles. Here you get materials which can be used to build towards a legendary item. Navigating the rewards and how it improves your account is a bit obscure. Things like gw2efficiency really can help. Even those achievement points you get actually build to account unlocks like goldfind, skins and gems! Pay attention to achievements! A good amount of rewards are tied to them (including a legendary necklace).

Gold is another thing that can feel slow. You get 2 gold for dailies or 4 for strike weekly achievements. Small amounts but that's not the only rewards. The shards can get you items or the materials you get can be valuable. Check with what you have in your storage. You can sell of stacks that you aren't using and see a huge gain. So much sits in here and all we do is hit the deposit all button and it's gone from our mind. Don't be shy in cracking it open if you have some item you are trying to buy. 

I've been watching Mightyteapot on youtube do his Zero to Hero series. The amount of ways he's shown how to get gold and quickly has been very insightful. Currencies I've forgotten about or showing what are the best items from those "choice" boxes. There is more being given to you than is obvious. Take another look see what you missed.

TLDR: Rewards require extra input in this game. Check achievements and sell unused materials in storage. 

[Vindred.1352]

10 hours ago, RavensSorrow.6128 said:

If the issue is rewards, this game does them differently than most people are used to. You aren't getting items but rather skins or currencies. You don't get gold but instead you get crafting materials. This isn't to say it's not worth it to do these things. However, the rewards are much more reliant on going to vendors or the trading post to get the most potential out of them.

With the horizontal progression it's difficult to reward the upgrades you are used to from other titles. Here you get materials which can be used to build towards a legendary item. Navigating the rewards and how it improves your account is a bit obscure. Things like gw2efficiency really can help. Even those achievement points you get actually build to account unlocks like goldfind, skins and gems! Pay attention to achievements! A good amount of rewards are tied to them (including a legendary necklace).

Gold is another thing that can feel slow. You get 2 gold for dailies or 4 for strike weekly achievements. Small amounts but that's not the only rewards. The shards can get you items or the materials you get can be valuable. Check with what you have in your storage. You can sell of stacks that you aren't using and see a huge gain. So much sits in here and all we do is hit the deposit all button and it's gone from our mind. Don't be shy in cracking it open if you have some item you are trying to buy. 

I've been watching Mightyteapot on youtube do his Zero to Hero series. The amount of ways he's shown how to get gold and quickly has been very insightful. Currencies I've forgotten about or showing what are the best items from those "choice" boxes. There is more being given to you than is obvious. Take another look see what you missed.

TLDR: Rewards require extra input in this game. Check achievements and sell unused materials in storage. 

The irony being that gold has never been an issue for me. 

 

For me, an hour of my time IRL is worth more than the gold I'd make farming, so even with the garbage exchange rate, I just gem store that nonsense. I'm by no means rolling in gold, but I'd spend $20-$30 bucks a week on gems, get some cosmetics, and leftovers go in the coin purse.

 

And same with outfits. Gemstore stuff is usually better than unlocks, its faster and less annoying, and I'm never hurting for a look.

 

My gripes with the mounts were that they are CRITICAL functions. They aren't some little bonus, they are the difference between a light jaunt through a zone or an hour long slog. Even if you don't want people paying their way through the game, you can't just hire a psychopath to design levels and then make players hustle through it on foot.

 

Unlock forms, not functions. 

[Luthan.5236]

The basic mounts are easier to unlock though. And most maps can be played without Skyscale. Skyscale gives  advantages especially when you are in big maps with metas where all other players have Skyscale and you don't want ot lag behind.

When on the other hand ... you prefer instanced stuff like raids though: Is it that important to have the mounts there? I never did raids but afaik there are no mounts allowed there? The gem store stuff is a matter of taste - I prefer the unlockable skins from playing the game. But it is good that they also sell stuff in the store. Something for everyone.

Another thing regarding the Skyscale: I never really tried to experience the EoD maps as intended. Just used the Skyscale - when the maps should be playable without it. (Often then having you to use different rountes ... using the zip llines. I bet player that first bought EoD and played there without Skyscale will know their way around Kaineng much better than me.)

The open world that you find "irritating" is the main focus of the game though. And the instanced story content. WvW, PvP and stuff like raids and strikes ... is not the focus of the developers. Personally I like it for (slowly - I play a lot but still progress slowly cause of my playstyle) completing achievements and gathering skin sets + doing jumping puzzles. And the story and mastery unlocks.

For the story I think it is mediocre only pretty often. Still okay in combination with the achievements and stuff. The maps ... don't like EoD. And I think a lot of people dislike certain maps but for HoT the atmosphere and meta events ... you usually read good feedback about those maps. Game wanted to be easier/different. (Open world mobs were hitting hard in HoT.) This is a common thing in the PvE content. I guess forcing the players to not grind all at once with time gates ... is also a result of this. To force certain players to not play that way - to prevent them from getting bored too fast. (Though with these restrictions they prevent others from playing this playstyle ... others that like it and prefer it this way.)

I would not have needed time gates in Skyscale. I even played slower than intended. I think the game is best suited for people that like different types of content (not only/mainly instanced group content like raids, strikes, fractals) - where they can make their own daily schedule and limits in just one area won't be noticed that hard cause you also play other stuff already normally cause you decided to to so. (Not because you can't just play the other content anymore.)

Edited April 24, 2023 by Luthan.5236

[Lucy.3728]

On 4/22/2023 at 3:48 AM, Vindred.1352 said:

The problem being that I can't play every day, due to life circumstances. I'll still get 8-12 hours in, but they'll be clumped up in two to three days.

Back when I stopped, that was a huge problem because the grind demanded daily attention

The grind or the chore, that it may be, is only in your head.

You took a break of 2 years? Think about how much missed time that is. You would be further along if you had played 2-3 days a week for 2-4 hours.

Do you understand why this is all in your head?

For projects with a timegate, you have to plan ahead and prepare this time kitten and only then start with the project.

It doesn't matter how long it takes.
My first skyscale took me months, I had 0 preparation and was constantly pissed off about all the artificial delays that were put in my way, even though the mount was standard everywhere when I started it. Totally unnecessary this harassment of new or returning players. Because it has not been a positive experience.

With the second scale, on account #2, I was smarter and there it also went quite quickly. And so I did that then for ascended and legendary armor pieces. Equipment that is a lot of work, I did not do. I don't run a thousand NPCs and complete achievements. I chose the items where you can buy a lot and don't have to do much work yourself. So I can play my favorite mode (WvW) and the rest does itself by the way.

I played for 1 year after release and then took a break for 7 years. Just think how far the veteran players were when I came back.

I have caught up a lot. And I know WvW veterans who play PvE/Story/whatever so rarely that I'm further along than them in that regard.

[Khisanth.2948]

Skyscale itself is no longer gated that way. It was changed to 1 in game day instead of 1 real life day. It is also only  required in Dragonfall. It is a convenience everywhere else although it can be one heck of a "convenience". The ziplines in EoD are simply terrible.

There are only a few other things in game that are gated that way. Henge collection which is also required for Aurora. Astral weapons which is also required for vision. The Zinn's prize student which is also required for Astralaria(but this one can be done even if you have literally a minute of play time each day). Daily League participator for The Ascension.

[Vindred.1352]

5 hours ago, Lucy.3728 said:

The grind or the chore, that it may be, is only in your head.

I'm thinking it's just because I'm only interested in a few things. It's hard to play around daily locks because I'll finish it after an hour or two, and just sit there for the other 6-10 hours just being grumpy that I can't make any more progress.

Especially when SO many other MMOs front-load at least the basic functionality, then have you grind out cosmetics.

 

But I'm back on now. Figured I'd give it a whirl. So far I've played for about 17 hours and have accomplished very little, but I attribute that to needing to readjust and figure some stuff out.

[Strider.7849]

On 4/21/2023 at 6:48 PM, Vindred.1352 said:

I have been AWOL since early icebrood saga and was thinking about jumping back in.

 

The problem being that I can't play every day, due to life circumstances. I'll still get 8-12 hours in, but they'll be clumped up in two to three days.

Back when I stopped, that was a huge problem because the grind demanded daily attention, or I'd be taking months to get what other people had in weeks. Compounded with not having more than a few friends, the backlog just killed the game for me.

 

So I am wondering if the new expansion will be more "at leisure" with its grinds instead of heavily time-gated.

I still end up with plenty of gold and don't really "farm" for it. Here are a few quick things I do for gold:

 

- Daily log in rewards.

- Collecting 4x Jade runestones with characters parked at the chests.

- Dragonstorm (gold + selling memories of aurene) if time allows for it.

- Weekly collecting the 5x antique summoning stones to sell instantly.

- Doing the daily if there are 3 fast ones (I.e. Vista + gatherer + WvW big spender)

 

If you did this only 2 times a week you'd have around 35-40 gold per week and it would take maybe 1.5 (stretching it) hours of that 8-12 you have (usually takes me about 50 minutes including loading screen times for logging into different characters/maps). Doing it like that, I spend the rest of my time just doing things I find fun. 

 

I try to get the 4 runestones (+ the daily log in) each day even if I don't have time to play, which is just under 4 gold after tp fees.