Our next 500 platinum winner’s comment poses several interesting questions that I feel are worth talking about.

Corky wrote:

Very interested to hear more of your take on the player run economy, particularly w/r/t crafting.  Unfortunately, we’re in agreement that high-end crafting items are only good for players that have high level alts AND have lots of money.  Once again, the money makers appear to be the gatherers, who sell their mats to the crafting suckers.

Do you have any tips on ways (other than gathering) for people to make money using their heads instead of grunt work?  Do you see any money-making patterns that have applied to MMO’s time after time?  The PvE -> PvP transfer trick seems so obvious, in hindsight, but that’s not something you’d ordinarily see allowed in MMO’s.

Did you ever play SWG?  Best.  Economy.  Ever.  No idea why more MMO’s don’t copy this model.

By the time I started my blog, Rift had already been out several months and I really never got to showcase my ability to make money in Rift.  As a trader in the stock market, playing the Auction House was extremely fun for me, it was like a mini-game within Rift.  The reason there are very few articles on my blog regarding making money in Rift is because there were very few lucrative items to sell as profit margins were already too low from increased competition.

• How did I amass such unfathomable amounts of currency in Warhammer and Rift? 
• How will I make money in any future MMO?

Whenever you start any new game, you should really focus on leveling your character to maximum level and forget about crafting.  Once you achieve that, you should have a good grasp of the game and determine which crafting skills to pick up.  I basically break down my money making strategy into 2 different stages in the game:

1.  Sell crafting materials or crafted items.

As with any game, potions will always have the highest demand since they are consumed.  Healing and Mana potions is where you should make the bulk of your money for the first several months.  Most people are so focused on armor and weapons and negelect the use of potions until much later in the game allowing you to buy materials fairly cheap.  As soon as you have enough money, venture into another crafting profession.  It is very important to take note as to which items are selling and and what prices.  This will help you determine which items to concentrate on.

Creating Artificial Supply – Secret to Acquiring Materials

Here is one of my biggest secrets as to acquiring materials, creating artificial supply.  As you start making money, you should slowly be acquiring materials at reasonable costs.  Once you have sufficient stacks of each material now the fun begins!

Lets say there are 5 stacks of a particular item you want listed at 20 gold each.  From my own inventory, I would then list stacks of that material for 19, 18, 17 and some smaller stacks at 16 and 15.  Ideally you will want to be the only person showing up on the first page.  The goal is not only to get those existing sellers to undercut you, what you are really doing is setting a price ceiling for any new materials that show up on the Auction House and buying it all up.  If things go wrong and someone starts buying up your inventory listed then snatch up the 5 stacks at 20 gold.  You end up losing a small amount of money, but gain tremendous information regarding the demand for that particular item.  This requires alot of inventory, deep pockets and a perpetual eye on the AH.  However, once you are able to manipulate the market in virtually every item listed on the AH, the money flow is astronomical!  Once the money starts coming in, equipping the best runes or having the best available potions in the game at your disposal will really make you a force to reckon with on the battlefield.

2. Sell armor or weapons to ALTs.

I wrote an article that talks about when to shift your focus from crafting materials or items to equipment for ALTs.  This is where crafting lower level weapons and armor come into play.

http://www.dissb.com/one-of-the-easiest-ways-to-make-money