Money is not exactly easy to come by while leveling in GW2, that much has gotten clear to most players by now. While no longer being used to “broke noob level” may play its part therein, it cannot be denied that cash flow in GW2 is considerably slower compared to other MMOs and the usual means, such as trying to make profit over the market place or grinding mobs for gold, don’t work out so well either. Azuriel recently posted a great overview on how to “maximize” your coin for the time being and like him, I am slightly worried if the economy can actually recover in any significant way, given that the MP in GW2 is a global one. If 500+ people are selling the same bow as yourself, how are you ever supposed to make a profit? Can i play poker for real money on my ipad.

As a natural consequence, the idea of just buying gold via ANet’s gem trading system comes to mind as one possible solution to the current money drought. Only, you couldn’t be more wrong there! You don’t want to trade your gems for ingame gold right now or in any foreseeable future – and that too has me skeptical at several fronts.

No one is buying gem codes, so the retailer is selling at a loss/no profit point to recoup some of their money. The retailer is selling illegitimate codes that were either stolen or purchased with a stolen credit card and because it cost them nothing, are able to sell it for a cheap price. Buy GW2 Weapons & Items - Guild Wars 2 Trading Whether players enjoy the intricate and detailed PvE aspect of the game or the heart-pounding PvP system, everybody needs the best Guild Wars 2 items. Legendary Weapons such as the Incinerator, Kraitkin, and Sharur can be very time-consuming to craft.

Oh my, precious goldz!

To start at the very beginning, you probably know that ANet has a rather unique way of handling different currency in GW2 and the way ingame and real money can be exchanged via the gem currency. While there is an item shop that requires gems to shop in, GW2 sets itself apart by allowing players to also buy gems with ingame gold; this means, if you’re a good little gold farmer, you never actually have to spend extra real money on vanity items and other shop bonuses. However, this also means the entire market and exchange rates are heavily influenced by both real money shoppers and potential “chinese farmers”. Due to this rather obscure interplay, exchange rates for gold vs. gems vary on a daily basis, as is displayed on the graph in your ingame Trading Company tab.

While it’s understandable that ANet want to control the impact of real money going into the game to avoid deflation, I find the currency exchange variables incredibly confusing. Reading up further to get into the whole deal takes considerable time and mind twisting, at least for somebody who isn’t too versed in economic theory. Considering also that the entire balance can potentially get very skewed and discourage players to spend real life money in GW2, which surely cannot be intended by ANet(?), I wonder why they chose this path rather than sticking to a more exclusive shop of real-money-only and therefore cosmetic and soulbound items only? Maybe a more economy savvy player has some insights here for me.

Either way, I decided to have a closer look at exchange rates and the status quo on my server, Desolation EU. How much ingame gold can I currently receive for gems and what is the ratio between that exchange rate and the real money I spend on buying the gems? I ended up with the following results:

800 gems cost a fix 10 Euros; That’s 3.75€ for 300 gems.

For 300 gems you can currently exchange 56 ingame silver.

However, 78 ingame silver buy 300 gems

…See what happened there? While a real money buyer pays 3.75€ for 300 gems, which then yield 56s, a player can buy 300 gems with 78s ingame currency. This means there’s about a difference of 25% in buying power between ingame and real currency. Correct me if I’m wrong!

Compared to other MMOs, I don’t find this exchange rate erm, “particularly attractive” for potential real money spenders! 10€ for 1.5 gold? You gotta be kidding me!

The demand for gems is only going to go up as the player base advances and the shop adds more and more goods. What will keep the balance from shifting further in favor of gold farmers or “gem hoarders/speculators” (buying cheaper gems now, waiting for demand to raise)? Money income is slow leveling in GW2 while crafting and items are all quite pricey. One can only wonder how things are going to pan out longterm with these particular economical mechanisms in place? Am I supposed to start hoarding gems now too with the gold I don’t have? …

Eventually many players will want to buy things like more bank space or extra character slots in the gemstore and for a non-sub MMO (that we hopefully get to enjoy for a long time to come), that is a very much needed and good thing. Luckily, at least the gemstore is not affected by the exchange rates for ingame gold: you can buy gems from ANet and pay for their wares without impact from the currency game. For those looking to buy money in GW2 however, I foresee a longer waiting time; I sure wouldn’t spend any real coin on gold right now and I see little change in that department as long as the general player base hasn’t gotten richer – much richer!

Start a YouTube Channel YouTube. How to earn money with role playing games. So, here is how you can finally go about fulfilling your desire.Play Games and Earn Money 1.

There is also the concern that the status quo favors illegal gold sales: I’ve gotten my first ingame mail linking to a shady website today and while it’s beyond me how anyone can currently farm considerable money, ANet might want to tackle the issue of gold sellers beating them on exchange rates. If you’re making currency trade available in your game, surely you want to try and make it a better deal, potentially removing competition?

I might be under a premature impression here (feel free to enlighten me), but for the moment GW2’s economy seems to invite money speculators and gold farmers more than anyone. While I’m nowhere close to max level myself yet, I am already anxious to hear how the average player is supposed to find a way around the current situation and how ANet are judging the state of their global economy!

This article is about the microtransaction currency gems. For the crafting material, see Gemstone.

Purchased and spent via the Black Lion Trading Company.

— In-game description

Gems are the in-game currency required to make purchases from the Gem Store. The amount of gems you hold is indicated in the bottom left of the inventory panel and upper left of the Gem Store. Gems may be spent on convenience or cosmetic items, or account services.

Acquisition[edit]

Gems can be acquired by spending real-world money or from within the game for no additional cost to the player:

Black Lion Trading Company panel
- Gem Store tab
  - Buy Gems — used to purchase gems with real-world money.
  - Redeem Code — used to enter a gem card code purchased from various retailers.
- Currency exchange tab allow players to trade coin for gems. Coin to gem exchange is available only to paid accounts.
Achievement rewards offer players 400 for each 5,000 achievement points earned.

Using real-world money[edit]

Gems can be purchased for real-world money in various fixed amounts; there is no discount for bulk purchases. Prices in euros (€) and pounds sterling (£) include the 20% VAT; prices in dollars ($) do not include sales tax, since the amount varies depending on several factors.

Directly from ArenaNet[edit]

Buy More Gems interface

Gems are available in the following amounts via the in-game interface:

Gems	800	1600	2800	4000	8000
$ or €	10.00	20.00	35.00	50.00	100.00
£	8.50	17.00	2

Related

Acquisition[edit]

Using real-world money[edit]

Directly from ArenaNet[edit]

Gw2 How To Buy Gems With Real Money