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WildStar: Buy Low, Sell High!
In my quest for the almighty C.R.E.D.D. I've spent some time analyzing the WildStar economy. The Commodities House, Auction House and Tradeskills have provided me with a steady income without too much hassle.
As I mentioned in my last post about WildStar, I'm trying to game solely via the C.R.E.D.D. system inside the game. For the unfamiliar, basically players can buy a month's worth of game time and put it on the open market at whatever in game currency price they wish. This kills two birds with one stone: since people are basically buying in game money, the gold farmers take a hit and players have a way to potentially make WildStar F2P. My prediction on the cost of C.R.E.D.D. was right....unfortunately. At the time of my other post, the cost was around four platinum (400 gold). Right now, the cost is at five platinum and fifty gold. So far, at level 20, I've been able to accumulate one platinum, fifteen gold and change.
This has come from a combination of: vendoring pretty much everything I pickup, not repairing equipment (unless 100% broken), vendoring most of the weapons that I make (weaponsmith) and mostly "playing" the Commodities Auction House. This is the first MMO that I've played that has a market system like this and I love it. Just like the real world stock market, you can buy or sell commodities (crafting materials and character enhancements) either right now, or setup an order indicating at what price the items should be sold or bought. Basically, if you want to "Buy Now" you will be paying the highest "Sell Order" price. If you want to "Sell Now" you will receive the highest "Buy Order" offer. Since the economy is still pretty young, its quite easy to find items that have a huge gap between the "Buy Order" and "Sell Order" prices. This is how you make a profit.
This has come from a combination of: vendoring pretty much everything I pickup, not repairing equipment (unless 100% broken), vendoring most of the weapons that I make (weaponsmith) and mostly "playing" the Commodities Auction House. This is the first MMO that I've played that has a market system like this and I love it. Just like the real world stock market, you can buy or sell commodities (crafting materials and character enhancements) either right now, or setup an order indicating at what price the items should be sold or bought. Basically, if you want to "Buy Now" you will be paying the highest "Sell Order" price. If you want to "Sell Now" you will receive the highest "Buy Order" offer. Since the economy is still pretty young, its quite easy to find items that have a huge gap between the "Buy Order" and "Sell Order" prices. This is how you make a profit.
Buy Low
What I've been doing is finding these items with large disparities, setting up buy orders for one copper more than the highest offer, usually getting at least a few of the items and then setting up a sell order for one copper less than the lowest offer. Under/Over cutting at its finest.
In the example to the left I was able to do this with a Stalker class Assassin AMP. AMP slots are unlocked as you level and act like skill points. Your character focus (DPS, tanking or healing) will determine which AMPs you sink points into. There is a very wide array - from the all purpose cooldown reduction to the very specific enhanced pvp damage. The first level of AMPs are already unlocked, while anything above that requires you to somehow obtain it before being able to sink points into it.
In the example to the left I was able to do this with a Stalker class Assassin AMP. AMP slots are unlocked as you level and act like skill points. Your character focus (DPS, tanking or healing) will determine which AMPs you sink points into. There is a very wide array - from the all purpose cooldown reduction to the very specific enhanced pvp damage. The first level of AMPs are already unlocked, while anything above that requires you to somehow obtain it before being able to sink points into it.
Sell High
As you can see in the Buy Low image, someone wanted some quick cash so they accepted my bid of "1 Gold, 50 Silver, 1 Copper". In the Sell High image, I set my price one copper lower than what everyone was offering to "8 Gold, 49 Silver, 98 Copper". Once this amp sells to someone that wants it right now (convenience has its cost), I'll have made a profit of over 450%. Not too shabby. Since markets are always dynamic, you can't always just "set it and forget it". Even though I've only been able to play sparingly during the week, I always make sure to check the auctions/offers that I setup the night before.
Adapt
Continuing with the Assassin AMP, when I checked the auction earlier today, someone had greatly undercut me with an offer of only five gold. At this point you need to decide if you want the money ASAP (regardless of the potential profit you might lose) or do you wait things out to see if the market drives back up. I split the difference and re-listed the AMP higher than five gold but lower than my initial offer.
*Pro Tip: Something that has helped me greatly with these overall decisions is an addon called "Commodity Stats" off of the Curse Gaming website. In the Adapt image you can see listings for the top 1, 10 and 50 offers currently in the system. Those numbers come from the addon. You would just see one price listed otherwise. If the person undercutting you is #1 then you might just wait things out - once they are bought/sold, you will take that spot and not have to spend/lose any money over it. It all depends on your urgency.
*Pro Tip: Something that has helped me greatly with these overall decisions is an addon called "Commodity Stats" off of the Curse Gaming website. In the Adapt image you can see listings for the top 1, 10 and 50 offers currently in the system. Those numbers come from the addon. You would just see one price listed otherwise. If the person undercutting you is #1 then you might just wait things out - once they are bought/sold, you will take that spot and not have to spend/lose any money over it. It all depends on your urgency.
As far as the regular auction house goes, I've had sporadic success selling equipment on it, but the money maker is anything for your housing plot. There are a few housing items that I've held onto, but you are usually going to get at least a gold for it if you auction it.
Most of my plot items (if not from a drop) have been purchased because they can turn a profit for me. The one pictured to the left is a "Spooky Graveyard". This enables you to do a challenge every 60min (rough guess) and gives a reward of either a housing item, renown or dye kit (also very profitable on the auction house). Unless my luck is just so, I think its rigged. At least half of the time, I get the renown (it can be used to purchase faction specific items) instead of something I can get a few gold off of.
So there you have it! If you are willing to spend a little time playing the market, looking for potential opportunities, there is no reason why you can't have a steady stream of gold coming in. Please comment below and share your market experiences as well!
Most of my plot items (if not from a drop) have been purchased because they can turn a profit for me. The one pictured to the left is a "Spooky Graveyard". This enables you to do a challenge every 60min (rough guess) and gives a reward of either a housing item, renown or dye kit (also very profitable on the auction house). Unless my luck is just so, I think its rigged. At least half of the time, I get the renown (it can be used to purchase faction specific items) instead of something I can get a few gold off of.
So there you have it! If you are willing to spend a little time playing the market, looking for potential opportunities, there is no reason why you can't have a steady stream of gold coming in. Please comment below and share your market experiences as well!