PSA: Easy Tips for Generating In-Game Wealth

[Joonbeams]

I've been a continuous sub since launch. Still love the game. Never done a single OP. Barely ever done ranked. Haven't done most of the stuff frankly. I barely play more than 1 hour/day and oftentimes go several months without logging in, or even checking the forums. I've never ever bought credits, or mined an exploit, or anything like that. I use the CM regularly, but only to buy things and unlock them for my legacy, never for resale. I'm not in a "power" guild. I'm an average PvPer and even worse PvE. That said, I was one of the first people I knew to get the 'wealthy' title, back when $10M credits was a big deal. I currently have [a ridiculously high number that's likely unspendable] of credits in game. So you're like "cool story bruh" by now, but here's why I'm telling you this: ANYONE can get themselves to be self-sustaining, even "rich", in-game if you do the following things.

 

The following are non "gameplay" methods to gain wealth (I put gameplay in quotes, b/c IMO crafting is by-design a game play mechanic, but I digress...). Add these to your heroics, FPs, PvP, etc. Also the following are encouraged ways to play this game. People who do these aren't crooks or scammers. This is a legitimate strategy, encouraged by the devs, that ANYONE can do. And these are some of the few things you can do that makes you money when you're NOT logged in. So without further ado:

 

PRIORITIZE WEALTH-BUILDING

1. Crafting - with about 30min-1 hour of dedicated time/day, you can easily generate $3-4 million PROFIT from selling crafted items (look on the GTN and you'll easily see what those items are). Spend more time, make even more... There has never been a meta in this game, since day one, where crafting couldn't generate big dollars...

2. Selling Mats - I personally distinguish this from "crafting". But if you're new to the game and in-game poor, you can farm materials on most planets - FOR FREE - and sell those mats on the GTN for hundreds of thousands, even millions/day. Hint: crafting conquest weeks are a golden opportunity for this. You don't need a dime of credits, or a lick of "skill" to do this. Just, again, check GTN - see what's moving, go to planet, farm, then mint coin. It's so mindlessly easy to do, but you will have to put in time.

3. Selling CM Items - "But wait, I can't afford these and I though you said you don't sell these!" First, you can afford these (see above), and no I don't buy from CM just to sell on GTN - I buy from GTN to sell on GTN. This strategy requires patience. But not even that much. Let me give you a quick example. Early on I bought a covert armor set on GTN. Back then, you couldn't tell right away what you'd already unlocked. Turns out I already had it. So I kept it in storage and forgot about it. After a hiatus of a few months, I came back and realized these were now all the rage. Turned around and sold it for multiples of what I bought it for - and a new strategy was born. You get the picture I hope.

4. Trade - the oft-overlooked money-making vehicle. Ever notice those in gen chat offering this and that item and wonder "why don't they just use the GTN"? I'll tell you why. You can often score great deals by trading for credits or items with people in-game. I won't bore you with the NUMEROUS stories of how I've traded for decos, mats, armor, weapons, etc. either for stuff I don't need/can't use

5. Guild - I'm not the best to speak on this. But early on I was a member of a guild who's since left the game. I was recruited into that guild because of my crafting "empire". For the short time I was there, my profits exploded even further because I handled all the GTN stuff and they would give me rare items from ops and such, and I would literally dump millions a day in the guild bank (back when millions were a big deal). Guilds can help you get a kick start if your focused on wealth.

5. CM - I won't spend much time here. It's obvious. If you can afford stuff with IRL cash, then you can easily convert that stuff to in-game credits. Nuff said.

 

And you know what's best about these strategies? They ALWAYS work, regardless of the game meta, regardless of how many others are trying them, etc. In fact, the more the merrier given the design of this game (another topic - just take my word). I suggest that until you build some solid in-game wealth, you should dedicate (all relative to how much time you have) ~50% of your time to the above. You will get better and more efficient over time, and you won't need as much time/effort. As it is now, I can figure out what I need to do that day in a few seconds from doing it so much.

 

AVOID IMPULSE-PURCHASES

1. GTN - you want the new shiny. It will cost you 50% of your credits. But it's the newest shiny though! Do yourself a favor and WAIT.* I have all the shinies. Most bought off GTN. But NOT when they are first released and overpriced. Instead, after the market has stabilized the price and I'm relatively confident I've figured out what the right value is.

 

* Never spend more than 20% of your in-game wealth at any one time without replenishing. Say you're sitting at $100M. And you realize you've spent $20M on stuff and things. STOP SPENDING and dedicate your time to regenerating that $20M first.

 

2. CM - if you choose to use real money to convert to pixel money, just know that the same logic applies. Be smart about it. Realize that people like me will almost never make it worth your while to fleece early short-supply. Today's CM shiny quickly becomes "that thing that was once cool and shiny that now everyone has...oh look, NEWER shiny".

 

Why does this all matter? Because the game becomes a lot for fun and less grindy when you can kickstart anything you want to do with credits. If you do ranked or OPs, you can easily just buy all your new augs without breaking a sweat. if you like decos, you can just grab them on GTN and never feel pressure to re-run things you're bored with, etc.

 

Tl; dr - anyone can make a lot of credits in this game, without spending a dime of additional real money, with a "prioritized" wealth-building strategy.

[AscendingSky]

These are definitely some good tips. I think the best tip you gave is the advice about avoiding impulse purchases. I have a few friends in the game who always lament they don't have enough credits to buy X. Usually it's because they bought Y, Z, A, and B the day before because a new pack just released and they didn't want to wait for the prices to go down before they bought those items. They spend as many credits as they make with game activities or CM/GTN flipping, so they never feel like they make any progress. Just like with real world money, you have to learn to budget and save your funds.

[CaptRogue]

These are definitely some good tips. I think the best tip you gave is the advice about avoiding impulse purchases. I have a few friends in the game who always lament they don't have enough credits to buy X. Usually it's because they bought Y, Z, A, and B the day before because a new pack just released and they didn't want to wait for the prices to go down before they bought those items. They spend as many credits as they make with game activities or CM/GTN flipping, so they never feel like they make any progress. Just like with real world money, you have to learn to budget and save your funds.

 

Amen! Patience is a virtue. But some players just don't grasp that.

[Joonbeams]

These are definitely some good tips. I think the best tip you gave is the advice about avoiding impulse purchases. I have a few friends in the game who always lament they don't have enough credits to buy X. Usually it's because they bought Y, Z, A, and B the day before because a new pack just released and they didn't want to wait for the prices to go down before they bought those items. They spend as many credits as they make with game activities or CM/GTN flipping, so they never feel like they make any progress. Just like with real world money, you have to learn to budget and save your funds.

 

Yep. Every new item spikes when new, then drops to "market" fairly shortly after. That's the time to strike. But even there, only if you can afford it. That's my "no more than 20% rule" - especially for the ones who always feel broke.

[Seireeni]

Tbh I prefer being broke to having things such as your "20% rule". There's just a certain satisfaction so seeing that a, let's say, armor set is selling at 30 millions on GTN, setting my sights on that and then starting to work towards it until I can finally afford it. Maybe that means I have to start at practically zero next time I want something, but I'll also have the satisfaction of reaching my goal through hard work that time.

 

The crafting and mats gathering advise seems interesting, though. But for someone like me, it would require a lot more research before I could actually use that advise. I know next to nothing about what crafting mats sell or at what price, and can't just start crafting using whatever schematic I see first and hope I'll make a profit. So, until I feel like doing all that research, I guess I'm stuck doing heroics. But I'm fine with that, because it's my preferred method and also something to do while I listen to stuff from youtube.

[LadyAdmiral]

Great tips thanks! worth sharing

[grania]

Your advice about checking the gtn (for mats and crafted stuff) is just too vague, it’s like saying steal underpants, ???, profit!

[Ardrossan]

Your advice about checking the gtn (for mats and crafted stuff) is just too vague, it’s like saying steal underpants, ???, profit!

 

Yeah, I personally would appreciate some specific things to craft or mats to sell. Sometimes if there's something I wanna buy I will sell bulk mats in lots of 100 where I already have more than 100 of x mat, and that gets credits very fast, but there's no particular rhyme or reason, you're just undercutting.

[Solaece]

Well he said conquest crafting. That limits it right there.look what is used to craft conquest...sell those.

 

I stopped doing conquest about four weeks ago so I think the recipes changed but they used to be lots of things.

[Joonbeams]

Your advice about checking the gtn (for mats and crafted stuff) is just too vague, it’s like saying steal underpants, ???, profit!

 

Fair enough, lol. It's very hard to give general rules, because things change rapidly. But an example is augments. We have had a new BiS augment tier for a while now. There are mats needed to craft those augments, and there are a number of augments in demand - those depend of course on the meta. But alacrity augs were flying off the shelves after first roll out. You could make money back then doing any of: 1) accumulating and selling the rare mats (e.g. through PvP), 2) crafting the augments themselves, 3) selling the assembly components, or 4) selling the mats to make the components. All were profitable, and for the most part, still are (but at much leaner margins).

 

While this is just an example, it highlights the issue of how hard it is to give specifics, so it's useful to break down. Depending on who you are, and what you like to do, you could take any of the approaches above. Selling mats/components takes a bit more time but reliably generates (trying to recall) about 25K net profit per stack of 10 or so - and always sold.. Selling rare mats required you to obtain them through game play. But were guaranteed 7 figures early on. Selling the augments required you to buy/obtain everything yourself, but they would yield well over 7 figures net, but that quickly came down to around 500-600K/augment (again, it's been some time, others prolly know better what's current). Yields/profits improve when you get a max-influence companion at 50 and capture crits (e.g 2 augs for the price of one).

 

So let's say you have no clue what to do, or where to start, here are hints/tips I'm using myself:

**We have a new augment tier coming. Details have already started to be released (e.g. they will use the same mats, hint hint).

**We also have conquest, which while borked, still has items that fly during crafting weeks. Pay attention to those when they roll around.

**Just continue to check the GTN too. Today you decide to just check prices of mats. Learn about those. See if there is opportunity that makes it worthwhile. Or you could explore crafted gear (which still sells despite devs continuing to make gear less relevant - boo on you devs! ). See what's being listed. Etc. Trust me, you'll get the knack VERY quickly. This stuff will start happening in seconds rather than minutes.

** Don't list items for too long - about a day is the max. If you have the time, 6 hours is even better. Why? You'll be undercut. Be ready to come back in even lower. And if it becomes too low for your tolerance, ditch that item and try something else. It will be hot again later. Also timing is important - there are windows where there is a lull - pounce then! This requires regular surveillance tho. This is why it has to be prioritized. Again, you'll learn to do this really quickly in time.

 

Tl; dr - The number one takeway (well 1 and 1a) is to: a) prioritize wealth-generation as part of your daily play, which means devoting time to learning the above. Make it a top priority over everything if you're game "poor" , b) and don't blow your wealth on FOTM impulse purchases.

[Joonbeams]

Let me add this, and anyone who's done this here successfully over time will tell you the same thing. The BEST "entrepreneurs" try LOTS of things and constantly change strategies. They can do it quickly as metas ebb and flow. They know there is ALWAYS something hot at any given time. There's always demand for something (populated servers, alt-play, and conquest generally help greatly - devs, this is directed at you again!)

 

But if someone comes on and says "hey, mat X is flying off the shelves" and everyone dives in, guess what, those won't fly anymore. The best people at this will see that post or suggestion and then shift immediately AWAY from that suggestion to something else until the dust settles.

 

That's why again, foot-stomp, the only real way to get this right early on is to make it your top priority. I suggest 50% of your time at the start. It will be well-worth it in very short time...

[PiiTarr]

Let me add this, and anyone who's done this here successfully over time will tell you the same thing. The BEST "entrepreneurs" try LOTS of things and constantly change strategies. They can do it quickly as metas ebb and flow. They know there is ALWAYS something hot at any given time. There's always demand for something (populated servers, alt-play, and conquest generally help greatly - devs, this is directed at you again!)

 

But if someone comes on and says "hey, mat X is flying off the shelves" and everyone dives in, guess what, those won't fly anymore. The best people at this will see that post or suggestion and then shift immediately AWAY from that suggestion to something else until the dust settles.

 

That's why again, foot-stomp, the only real way to get this right early on is to make it your top priority. I suggest 50% of your time at the start. It will be well-worth it in very short time...

 

Exactly this. I could say "sell terenthium on Satele Shan." However, the more players who read that and try that, the more the price will drop and the less profitable it becomes. The moment anyone gives specific advice about a particular niche, it devalues that niche. General guidelines work fine, and the bottom line is players need to learn their markets. Take some time to see what's listed and what isn't. If a certain material isn't listed, try listing some and see if it sells. If it doesn't, you've either priced it too high, or there just isn't much demand. Prices vary from day to day as well. In general, there are fewer listings during the week and more on weekends. However, there also tend to be more buyers on weekends. If a player isn't willing to take the time to learn the markets, then they won't be as successful as those who do. Also remember that many of the real life economic theories apply to the GTN, such as supply and demand, discounting bulk quantities, etc.

[Andryah]

Your advice about checking the gtn (for mats and crafted stuff) is just too vague, it’s like saying steal underpants, ???, profit!

 

There is no silver bullet list of things to focus on. You need to carve out your own niche on the market to work.

 

Why?

 

Because on any given week or month.... prices and player interests/wants can and do change as to listing prices... so you need to simply pick some segments that are of actual interest to you, and begin to monitor prices so that you learn the current and trending fair market prices (which are not simply what some yahoo decides to list something at, but what buyers are actually willing to pay).

 

I pick niches that align with my own personal tastes and needs in terms of purchases... and then work from there. This largely alleviates any boredom of tediousnes in the process.

 

You also have to be nimble and be alert for moves, changes, AND distortions in the market for the segments you work.. because player tastes and item supplies are constantly in flux.

 

Just remember to restrict your financial risk by diversifying across a range of items in the market you want to track, buy, resell. Personally, I limit my exposure to any single item to no more then 5% of my total inventory holdings (in credits). That way if I completely blow it.. I can easily recover and move forward.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Andryah

[Andryah]

I've been a continuous sub since launch. Still love the game. Never done a single OP. Barely ever done ranked. Haven't done most of the stuff frankly. I barely play more than 1 hour/day and oftentimes go several months without logging in, or even checking the forums. I've never ever bought credits, or mined an exploit, or anything like that. I use the CM regularly, but only to buy things and unlock them for my legacy, never for resale. I'm not in a "power" guild. I'm an average PvPer and even worse PvE. That said, I was one of the first people I knew to get the 'wealthy' title, back when $10M credits was a big deal. I currently have [a ridiculously high number that's likely unspendable] of credits in game. So you're like "cool story bruh" by now, but here's why I'm telling you this: ANYONE can get themselves to be self-sustaining, even "rich", in-game if you do the following things.

 

The following are non "gameplay" methods to gain wealth (I put gameplay in quotes, b/c IMO crafting is by-design a game play mechanic, but I digress...). Add these to your heroics, FPs, PvP, etc. Also the following are encouraged ways to play this game. People who do these aren't crooks or scammers. This is a legitimate strategy, encouraged by the devs, that ANYONE can do. And these are some of the few things you can do that makes you money when you're NOT logged in. So without further ado:

 

......

 

3. Selling CM Items - "But wait, I can't afford these and I though you said you don't sell these!" First, you can afford these (see above), and no I don't buy from CM just to sell on GTN - I buy from GTN to sell on GTN. This strategy requires patience. But not even that much. Let me give you a quick example. Early on I bought a covert armor set on GTN. Back then, you couldn't tell right away what you'd already unlocked. Turns out I already had it. So I kept it in storage and forgot about it. After a hiatus of a few months, I came back and realized these were now all the rage. Turned around and sold it for multiples of what I bought it for - and a new strategy was born. You get the picture I hope.

.....

And you know what's best about these strategies? They ALWAYS work, regardless of the game meta, regardless of how many others are trying them, etc. In fact, the more the merrier given the design of this game (another topic - just take my word). I suggest that until you build some solid in-game wealth, you should dedicate (all relative to how much time you have) ~50% of your time to the above. You will get better and more efficient over time, and you won't need as much time/effort. As it is now, I can figure out what I need to do that day in a few seconds from doing it so much.

......

 

AVOID IMPULSE-PURCHASES

1. GTN - you want the new shiny. It will cost you 50% of your credits. But it's the newest shiny though! Do yourself a favor and WAIT.* I have all the shinies. Most bought off GTN. But NOT when they are first released and overpriced. Instead, after the market has stabilized the price and I'm relatively confident I've figured out what the right value is.

 

* Never spend more than 20% of your in-game wealth at any one time without replenishing. Say you're sitting at $100M. And you realize you've spent $20M on stuff and things. STOP SPENDING and dedicate your time to regenerating that $20M first.

 

.......

 

Why does this all matter? Because the game becomes a lot for fun and less grindy when you can kickstart anything you want to do with credits. If you do ranked or OPs, you can easily just buy all your new augs without breaking a sweat. if you like decos, you can just grab them on GTN and never feel pressure to re-run things you're bored with, etc.

 

Tl; dr - anyone can make a lot of credits in this game, without spending a dime of additional real money, with a "prioritized" wealth-building strategy.

 

Great post and thread topic.. especially with all the crying about being poor among some of the players in the forum, particularly the "I only PvP" crowd.

 

I snipped out some of your post to focus on what I see as the most relevant parts and emphasize those.

 

I personally do #2 the GTN CM segments of the market. I have found them over time to be the lowest effort for the largest ongoing wealth accumulation. And I do not work the high end of the market, but rather work the lowerer end of the market for items and do so in volume... buying low when dumping is common and holding for later resale when actual fair market prices are established later on. I also discount about 10-20% from fair market prices since I can do so and still make a nice profit for my efforts.

 

All in.. I spend about 20 minutes a day collecting my overnight sales revenue, listing new items, and checking for bargains in the segments I actually work. That 20 minutes per day nets me on average 10-15M credits.. and when I say net... that is my profit after subtracting the actual investment costs to acquire items. This is a very high return on effort.. and no.. I did not get there over night.. but that has been my average run rate over the last year or two. Honestly.. in the last three years... If I want to buy something.. I do.. because I have the depth of wealth to do so. Yet I refuse to pay over fair market for anything.. and generally am patient and will bargain shop for something 20-40% below fair market price (theres almost always someone impatiently wanting to unload something at a discount.

 

I very much agree with restricting your spends to a small percentage of your total credit holdings, but since I rarely work the high end of the market.. it's not often something I bump up against. One important aspect that is at play here is ---> diversify. Do not get over invested in any one item or segment of items so that you are not vulnerable to a sudden shift in market wants/needs. And some market segements are simply a waste of time.... mounts for example, which you can profit on, but there are so many different mounts in the game now, it's something you will have to buy low and hold for a long time until prices stabilize at an actual fair market price. Mounts in particular are subject to long and prolonged dumping in the GTNs in my experience.

 

And to add to all the great advice and tips from Joonbeams, let me add one more ---> always spend less than you earn on average over time. If you always earn more then you spend.. over time.. you will have more than you are ever likely to ever need.

 

How much is enough wealth? That answer depends on the player to be honest.. so each player needs to sit down and make a rough estimate of what they need in terms of credits such that you really do not have to worry much about credits, yet can buy anything you want or need. So.. there is no magic answer here...... but my approach has been to start early on in an MMO with a personal wealth plan, and work from there. And plan to change your plan over time as well as what you work for wealth accumulation and how. At some point you will reach the point where you can literally buy anything off the GTN you would like, no matter the fair market pricing, and have achieved the level of being wealthy enough to simply not care any more. I recently passed 6B credits in my wallet, and about 500-700M in inventory left for later resale.. so I'm past the point where I have to care about where my credits come from and can freely spend as I like (such as buying up a couple dozen master data tokens at a time to save for future use).

 

TL;DR: as Joonbeams has pointed out.. there is absolutely no reason to be broke in this MMO, and really no reason not to be wealthy if that is what you want to do. So, anyone crying "poor" and "demanding studio price fixing on the GTNS", etc etc are simply not taking care of their own playing needs.. and frankly.... all resources in an MMO are things players generally need... including liquid currency.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Andryah

[Joonbeams]

...

All in.. I spend about 20 minutes a day collecting my overnight sales revenue, listing new items, and checking for bargains in the segments I actually work. That 20 minutes per day nets me on average 10-15M credits.. and when I say net... that is my profit after subtracting the actual investment costs to acquire items. This is a very high return on effort.. and no.. I did not get there over night.. but that has been my average run rate over the last year or two. Honestly.. in the last three years... If I want to buy something.. I do.. because I have the depth of wealth to do so. Yet I refuse to pay over fair market for anything.. and generally am patient and will bargain shop for something 20-40% below fair market price (theres almost always someone impatiently wanting to unload something at a discount.

 

...

 

Let me emphasize this, even above the other very useful stuff in the post. Because what we're really trying to convince you of is how easy this becomes. I'm sure people sit here and say "20 min - yea right" but I'm telling you all, with just having a real focus on this as part of your gaming, you will see how accurate this is. I can EASILY get 10M credits in a few minutes anytime, any day, any meta without spending a dime and without any grind. There is nothing special here. I'm not super active atm, but when I'm just barely active, I EXPECT to see 20-30M every day in my inbox when I log in just from just about 30 minutes of "work" the day before. This is very doable in this game folks!

[ThomasStarWars]

I have generate a moderate amount of wealth (over 300 mill) over the last few years. I rarely spent anything. It's really just self control and you'll be rich. Right now I just collect emotes and weapons. lol Edited April 6, 2018 by ThomasStarWars