Can Rank 9 be achieved without cash shopping? (doing quests only)?

Magicsaber - Dreamweaver

Templar - Sanctuary wrote: »

anything is possible if you want it bad enough.

b:bye

Even possible to get 300,000 of reputation for rank 9 just from One man army quests.

Only 150k quests and your are winner.

Wonder why no-one do it.

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary

brazenbusboy wrote: »

The proof is that no one can describe objectively how to do do so other than glib one-liners like 'learn how to merchant".

This is exactly why I wrote a step-by-step merchanting guide, that assumes you're starting with absolutely nothing.

I started with nothing and slowly figured out ways to turn nothing into 1 million, then 1 million into 10 million, then 10 million into 50 million, etc...

Every single thing that I did, including the reasoning of why I did them, are posted in my guides. I have no "secrets", and I've always tried to give helpful assistance to anybody who's asked.

Lots of people have responded with success stories, so I know the guides work.

brazenbusboy wrote: »

And for the poor among us. Tough luck. Not everyone can afford a Ferrari, so just maybe not everyone can afford R9. If you are cash poor but time rich, go for it, but unless you are very very lucky you could be grinding for years.

Not, "time rich", no. Just patient.

I got into merchanting because I didn't want to spend a lot of my time being in-game poor. I prefer to only play a few hours a week, and I figured it would be nice to have lots of coins for those times I was actually playing.

Enter merchanting, in which 20 minutes of shop set-up per day payed out the equivalent of 6-10 hours of grinding.

Now, yes, it has taken be years to be able to afford my Rank 9 using merchanting alone, but it wasn't because I devoted a lot of time into the game. There are aspiring merchants who have used my guides to get their Rank 9 in 6 months (which I admit surprises me, but I have no reason to doubt their honesty), yet I've been playing for 3 years and I'm only just about to finally get mine, presumably because my time-contiribution is much, much lower.

brazenbusboy wrote: »

No one is going to post objective and verifiable \ examples of how to earn the sums needed for rank 9 because there are none.

Objective proof is easy to find. Just go look at any of the many merchanting cat-shops in West Archosaur and do a quick total of how much their inventory is worth.

Magicsaber - Dreamweaver

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary wrote: »

...
Now, yes, it has taken be years to be able to afford my Rank 9 using merchanting alone, but it wasn't because I devoted a lot of time into the game. There are aspiring merchants who have used my guides to get their Rank 9 in 6 months (which I admit surprises me, but I have no reason to doubt their honesty), yet I've been playing for 3 years and I'm only just about to finally get mine, presumably because my time-contiribution is much, much lower...

Secret known to few peoples becomes no-secret.

If you told people where to get gold, don't be surprised to see those place empty.

Edit:
most guides advise to contribute gold bought for real money into economy to start "business". Not sure which and for whom.

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary

Magicsaber - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Secret known to few peoples becomes no-secret.

If you told people where to get gold, don't be surprised to see those place empty.

If you'd have asked me 3 years ago, I would have 100% agreed.

However, I've watched a lot of people fail as merchants since I started playing, and I've come to realize that you can blab your "secrets" as much as you want and yet 99% of the people who hear them won't be able to make any use of them.

People fail as merchants because they spend their profits, get greedy, get emotional, or have no patience. If somebody can't overcome those personality traits, then they won't be able to take advantage of any of the "secrets" that a successful merchants tell them.

Magicsaber - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Edit:
most guides advise to contribute gold bought for real money into economy to start "business". Not sure which and for whom.

I'm firmly against that.

To be successful as a merchant requires knowledge, patience, and a willingness to adapt. Starting money gives you none of those things.

Olbaze - Sanctuary

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary wrote: »

This is exactly why I wrote a step-by-step merchanting guide, that assumes you're starting with absolutely nothing.

I started with nothing and slowly figured out ways to turn nothing into 1 million, then 1 million into 10 million, then 10 million into 50 million, etc...

Every single thing that I did, including the reasoning of why I did them, are posted in my guides. I have no "secrets", and I've always tried to give helpful assistance to anybody who's asked.

Lots of people have responded with success stories, so I know the guides work.

So very true. Last December, I accidentally dropped all of my coins and was left with the gear on my then level 80ish Assassin plus a few scraps from my Archer. I managed to total maybe 8,000,000 coins from there by selling my Sky Demon's Pearl, my Demon Slaughter Belt and my Wildfire wings.

Since then, I've gotten my sin to lvl 100, spent about 150m coins on skill books, gotten my sin gear worth about 300-350m and I currently have 151m in coins. Totaling about 600m or so in 12 months. Mind you, during that period, I kept spending money instead of saving it all up. Who knows how much more I'd have if I hadn't bought all those skills and all that gear.

I got into merchanting because I didn't want to spend a lot of my time being in-game poor. I prefer to only play a few hours a week, and I figured it would be nice to have lots of coins for those times I was actually playing.

Enter merchanting, in which 20 minutes of shop set-up per day payed out the equivalent of 6-10 hours of grinding.

Personally, I was turned to merchanting not because of success stories or because I wanted coin, but because I like the trading system. Coming from Diablo II, where trading is only possible in real-time while you're actually present and most trades take place on a forum where you exchange in-game goods for forum currency, the option of putting up a shop on my laptop and checking it once a while to see if I've sold something is really cool.

Now, yes, it has taken be years to be able to afford my Rank 9 using merchanting alone, but it wasn't because I devoted a lot of time into the game. There are aspiring merchants who have used my guides to get their Rank 9 in 6 months (which I admit surprises me, but I have no reason to doubt their honesty), yet I've been playing for 3 years and I'm only just about to finally get mine, presumably because my time-contiribution is much, much lower.

Those 6 month people are obviously in the minority and most likely had "luck" on their side. That is, they most likely ended up finding some market hole or having a few explosive periods of extreme profits to smooth the way. That and they most likely didn't spent large portions of their capital on new gear, fashion and skills.

Objective proof is easy to find. Just go look at any of the many merchanting cat-shops in West Archosaur and do a quick total of how much their inventory is worth.

I'm not so sure that this method would give you accurate measures. A lot of the catshops have very high prices. Also, I'd call what they have in the shop as "potential capital". It's merchandise, but it's not sold, so it's still liable to changes in price, sometimes large ones at that.

I'd say the inventory is only really a good representation if it has hundreds of millions of coin in merchandise that is priced competitively. In my book, that would tell me of a merchant who, using your terminology, is most likely Type V. Because if the capital is worth too little, it's more likely that this person sells out rather often and thus has maybe half of their funds as Gold and bids in the AH to allow easy refills and more stability in the face of gold price fluctuations.

That is at least true of me: My shop tends to carry maybe 60m worth of merchandise, which I usually refill at least once a day, with the remaining 90m being in Bids and leftover coins.

However, I've watched a lot of people fail as merchants since I started playing, and I've come to realize that you can blab your "secrets" as much as you want and yet 99% of the people who hear them won't be able to make any use of them.

People fail as merchants because they spend their profits, get greedy, get emotional, or have no patience. If somebody can't overcome those personality traits, then they won't be able to take advantage of any of the "secrets" that a successful merchants tell them.

So very true. When I was in a small faction and mentioned about my merchanting, someone asked me what they should do with their capital. I told them exactly what to do, down to what item to buy, what to sell and what kind of price they should use. He lasted maybe two days at it.

RyuTiger - Raging Tide

You cant even farm R8 people! Get real! The coins drop sucks. Imagine we get 5 coins and 9 coins drop i mean what is that? farm what?? No one buy TT anymore, you cant even sell heads cuz no one buy even at 250k a head. farm mats? Who the hell buys them when all have 11 ms mounts and can farm themselves.You put a catshop with farm things and stay 2 months with it and do nothing. The only way to this game is CASH SHOP or for the China people ...." make some GOD damn instance who drop normal coins not 5 coins!!!"

Vorbane - Harshlands

Merchanting is basically all i have left for this game. I used to be oldschool and played alot for PvP and TW. Now its like, OK if you dont have r9 then thats it. You are confined to the oneshot loludead group. Now i get my rush from market "PvPing". I love manipulating the market and watching as i profit while other merchants fail to make anything. Coming back from farming 9 trials or from doing IRL stuff to find that ! sign that shws you sold something, really gives me a rush :P

Magicsaber - Dreamweaver

RyuTiger - Raging Tide wrote: »

You cant even farm R8 people! Get real! The coins drop sucks. Imagine we get 5 coins and 9 coins drop i mean what is that? farm what?? No one buy TT anymore, you cant even sell heads cuz no one buy even at 250k a head. farm mats? Who the hell buys them when all have 11 ms mounts and can farm themselves.You put a catshop with farm things and stay 2 months with it and do nothing. The only way to this game is CASH SHOP or for the China people ...." make some GOD damn instance who drop normal coins not 5 coins!!!"

R8 my character can farm. Myself.

Not so bad.

Now he has 67,5 k of reputation and he is not 90 level yet.

Deceptistar - Sanctuary

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary wrote: »

If you'd have asked me 3 years ago, I would have 100% agreed.

However, I've watched a lot of people fail as merchants since I started playing, and I've come to realize that you can blab your "secrets" as much as you want and yet 99% of the people who hear them won't be able to make any use of them.

People fail as merchants because they spend their profits, get greedy, get emotional, or have no patience. If somebody can't overcome those personality traits, then they won't be able to take advantage of any of the "secrets" that a successful merchants tell them.


I'm firmly against that.

To be successful as a merchant requires knowledge, patience, and a willingness to adapt. Starting money gives you none of those things.

those that get past it turn into money horders b:chuckle

warren stop being lazy and post your Type VI b:laugh cant see where i fit in

Aizza - Harshlands

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary wrote: »

I've come to realize that you can blab your "secrets" as much as you want and yet 99% of the people who hear them won't be able to make any use of them.

Merchantizing is much like fishing.

You must know:

- Where to cast your line
- How long to keep it in the water before moving on
- What days/times the fish are nibbling
- What bait to use/tempt with
- When to throw it back so it can grow more