Thread: Average gold per hour.

Was wondering what people earn, so i can sell things(consumables) on AH for a fair peice of coin for both seller and buyer, would be good if you could post level and avoid gold farming and big ticket item drops.

Thanks in advance.

Depends what you're doing, if you specifically fam for gold 10-20g/hour is doable at 75. Though in this game what people earn has nothing to do with actual prices. Some higher tier consumables sell quite well (regen food, stat fod, pots, scrolls and tokens) while the you'll almost have to pay people to buy the lower tiers. The people buying those are also less than the people using them since the people who use the most more often than not already have a supplier and thus only uses the ah on the odd occasion.
To get an accurate price you need to see how much people are willing to pay for certain items (and that is not the listed price but the price at which they are sold).

Originally Posted by Fralin

To get an accurate price you need to see how much people are willing to pay for certain items (and that is not the listed price but the price at which they are sold).

Is there some mechanism by which you can get this information? I was not aware of one.

The best way to determine a fair price is to do a search on the AH for the item you want to sell. See what it's currently going for, and price accordingly. I usually price my items near or slightly cheaper than the lowest priced item.

For sure i agree with some of what you say, but i am not looking for best price but a fair price(fair trade not capitalism) and while knowing the average gold per hour is not the only factor it can be a dependant variable to work from, before moving onto the next factors.

You're wondering what to sell to make the best gold? Or just curious what people are doing in day-to-day gaming to make money? It varies from what I want to do. I don't do any crafting on my characters so that's out of the question. I am never really hard up for cash so I don't usually worry about it. If there is something that I want though then there are several things that I do. First things first, I run the Forsaken Inn solo on tier 1 and 2. Tier 1 nets me about 8 gold. Tier 2 nets me about 16 gold. That's 24 gold within about... 45 minutes. Selling Cracked Sigils is also a pretty good way of making some gold. I will turn on my node tracker and just ride around for a while harvesting nodes in hopes of getting some sigils. Stoneheight on tier 1 or 2 both net a fair amount of relics that you can sell also.

Again, if it is stuff to craft that you're looking for... then I cannot help you. He he.

Originally Posted by Frieja

The best way to determine a fair price is to do a search on the AH for the item you want to sell. See what it's currently going for, and price accordingly. I usually price my items near or slightly cheaper than the lowest priced item.

This is usually how I do it. If you aren't hard up for gold just sell stuff for quite a bit cheaper then the cheapest one on AH. When I do this it usually sells within 30 minutes. I'm not too concerned with gold so sometimes I'll go as low as 50% below just to be generous. He he.

Originally Posted by Elrendos

You're wondering what to sell to make the best gold? Or just curious what people are doing in day-to-day gaming to make money? It varies from what I want to do. I don't do any crafting on my characters so that's out of the question. I am never really hard up for cash so I don't usually worry about it. If there is something that I want though then there are several things that I do. First things first, I run the Forsaken Inn solo on tier 1 and 2. Tier 1 nets me about 8 gold. Tier 2 nets me about 16 gold. That's 24 gold within about... 45 minutes. Selling Cracked Sigils is also a pretty good way of making some gold. I will turn on my node tracker and just ride around for a while harvesting nodes in hopes of getting some sigils. Stoneheight on tier 1 or 2 both net a fair amount of relics that you can sell also.

Again, if it is stuff to craft that you're looking for... then I cannot help you. He he.

Just wanted to know what people earned going about their normal game play, not gold farming or high end item selling. My goal is not fiscal capital it's social capital. As dellboys says" give me 1 penny more then i can spend and i will be a happy man"(BBC, Only Fool and Horses)

Originally Posted by Bragard

For sure i agree with some of what you say, but i am not looking for best price but a fair price(fair trade not capitalism) and while knowing the average gold per hour is not the only factor it can be a dependant variable to work from, before moving onto the next factors.

If you're not looking for the best price, then set them for the lowest price you're willing to accept. I usually go with a price just above vendoring, if I feel like dumping useless treasures quickly. That way things don't linger, and I'm not losing money on the auction house fees.

Originally Posted by Bragard

Just wanted to know what people earned going about their normal game play, not gold farming or high end item selling. My goal is not fiscal capital it's social capital. As dellboys says" give me 1 penny more then i can spend and i will be a happy man"(BBC, Only Fool and Horses)

In that case you shouldn't care how much people are earning. You should calculate how much it costs you to make what you plan to sell to the market, mark it up by what you think a socially responsible percentage would be, and see whether it sells. Don't be offended if someone buys it thinking you weren't charging the market price and puts it up again at their perceived market price -- you'll still see your maker's mark on it when it gets resold.

My own view is that selling for less than the market will bear is charity, but I sometimes do that -- cranking out batches of cheap and sometimes crit armour at or below material prices to help the nooblets. However, getting back to your original question, I don't calculate my "normal game play" earnings. If my main drops below 1,000 gold through splurging on greater scrolls of empowerment or something I'll send all my crafters to work producing another splurge of high-end products that sell well: my metalcrafter makes a full set of Great River armour (whichever type I don't see a piece of on the market), my tailors make GR or Theodred armour, my jeweller makes Great River and Theodred jewelry, my scholar makes a high-end pocket item or two, my cook makes another round of crit food for each level, and my weaponcrafter stares bleakly at his tools -- high-end weapons don't sell well, and you'll sometimes find them priced even below the Cracked Rhi Helvarch Sigil that you need to make them.

Gold is overrated, though - there's really not much to spend it on at cap: Draigoch scales, an occasional Greater Scroll of Delving, empowerment scrolls, and Worn Symbols of this and that... and you don't even have to do most of that if you're a raider.

If you're looking for an answer of how much gold people aquire through normal game play then I'd say unless you're talking to somebody who does same thing day in and day out it will vary massively on each individual. I know from personal experience I can earn a heap of money one day and just more than break even on another. Just for myself there is no definative answer.

Re pricing things on AH I'm with many who have responded in that I check the going rate for an item and list it at an attractive amount below the other asking prices but not so low as to make it worthwhile for the other vendors to buy me out and relist my goods at their price. You might think that listing very low you are beating the gougers and helping the little guy but be careful, you might actually be helping those gougers.

I don't know if this will help, but when it comes to selling stuff in the AH (if the item is worth selling at the AH rather than to a vender), I'll list it at roughly 4 times the vender value. In general, that still has the item listed for less than most others are selling it for in the AH, and gets it sold fairly easily. If not, I adjust the price. But it works for selling stuff quickly, and making a little extra coin for it (if not as much as could be made). I don't often bother with the AH, though, so this tactic may not work as well for someone else as it does for me.

Is there some mechanism by which you can get this information? I was not aware of one.

One thing that has worked for me was start selling things. Use a spreadsheet to track what sold and at what price.
The market price will become apparent as you go.
That way you can tell if no one really wants to buy something (Amethyst, Agates)
or if it's in regular demand (Aged scraps of text)

Demand is also different from server to server.

So pretty much like any commodities trading.(Track and guess )

While i thank and respect all the people that have answerd, i feel i may have asked the question badly and let you all down. The crux of it is, i am not to botherd about what other people sell for and why what people earn an hr is importent(to me) is becasue if say 20 people at level 75 gave answers that made the average 3 gold i can use that to work out labour cost per unit based on the average wage then could worrk on raw material costs and work out a % for profit, social captial is not about giving things away more to get the Zero sum game.

Thanks all for the takeing you time to answer.

I have a general rule of thumb for selling single items (not stackable) when I don't care about money: 1s per equip level

This allows especially the lower levels to buy armor and weapons at a price they can afford.

In terms of making money (non-AH), it really depends on the character level and location. For example, the Barrow Downs is famous for producing lots of money from selling trash. An hour there at level 20 will garner 1-2g. Moving from Moria to Lothlorien increases the money drop from mobs, and moving to Mirkwood takes it up another notch. Going to Enedwaith increases it further. You can simply quest and kill stuff along the way and make 4-5g per hour.

Originally Posted by Bragard

For sure i agree with some of what you say, but i am not looking for best price but a fair price(fair trade not capitalism) and while knowing the average gold per hour is not the only factor it can be a dependant variable to work from, before moving onto the next factors.

Yeah, this is going to be a fruitless endeavor. You're going to somehow find out the "average" amount of gold people make per hour (it's somewhere between -1 and 50) and then somehow determine "fair" prices for fake items in a video game. That will require finding just how much the average person values their time playing a game. You're going to have to quantify "fun". It's not going to be as easy to calculate "fun" as it is the minimum equivalent living wages in different areas in real life.

If you want to be the god of "fair", you're probably not going to want to use the AH anyway, since if you try and sell for a "fair" price, people with 1000s of gold will buy it and resell it for the real price.

If you go for a zero-sum, wouldn't it make more sense to count how much you make/hour and then charge for the time spent crafting?

Originally Posted by Frisco

Yeah, this is going to be a fruitless endeavor. You're going to somehow find out the "average" amount of gold people make per hour (it's somewhere between -1 and 50) and then somehow determine "fair" prices for fake items in a video game. That will require finding just how much the average person values their time playing a game. You're going to have to quantify "fun". It's not going to be as easy to calculate "fun" as it is the minimum equivalent living wages in different areas in real life.

If you want to be the god of "fair", you're probably not going to want to use the AH anyway, since if you try and sell for a "fair" price, people with 1000s of gold will buy it and resell it for the real price.

A very disapointing and pesimistic post Frisco and not inkeeping with the respectul and good spirit others have given, at no point did i suggest i want to be GOD of anything.

Originally Posted by Fralin

If you go for a zero-sum, wouldn't it make more sense to count how much you make/hour and then charge for the time spent crafting?

I did ponder that Fralin but felt that would mean putting a value on my time that was greater or less than others, which was the reason for the orignal question as it goes.

And can you really get a "zero-sum" from a scenario with nearly unlimited resources?

I think if this is a personal thing, you should play for a while and figure how much gold *you* can make in an hour, then determine what your time is worth. Because everything else is so subjective.

I have to agree that the question is flawed and that even if one were to arrive at a mathematically correct answer, it would be pretty useless. While you could determine an average, that number would only be close to what a few individuals grind per hour.

At the end of the day, there is not one person that examines either this average, or even their own income, in order to decide what they're willing to pay for something. If you're selling something that a person wants for less than everyone else selling that same item charges, and all other factors remain equal, a buyer will purchase your item. If you're selling for more than someone else, and all other factors remain equal, a buyer is going to move right past you.

Now in the interest of being socially appropriate (i.e., you sound like you don't care what the market is currently selling for, you just want a non-greedy approach to reasonable pricing), your number really doesn't care about what your buyer can afford -- all that matters is what the minimum you're willing to accept for an item is and that's your price. If you charge more because you think your buyers can afford it, you're no longer being socially responsible, you're being greedy (just not as greedy as others, perhaps). Not that there's a problem with that; every seller should have a certain amount of greed in order to give them incentive to produce their product -- but in my opinion there's absolutely no reason for that greed to be governed by what an average customer can afford. After all, an average secretary may earn $20/hour while an average attorney may earn $100/hour, and each buy the same gasoline. In a limited customer base of only these people (in equal proportions), should a factor in the cost of gasoline be that the average income is $60/hour?

Originally Posted by Bragard

I did ponder that Fralin but felt that would mean putting a value on my time that was greater or less than others, which was the reason for the orignal question as it goes.

That's my point (in my previous post) though -- your time _is_ worth more or less than others. If this were not the case, there would not be an average to describe the complete data set, there would be only a number which is what each person earns.

A much better resonse Frisco and one that deserves an answer on its merits.

To sell at what i earn would be either a positive or negative sum game, becasue i am only half of the equation, the buyer being other. their will be a number for it so i do not think what people earn per hour is subjective, but not something people could just say of the cuff. I see that now and lets pretend we have virtualy closed the thread so people can focus on answering post that have greater value to the community than this one.

Originally Posted by Opticals

I have to agree that the question is flawed and that even if one were to arrive at a mathematically correct answer, it would be pretty useless. While you could determine an average, that number would only be close to what a few individuals grind per hour.

At the end of the day, there is not one person that examines either this average, or even their own income, in order to decide what they're willing to pay for something. If you're selling something that a person wants for less than everyone else selling that same item charges, and all other factors remain equal, a buyer will purchase your item. If you're selling for more than someone else, and all other factors remain equal, a buyer is going to move right past you.

Now in the interest of being socially appropriate (i.e., you sound like you don't care what the market is currently selling for, you just want a non-greedy approach to reasonable pricing), your number really doesn't care about what your buyer can afford -- all that matters is what the minimum you're willing to accept for an item is and that's your price. If you charge more because you think your buyers can afford it, you're no longer being socially responsible, you're being greedy (just not as greedy as others, perhaps). Not that there's a problem with that; every seller should have a certain amount of greed in order to give them incentive to produce their product -- but in my opinion there's absolutely no reason for that greed to be governed by what an average customer can afford. After all, an average secretary may earn $20/hour while an average attorney may earn $100/hour, and each buy the same gasoline. In a limited customer base of only these people (in equal proportions), should a factor in the cost of gasoline be that the average income is $60/hour?

Though i have virutaly closed the thread, such a well rounded post that you have taken time to reply to does desrve me to at least do the same. iIdid ask for normal gameing and not gold farming or big ticket item selling, which i agree do add bad inflation i get the 5% own 95% of the wealth, i been the big dog in games, think the term is described as acheiver but getting old in the tooth now and being more of the social type,.

Oft gamers come in 4 cats..acheiver,explorer,social iser and i forget the 4th.

No matter what price you choose to sell something at there will always be those who say

"Overpriced rip off no way!"....or
"I'll have to save up for that"....or
"I'll buy it but it will leave me short of funds"....or
"That seems reasonable, do you have another you can sell me?"


Bear in mind it's not always a case of what just what people EARN in an hour it's also what they SPEND in an hour. Somebody might earn 10g/hr and spend 8g/hour whereas somebody else might earn 4g/hr and spend 1g/hour. The first person has a surplus of 2g to buy your goods whilst the second has 3g.

It is a question with so many variables

Originally Posted by Catburg

No matter what price you choose to sell something at there will always be those who say

"Overpriced rip off no way!"....or
"I'll have to save up for that"....or
"I'll buy it but it will leave me short of funds"....or
"That seems reasonable, do you have another you can sell me?"


Bear in mind it's not always a case of what just what people EARN in an hour it's also what they SPEND in an hour. Somebody might earn 10g/hr and spend 8g/hour whereas somebody else might earn 4g/hr and spend 1g/hour. The first person has a surplus of 2g to buy your goods whilst the second has 3g.

It is a question with so many variables

You forgot "Wow, that's cheap. I'll buy it and resell it at the going rate."

Originally Posted by Catburg

No matter what price you choose to sell something at there will always be those who say

"Overpriced rip off no way!"....or
"I'll have to save up for that"....or
"I'll buy it but it will leave me short of funds"....or
"That seems reasonable, do you have another you can sell me?"


Bear in mind it's not always a case of what just what people EARN in an hour it's also what they SPEND in an hour. Somebody might earn 10g/hr and spend 8g/hour whereas somebody else might earn 4g/hr and spend 1g/hour. The first person has a surplus of 2g to buy your goods whilst the second has 3g.

It is a question with so many variables

Thats whats questions based on social science do for you, only give more questions and not answers, just wanted to break it down 1 variable at a time, though the tread question was biased and i can take nothing of use away from it, i can take away what a great bunch of people you are, that even when you disagree with something, your answers always remained respectfull and well presented.

Play the game in the way that is enjoyable to you. It's a virtual world with unlimited resources. Trying to figure out what's "fair" or "greedy" is too much work for what amounts to a leisure activity. It can be "fun" to work the AH, buying things that are selling for under the current going market value and re-selling. That's one way to enjoy the game. The thing about a world with unlimited resources, is that everybody has the same opportunity to make as much or as little virtual gold as the next guy. Another way to enjoy the game is to help new players by giving items away to them for free. It's easier to do the more wealth you have though. The same as in RL. The idea that players are using the AH to "gouge" other players seems a bit ridiculous to me. If you think about it, the only people being "gouged" are the ones who can afford to be gouged, and they probably view it much differently from their perspective. There is nothing sold on the AH that isn't available in the game by other means. This is what keeps the prices in check. People will pay for things out of convenience for not having to grind for them themselves. What people will pay for an item shows what value they put on their time that they would spend grinding. Different people will put different value on their time, and that's okay. It's a microcosm of the real world, with the important qualification that resources are unlimited.

In the interest of getting you a more comprehensive answer, I would suggest you break down your questions by character levels. In my opinion, the vast majority of people who frequent the forum and post replies have at least one level-capped character (including myself). The gold earning/spending information will be significantly different when polling a lvl 75 versus a lvl 50. Even among lvl 75s, there are those that are raid-equip and those that aren't - which makes a big difference in earning gold. For example, my decked-out hunter doesn't really bother earning gold anymore. So my answer would be roughly negative 1 gold a day. When I was leveling my hunter up through the 50's, it would be something like 10 gold per day.

But as others have already mentioned, the concept of a socially-responsible pricing scheme is inherently flawed in a virtual game due to the following:
1. Resources are effectively unlimited
2. Gold is not a zero-sum in the game: coin magically appears on mobs and magically leaves when we repair or use stables
3. Earning capacity is not evenly distributed: 75s can earn way more gold than most non-75s. As such, an "average" is not applicable to anyone in practice
4. There are no government regulations restricting monopolies or price gauging practices
5. People have vastly different opinions about the worth of their time versus gold earned in a game compared with real-life. Earning money in the game is "fun" for many people. They do not feel like its work. Nor do they feel it takes away from alternative activities that are more enjoyable. This is very different than in the real world. While there are some lucky few that really enjoy working, most see it as a means to an end.

I'd strongly suggest advocating principles of social-responsibility in the real world, and just post items for whatever sells in the game.

Originally Posted by tongra

I'd strongly suggest advocating principles of social-responsibility in the real world, and just post items for whatever sells in the game.

At best, I think one can "average out" the capitalist sellers by selling only in /trade in areas where the resources for the product are gathered, and not on the AH.

Sure, some people with other characters who have earned them a lot of money might be there to buy your goods, but it's more likely to go to someone who is buying them for a "fair" price.

On the AH, if you sell L40 items at a price that a new L40 can afford, someone with a L75 and/or lots of gold is going to buy them for a relative pittance and either send them to his L40 or resell them at market price.

I think it's a nice thing to want to do, selling for what people can afford at their respective levels, since the majority of wealth distribution is based on how long a person has been playing at the level cap(s). But all the research in the world is not going to ensure that the buyer will be buying for a "fair" price to them so long as you use the AH.

Its a very interessting Post !

To measure the real worth of time I think we should only consider the money generated on a Server from a Player at the level-cap. This includes all loots of money as well quest revards and the money earned by selling trash-loots at the vendors.

Back to lev.50 it was somewhere at 1.5G/h. At Lev. 75 I think its about 6G. I have to check what a previous poster meant with 24G/h .. maybe there's something I dont know yet :-)

Ferru
Xcuse my engl.

Of course, if you do tasks that's going to cut into your income significantly, too - all that vendor trash you aren't selling.

Here's what I do. I sell some things on the AH at the going rate, and if I see someone severely undercutting, I'll buy out their stock and resell it.

But if I'm at a crafting station and see someone with horrible gear of whatever type I'm making (I think inspecting people whilst crafting is an occupational hazard), I'll make some new gear and just give it to them.

Just thought of another complication to the OP's goal...

Everything that is sold between players is effectively a "luxury" item. Since there are no basic commodities that are sold which are required to "live" in-game (i.e. shelter, safety, food, etc.), the whole concept of a socially-responsible economy is moot. Everything sold is a luxury item, so the entire market is based on disparate abilities to afford luxury.

Look at the real world. We regulate food prices in the US. They are a basic commodity that is required to live. We do not regulate the cost of an iPad. That is a luxury item, whose cost is determined by free-market supply/demand. The game already provides the "basic" commodities: quest armour, no need for food, clothing, etc. All the stuff players provide are the luxury items. I don't agree that those items should be provided "fairly". Or rather, if they are more available to those that have committed more time and energy to make more money, they are already "fair". It would be "unfair" to provide them at a lower cost to those who don't have the money saved up. Much like how I disagree with providing free smart phones to people on welfare...

Let me see - been playing for 5 years - total time playing some number of months I am too embarassed to display in case my better half sees it and asks me to spend more time clearing the yard - just passed 100g a week or two ago.

hmm - must make around 10c per hour

I generally price items around half of what the highest price is, generally sells within minutes if not hours. I can't be bothered with re-listing and if this is charity, well good for me

Originally Posted by Ferru

Its a very interessting Post !

To measure the real worth of time I think we should only consider the money generated on a Server from a Player at the level-cap. This includes all loots of money as well quest revards and the money earned by selling trash-loots at the vendors.

Back to lev.50 it was somewhere at 1.5G/h. At Lev. 75 I think its about 6G. I have to check what a previous poster meant with 24G/h .. maybe there's something I dont know yet :-)

Ferru
Xcuse my engl.

Several posters on here with whom I agree, but I'll pick you.

1. You apologize for your English. I'm just amazed at you guys that can speak more than one language. I can barely speak one.

2. At level 75, I think I could pretty easily make 10G an hour or more just from gathering mats. I could make more by selling the Cracked Rhi Sigils, but I never sell those things.

3. I have been playing for about 18 months and just hit 100 gold. It was not long ago that I thought this was "rich" until I saw the selling prices for things. I have trouble comprehending the players with over 1,000 gold.

4. With my 3rd toon now at lvl 75, I can see how quickly I could burn through gold. With a WSoC costing about 25 - 30 gold on my server, and needing 3+ per toon, it can run into some money. Yes, I get them via the epic quest. However, I have yet to run the dragon to get them that way (intimidation factor). Draigoch will happen after vacation.

Just my humble 2 cents.

The "Gold" rate is hugely variable. My main three crafters, an explorer, a cook and a scholar vie betwen themselves over wh is most lucrative. The Explorere is having a bad time right now, Skarn and all leather does not appear to be selling very well.
The cook can make may be 2-3 gold per hour if lucky selling food, but as her own farmer there are times she sells very little when in the fields rather than at the oven. The Scholar at the moment wins hands down and make around 5 gold an hour and sometimes a lot more. Westfold potions, Hunter item and dyes sell well and quickly. I always check prices in the AH and pitch mine just below the cheapest. If there is some thing is really cheap I will buy it and re post.
Benefit of the scholar is Sigils....5 plus gold straight off. Been a few days since I had one then got two last night, so around 18 gold, including some oil and black dye in 90 mins!!
My metal worker, woodcrafter tailor and weaponsmith sell lower level items and make small profit, rarely craft with them at the moment. One other point the cook is low level but Westfold crafter and kindred with guild, the Explorere and Scholar are still both in upper 60's.....

OP - it is worth remembering that the reason why some players are able to stockpile gold is that at the later stages of the (current) game, there is not a great deal to spend the cash on. The exceptions to this are worn symbols, certain in-game drops that are not BoA and selected crafting materials. Pretty much everything else can be obtained either in game or via the store. This very much unlike games such as Eve where pretty much anything can be traded for in-game money.

Probably the most liquid of sectors to focus on for items & goods that players who are levelling chars, in particular those who have got past lvl 30, have invested some money in the game and are looking to level their chars. So crafted armour, weapons & jewellery (esp critted variants) and crafting mats are always popular and will sell if you avoid the temptation to be greedy and put the items up for silly amounts. Also rep items for Lossoth, Elves of Rivendell & Iron Garrison are worth investing time in to collect.

There used to be some quite good avenues for raising money but which have now been removed - legendary book pages, 2nd age LIs and my favourite, stones from DOF.

I'm interested to know how average gold per hour would factor into any pricing scheme.

Let's say that Turbine crunched the numbers for us and told us the average gold per hour was 1. How then do you apply that to pricing items on the auction house?

Originally Posted by elendurfarseeker

I'm interested to know how average gold per hour would factor into any pricing scheme.

Let's say that Turbine crunched the numbers for us and told us the average gold per hour was 1. How then do you apply that to pricing items on the auction house?

I think the OP's idea was to use the average, say 1 gold/hour, and then cook/farm/craft whatever he can in an hour and sell it for some reasonable percentage over 1g. Say, 1.1 or 1.2 gold. Basically, assume that his time is worth a 10-20% markup over what the average player could make in an hour.

Why anyone would want to gimp themselves to being just over average? Beats me.

Originally Posted by FarmerC

Several posters on here with whom I agree, but I'll pick you

Sorry responding late on that.

I'm at 3kG now and I did earn the half of that since RoI. Anyway I think if you just kill mobs and sell trash loot its nearly impossible to get up to 10G/h, thats a lot. I seriously want to check that out and scavenge a region in Isengard with empty bags for one hour or two. Will then report my income here. But without AH-sells, just NPC sellings and the Gold-drops.

Ferru