Sindala wrote: »

firstdecan wrote: »

unless someone has a trick or gimmick to share. I would love to see a discussion on these tricks \ gimmicks, or a discussion on good "grind " spots for making money.

Sorry to tell you this, but if somebody does have a good trick/gimmick to gain gold. Chances are they ain't gonna share it

We learned very early in MMO games, if you tell about a good way to earn gold then its either camped for life or nerfed.
We keep themz fingz secwet nowz...

Yup

So it appears that the best way to earn gold as a solo player is by farming mats, joining a guild, and becoming a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet manager.

... or buying gold from one of the gold-sellers.

No thanks.

firstdecan wrote: »

I specifically said at the beginning I'm not interested in trading to earn significant gold because that money has to come from somewhere. If I'm not the one farming drops, then someone else has to in order to afford what I sell. In this particular circumstance that is exploitive, because it takes a lot of someone else's time \ effort and almost none of mine. I see no reason why I should be able to sell 8 trait items (or anything else) for a significant in game benefit simply because I bought early access and pressed "R" a few times to trigger research since then.

Because price is a function of a particular moment in time. Prices are set by scarcity, that is, one party has a thing, another party does not have a thing, as is willing to trade his or her resources for access to the thing. If everyone had equal access to all things, at all times, no trade would ever take place.

In your example, the person selling trait items has paid for numerous months of subscription fees, and learned the crafting system and used it in order to give themselves access to trait items. The hypothetical purchaser has not. The difference between the person who has and the person who has not, and the resource cost needed to put person #2 in person #1's position, is what we call price.

People here took exception, and started lobbing broadsides in your direction, because you started off, and continue, to call this "exploitation." It's just absolutely typical buying and selling behavior, just like in the world beyond the computer screen. You're calling all trade behavior beyond mucking with NPCs "exploit," which is a heavily negatively-weighted thing to say. You're basically insulting everyone who interacts economically with other players.

You don't want to interact with other people in an MMO? *GASP* This is the wrong game for you. You should try skyrim.