Time is Money

In virtually every MMORPG, from Everquest to Defiance, there is something called “farming”. And no, it has nothing to do with milking cows or harvesting wheat (although in Mabinogi you get to do just that). The concept is pretty straight forward, and closely resembles working on a farm in real life. Farming in an MMORPG is a process of repeatedly killing monsters and/or using gathering nodes (such as mining iron ore), the goal being to get lots of loot to sell, or materials to make lots of loot to sell. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is. It’s also one of the most effective ways to make money in any RPG, MMO or not. No ESO specific content this time guys, sorry.

In case you’ve never farmed before, or not entirely sure what I’m talking about, let me run you through it. First you need to figure out what it is you want. A specific crafting material? Better gear? Valuable gear? Any random old thing you can sell? For example, let’s say you want iron ore to make a bad-ass sword. The second thing you need to do is figure out where you will go farming. Typically, this will be where the monsters (more commonly referred to as mobs) that drop the item spawn the most, or where the gathering nodes tend to spawn the most. There are two ways to decide where to farm. Either you check the internet, probably on a wiki for the game, or you use your own experience in-game and memory of what was where. I myself find it more satisfying to figure it out on my own, rather than use the wiki as a crutch. But to each their own. Now that we know we want iron ore, and where to find it, it becomes a matter of how to get it. You might be thinking “What do you mean how? I just go get it, right?” Well yes, and no. At low levels, or playing in a zone with mobs far below your level, yeah, just go get it. At higher levels though, they tend to throw big nasty mobs in the areas with the higher tier materials. Depending on the zone, you might need to organize a farming run with some friends or guildmates. The same applies for farming loot off mobs; if you can handle them on your own no problem, excellent. If not, partner up with someone, and split the loot. Once you’ve done farming for a while, or your bags are full, you of course sell it to a vendor, or auction house.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let me share some tips and tricks with you. First, check the market on items you know you can get your hands on. If it sells for a good price and/or moves quickly, then you’ll make a ton of dough farming it. In LotRO I farmed a specific jeweler material because it had the best sell price for how many I could farm in an hour. This brings us to the golden rule: time is money. The quantity you can farm in an hour greatly affects your profits. If you can farm 100 units of iron ore in an hour, and only 50 coal, the obvious choice of item to farm would be iron ore, right? Not necessarily. If the iron ore sells for 500 gold, and the coal for 300 gold, you get the following ratios: 5:1 and 6:1. This means each iron ore is worth 5 gold, and each coal is worth 6 gold. Therefor the coal is more worth your time than the iron. Supply and demand plays a big part in the prices (crafting materials in particular). The higher the demand, the more people are willing to pay. The lower the supply, the more people are willing to pay. These are the items that will roll you in coin if you find a good place to farm them. Items in low demand and high supply sell for almost nothing to other players, and you’re probably better off selling them to the vendor. Whether you’re farming a specific item, or just random stuff, spawn times matter. A lot. The faster something re-spawns, the faster you can kill it or gather from it. Sometimes you’ll find something that re-spawns instantly. Odds are, that is worth farming the hell out of. A common tactic to farm as much as possible is to farm in a circular pattern, so that there is always something in front of you. If someone else if farming in the same area as you, and you find yourself one node behind them, I find it best to turn around, and go the way I came. Otherwise the two of you will be constantly “stealing” from one another, and you will not farm as many items. The last tip I got for right now is to get a mount ASAP, and use it whenever possible. Time is money after all.

I’ll leave you gold goblins for now, with a quote to ponder:
“When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know it is.”
- Oscar Wilde