14 May, 2013
by The Black Lion
3 Comments

Sclerite Karka Shield recipe

OctoNorn

The Sclerite Karka Shield is obtained from the “Secrets of Southsun” Achievements and is a back item with a pretty awesome skin! (OctoNorn is the best way to describe it)

However, it can also be combined in the mystic forge using the following recipe:

  • Sclerite Karka Shield
  • 250 Karka Shells
  • 50 Globs of Ectoplasm
  • 100 Passion Flowers

I don’t know what it combines into, but I am presuming it would be an ascended version. However, take a good long look at how epic this skin is and the ingredients required. Karka Shells, Passion Flowers & Ectoplasm will all be very popular over the next few days! (and possibly in the future)

14 May, 2013
by The Black Lion
4 Comments

50x Southsun Supply Crates Opened: Results

please note, these results were originally posted to Reddit under the_black_lion‘s account.

I have not had a lot of opportunity to log in to Guild Wars 2 and make bucket loads of gold lately, so after seeing the new chests included in the latest patch I decided to treat myself with some experimentation, purchasing 50 of them.

Costing approximately 220 gold for the 6000 gems required, it’s a fair chunk of money and does take a big bite out of last month’s profits. However, It’s not like the gold has much use beyond shiny weapons and flashy effects. (and for generating more gold through flipping)

After quickly opening the boxes, and linking the item’s for the few interested denizens of Lions Arch I was left with the following rewards:-

So.. was it worthwhile buying 50 Southsun supply crates for 220 gold?

nope.

P.S. If you are holding on to large quantities of Passion Fruit, Flowers or Karka Shells then I advise you to sell them now before they fall any lower. Additionally, you can wait for the “patch excitement” to pass and buy them up for a long term investment!

3 May, 2013
by The Black Lion
4 Comments

Daily Speculation: #3

Day Three: Large Skull

  • Weekly Graph: gw2tp.net
  • Lowest Buy: 2s 75c
  • Highest Sell: 4s 45c
  • Profit: 1s 3c
  • Gain: 37%
  • Monthly Graph: gw2spidy
  • Lowest Buy: 2s 54c
  • Highest Sell: 4s 65c
  • Profit: 1s 41c
  • Gain: 56%

Conclusion: Large Skulls are one of those niche items that can be invested in every month in return for a potential 30% to 50% return on your investment. I usually aim to buy them for anywhere between 2 to 3 silver each and hold them until they are selling for around 4 silver 50 copper to 4 silver 75 copper.

Note: These posts are written to help teach new trader’s on how to spot potential profit in a market and the basics of speculating on an item’s trading post graph. Always do your own research before investing.

2 May, 2013
by The Black Lion
1 Comment

Daily Speculation #2

Day Two: Strawberry

  • Weekly Graph: gw2tp.net
  • Lowest Buy: 35c
  • Highest Sell: 49c
  • Profit: 7c
  • Gain: 20%
  • Monthly Graph: gw2spidy
  • Lowest Buy: 33c
  • Highest Sell: 56c
  • Profit: 14c
  • Gain: 42%

Conclusion: Buy them for anywhere between 30 – 42 copper and hold them until they begin to rise. According to previous months they sell for an average of 55 – 60 copper each so there is a potential for a decent return on your investment.

Investing in Strawberry should net you around a 40% – 55% return after Tax.

Note: These posts are written to help teach new trader’s on how to spot potential profit in a market and the basics of speculating on an item’s trading post graph. Always do your own research before investing.

1 May, 2013
by The Black Lion
1 Comment

Daily Speculation #1

Day One: Potato

  • Weekly Graph: gw2tp.net
  • Lowest Buy: 15c
  • Highest Sell: 23c
  • Profit: 5c
  • Gain: 33%
  • Monthly Graph: gw2spidy
  • Lowest Buy: 15c
  • Highest Sell: 45c
  • Profit: 23c
  • Gain: 153%

Conclusion: Buy them whilst they are low, especially if the price drops under 15 copper each. It is unlikely that the sell price will rise back to 45 copper any time soon but 25 to 30 copper was the sweet spot in the January & February graphs.  I ignored the large spike in may as the market would need another economic influence to raise the potato price to that level again.

Investing in Potato should net you around a 50% return after Tax, more if you invest in bulk.

 

29 April, 2013
by The Black Lion
1 Comment

Bulk Flipping and Investment in the Chef Ingredients Market

Chef Ingredients that can be flipped in bulk

  • Onion is pretty much the bread and butter item for flipping in bulk, with tens of thousands bought and sold every single day. The profit may not seem like much (1 copper each) but it quickly adds up and it is in fact a 13% return – which is a brilliant rate for something selling in the thousands.
  • Carrot, Potato, blueberry and Beet are my “fall back” items for when Onions get too competitive and buy orders begin to takes days to be fulfilled. Ensure that you check the latest prices on the trading post and also look at the graphs for the previous week as they can randomly fluctuate in price. (I personally use gw2tp)
  • Head of Garlic, Orange, Egg, Raspberry & Strawberry are all items you should buy whenever they are selling at a lower price than average. (Use the monthly graphs on gw2spidy) They almost always rise in price again and are therefore extremely profitable as a medium to long term investment.
  • Parsnip, Turnip and Rutabaga are often profitable for between 10 to 20 percent however they can be pretty low on supply so expect to receive around 1000 – 2000 at max per night.
  • Blueberry.. I once had a monopoly in these, buying them at 4 copper each and selling them at 6. After hundreds of thousands bought and sold consecutively the price began to rise. Today, they trade at a higher price but you can still easily earn a profit from them.
  • Grapes are a brilliant item to invest in when they are under 55 – 60 copper each, just have a look at the monthly fluctuations  on the gw2spidy graph and you will see why.
  • The price of Blackberries is constantly fluctuating between 60 and 90 copper each, which is great if you are investing in them over a long period of time (around 2 – 6 weeks).
  • Asparagus, Pumpkin, Butternut Squash and artichoke can all be flipped with relative ease, however they are not ingredients that I flip on a regular basis.
  • I very rarely get the opportunity to flip Chocolate, Butter or Sesame Seeds as they are almost always  kept high with demand. However, it does pay to keep a close eye on them for when they do drop to profitable levels.
  • Don’t even ask me about Slab of Poultry, one month they were 6 copper each and now they are 35 copper each. Someone must like their chicken. (probably fried)

Other noteworthy items for flipping in bulk

  • Mint Leaf, Spinach, Tarragon, Thyme, Bay Leaf, Oregano, Zucchini, Parsley, Cabbage, Cayenne Pepper, Peppercorn, Clove, Cauliflower & Ghost Pepper.

The Failures (or your potential niche?)

  • Lemongrass, Omnomberry, Vanilla Bean, Orrian Truffle, Dill Sprig, Passion Fruit, Sage Leaf, Seaweed. Walnut, Cinnamon, Mushrrom, Green Onion, Clam, Saffron, Clove & Yam

Feel free to add all of these items to your watch lists (I use gold wars 2) and probably undercut all of my buy orders on the Trading Post as well.