💰 How Money Works in Ashes of Creation

Ashes of Creation is built around a player-driven economy where gathering, trading, and crafting are intended to matter a lot.

That changes how you should think about gold:

• Gold isn’t just a “currency.” It’s power (gear upgrades, consumables, travel comfort, crafting progression).
• The best gold-makers usually control a repeatable loop: gather → process → craft → sell → reinvest.
• Risky systems (like caravans) exist specifically because big profits are supposed to come with big danger.

The real goal: build income that stays strong even when the server meta shifts.

🧱 The Three Gold Lanes: Safe, Mixed, Risky

Before we go into “best methods,” lock this into your brain:

Safe income 🧊

• Gathering near your route
• Basic crafting consumables
• Regular mob farming (low risk)
• Selling steady-demand materials

Mixed income ⚖️

• Higher value gathering in contested zones
• Group grind spots with good drops
• Crafting higher-margin items (needs market awareness)
• Trading region-to-region when the route is reasonably controlled

Risky income 🔥

• Caravans (big payouts, big PvP risk)
• Farming rare materials in dangerous areas
• Running high-stakes routes during peak conflict times
• Any “everyone will gank this” hotspot

A smart player doesn’t live in one lane forever. You swap lanes based on your gear, your group, and the server mood.

🪓 Early Game Gold: What Works Before You’re Strong

Early game is where most players go broke because they try to play “endgame money” too soon. Don’t.

✅ Early Method One: Loot + Vendor Loop (The Honest Starter Grind)

This is basic but reliable:

• Pick an area with dense mobs and short respawns
• Farm until bags are full
• Vendor trash, keep anything useful for crafting
• Repeat

What to look for in a good early farming spot:

• Mobs packed close together
• Low downtime (you’re not sitting to heal every fight)
• Easy path back to your hub for repair/sell
• Bonus points if mobs drop materials tied to crafting

This won’t make you rich fast, but it builds your first stack of gold without drama.

✅ Early Method Two: Gather Everything You Naturally Pass

Gathering is part of the economy foundation, and it’s designed as a major progression path.

Early game rule: don’t “farm gathering.” Just gather while moving.

• Ore node on your path? Grab it.
• Herbs near your quest mob? Grab them.
• Skinnable creatures you already killed? Take the material.

This turns travel time into profit time.

Why this is strong early: you don’t need gear, you don’t need a group, and you’ll always find buyers for base materials on a player-driven market.

✅ Early Method Three: Sell What People Are Too Lazy to Collect

Most players want to level. They don’t want to stop for every node.

That’s your opening.

Early demand usually includes:

• Basic crafting materials
• Processing inputs
• Common consumable ingredients

And the secret: “boring mats” sell. People need them in bulk.

✅ Early Method Four: Starter Crafting for Consistent Sales

Crafting is explicitly tied into the player-driven economy and specialization.

Early on, don’t try to craft “legendary dreams.” Craft what people burn daily:

• Simple consumables
• Low-level upgrades that new players buy because they hate being undergeared
• Quality-of-life items your server regularly needs (based on your market)

The trick: craft things that sell fast, even if the profit per sale is smaller.

⚙️ Mid Game Gold: Where Real Profit Starts

Mid game is when you can begin doing “real economy moves” because you have:

• Better kill speed
• Better bag space
• Better travel options
• A clearer picture of which nodes are growing

✅ Mid Method One: Upgrade to “Elite” Farming Spot Types

Instead of naming one specific camp (because servers evolve differently), aim for these spot types:

Humanoid camps 👥

• Usually drop more vendor loot and useful materials
• Often higher density and faster kills

Beast-heavy zones 🐺

• Great for hides, meat, and crafting inputs

Resource-cluster routes ⛏️🌿

• A loop that hits ore + herbs + wood nodes in one ride
• Best if close to a crafting hub

Border zones between node influence areas 🧭

• More competition, but also more opportunity
• Great for mixed income if you’re alert

Your goal in mid game is to find a loop where you make gold even when you get interrupted.

✅ Mid Method Two: Processing for Profit (The “Middleman” Money)

A lot of players gather. Fewer players process. Even fewer players do it consistently.

Processing can become your “steady paycheck” because crafters often prefer buying processed materials instead of doing the boring steps themselves.

Simple mid-game play:

• Buy or gather raw mats
• Process them
• Sell processed mats at a markup

This works best when you understand which crafted items are popular on your server.

✅ Mid Method Three: Crafting With a Margin (Stop Crafting Random Stuff)

Mid game crafting is where people lose money by crafting the wrong items.

Golden crafting rule:

If you don’t know the demand, don’t craft it in bulk.

What usually sells well mid game:

• Consumables that improve grinding uptime
• Gear upgrades for popular roles (tanks and healers always have demand)
• Components used in multiple recipes (crafting “ingredients,” not finished items)

Because crafting is designed to feed a player-driven economy, the best crafters focus on supply chains, not just “one cool sword.”

✅ Mid Method Four: Market Flipping (The Lazy Tax)

Market flipping is simple: you buy underpriced items and resell.

But in a node-driven world, markets can vary by region and node development. Settlements and node structures can affect services and trade, so prices won’t always be perfectly equal everywhere.

How to flip safely:

• Start with small items (low risk)
• Only flip things with consistent demand (materials > weird niche gear)
• Don’t tie up all your gold in one gamble
• Track the “normal” price over a few days of play before going bigger

Best flip targets (usually):

• Common mats that spike when people craft
• Processed materials
• Consumable ingredients
• High-usage gear slots (weapons often move faster than random armor pieces)

🚚 Caravans: The Biggest Money System (And Why It’s Dangerous)

Caravans are described as a major aspect of the economy, moving commodities and goods across the world for profit—but they come with PvP risk built in.

That means caravans are basically the “high roller” gold lane.

✅ How Caravan Profit Usually Happens

Caravan profit is about moving value from one place to another:

• You move commodities/goods
• You sell where demand is higher
• You profit from distance, safety, timing, and route control

But PvP incentives and risks are part of the system design—attackers and defenders are both intended to have reasons to participate.

🛡️ “Safe” Caravan Play: How to Reduce Risk

There is no 100% safe caravan. But you can reduce risk a lot:

Run during off-peak hours (server calm time)

Less random chaos. Fewer opportunists.

Shorter routes first

Build confidence and learn how your server behaves.

Scout before launching

If your route is already hot with PvP, delay.

Pay escorts or run with guildies

Caravans are an economy system, but they are also social content. Organized groups win more.

Use “staging hubs”

Operate around a node that has active players and quick reinforcements.

🔥 “Risk” Caravan Play: When It’s Worth Going Big

Big routes make sense when:

• Your guild controls key roads
• You have reliable escorts
• Your node’s political allies can respond fast
• The profit is high enough to justify the danger

And remember: caravan PvP incentives are designed to scale over time based on success or failure, so persistent caravan play can create a long-term loop for both defenders and attackers.

⚔️ Caravan Reality Check

If your server is extremely hostile, caravans become:

• A guild-only activity
• A war trigger
• A political statement

That’s not “bad design.” That’s literally the point: control trade, control power.

🧠 Late Game Gold: Dominating the Economy Like a Boss

Late game gold farming is less about “where do I grind?” and more about control:

• controlling supply
• controlling routes
• controlling production
• controlling timing

✅ Late Method One: Specialization Wins

Crafting and gathering are designed to involve progression and specialization within the artisan system.

At endgame, the richest players are usually:

• elite gatherers supplying rare mats
• specialized crafters producing high-demand items
• traders controlling caravan networks and regional supply

If you try to do everything, you often become “okay at all, best at none.”

✅ Late Method Two: Crafting High-Demand Endgame Items

At endgame, profit is about items that:

• many people need
• get replaced often
• get consumed regularly
• are required for progression loops

Examples of high-demand categories (evergreen):

• top-tier consumables
• enhancement-related materials
• crafting components used across multiple recipes
• best-in-slot “foundation items” (the things everyone upgrades from)

Your best move: become known for one category. Be the server’s “go-to.”

✅ Late Method Three: Regional Trading and Price Control

As nodes grow and politics form, different areas become known for:

• certain resources
• certain crafting hubs
• certain trade routes

Settlements have relationships like vassalage, and trade and markets can be tied to settlement structures (especially in economic nodes).

That creates regional price differences. And differences = profit.

Late game traders:

• watch supply changes after sieges
• anticipate demand spikes when new hubs rise
• stock materials before big crafting waves
• control rare mats by buying out low supply (carefully)

✅ Late Method Four: “War Profiteering”

This sounds evil, but it’s just real MMO economy:

When wars happen, people buy:

• consumables
• repair materials
• replacement gear
• crafting mats for upgrades

If your server is in conflict, and you’re selling war supplies, you will print gold.

🧊 Safe vs Risky Income: What You Should Choose (Based on Your Mood)

Some days you want chill gold. Some days you want adrenaline.

If you want safe gold today:

• gather routes near your home loop
• process and sell materials
• farm dense low-risk mobs
• craft fast-selling consumables

If you want mixed gold today:

• contested gathering + quick exits
• elite grind spots with a small group
• regional trading with cautious routes
• crafting higher margin items after checking the market

If you want risky gold today:

• caravans (with a plan)
• rare mat runs in PvP regions
• market cornering (only if you can afford to lose)

The best gold plan is the one you can repeat without burning out.

🚨 Gold Farming Risk Management: PvP, Corruption, and Not Losing Everything

Open-world PvP exists, but the game also has a corruption system meant to discourage griefing, with penalties tied to corruption and death consequences.

For gold farming, your takeaway is simple:

• Don’t carry everything you own into risky zones
• Bank valuables before big runs
• Treat caravans and contested farms like “gear check” content

Smart farmer behavior:

• stash first
• run light
• escape fast
• profit slowly, consistently

❌ Common Money Mistakes That Keep Players Broke

Bold truth: Most players are not poor because the game is hard. They’re poor because they waste gold.

Common mistakes:

1) Buying every upgrade instantly

Some upgrades are worth it. Some are bait. Learn the difference.

2) Crafting without checking demand

You can craft something “cool” and still lose gold.

3) Ignoring processed materials

Raw mats are fine. But processed often sells for better profit if supply is low.

4) Running risky routes while unprepared

If you can’t defend yourself, don’t force risky farming. Build up first.

5) Keeping all gold in one basket

Never invest your entire wallet into one flip.

6) Not having a repeatable loop

The best gold is boring. It’s a loop you can repeat for weeks.

✅ The Best Gold Plan by Game Phase

Here’s a simple “do this” plan you can follow.

Early Game Plan

• vendor farming loop
• gather while questing
• sell basic mats
• craft simple fast-selling items

Mid Game Plan

• elite spot types (humanoid camps, beast zones, resource routes)
• processing for markup
• crafting with real demand
• small flips on stable materials

Late Game Plan

• specialize hard
• craft high-demand items
• regional trading and supply control
• caravans with guild/escorts for big payouts

🏁 Conclusion – Get Rich by Playing the Economy, Not Just Killing Mobs

Ashes of Creation is built so that gold isn’t only a “drop.” It’s something you create through smart play in a player-driven economy.

If you want consistent money in Verra:

• build a safe loop you can repeat
• layer gathering and processing into your travel
• craft items people truly buy
• flip only what you understand
• treat caravans like high-stakes content (because they are)
• and always choose safe vs risky income based on your gear, your group, and the server’s mood

Do that, and you won’t just “have gold.”

You’ll have freedom—to gear up faster, travel easier, and play the game the way you want. 💰🔥