ESO Gold Farming Guide [Full Version]
This is a full guide of ESO Gold Farming and Making, and it's really long, you need to be patient to read the article. We will show how to make more gold in The Elder Scrolls Online in 2018, and you will find that there are so many tips to get eso gold, whatever you are a new player or not. As you know, we have shared a fast gold making guide several days ago, you can also find some useful tips from it too.
Table of Contents:
3. STORAGE TIPS
4. QUESTING
5. PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER IN CYRODIIL & THE IMPERIAL CITY
6. FARMING (Incl. DUNGEON RUNS)
7. CRAFTING (BLACKSMITHING, WOODWORKING & TAILORING)
8. PROVISIONING
9. ALCHEMY/ENCHANTING
10. GUILD STORES & AREA CHAT
11. LEGERDEMAIN/STEALING
12. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT:
13. FISHING
14. HOW TO SELL / DB UPDATE / MISCELLANEOUS
15. GAME CHANGES
1. INTRODUCTION
Making good, honest, Gold in ESO is easy and you don't have to be skilled to start earning it right from a new game. Without going far, anyone can see in '/zone' chat, what's selling and for how much. And even beginners can earn a lot of Gold from many various sources that are honest and even not-so-honest nowadays (thanks to the Justice System update, the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood DLC`s). In short, there are a lot of engaging options for players to actually make MILLIONS in the game! It's all dependent on how determined and hungry you are for coin and more importantly, how many trading guilds you're in (1-5).
To help with your future Guild Store sales, GF and I have created a list of good to highly profitable items that can either be easily found in your explorations or acquired through refining processes. We think it will be useful for noobs to see at a glance what's valuable and sought after in the game. The prices will change over time tho, but for now, it is a good reflection of market values.
2. GOLD FAQ's
1. What's the easiest way to make gold?
There isn't one. Each way to make gold has its drawbacks and rewards. For instance, provisioning is a very easy way to make gold as ingredients are everywhere, but it takes time and patience for a relatively small reward. Selling things in a guild store is also a pretty easy way to get gold, but it also costs a listing fee and you are at the mercy of the market for how much profit you rake in or even the ability to sell the item in the first place.
This is really a difficult question to answer properly. There obviously IS the easiest way to make gold compared to ALL the other ways there are, but it really depends on your circumstances and style of play. For instance, I probably have a million gold worth of valuables in my craft bag, just because I'm really a hoarder and I love collecting valuable stuff! I don't like selling big-ticket items when I find them 'cause then I feel like finding more and why not sell the lot together? Besides, the Craft Bag offers the player infinite storage, so collecting items indefinitely is an easy thing to do.
The problem with this philosophy is, that item prices always drop (sometimes to valueless) on very popular items or anything flooding the market! So, I run the risk of losing all that wealth if I don't sell my valuables before item prices fall.
(My rationale is, I don't really need extra Gold right now, I'm doing well thieving my way to millions, which is probably the easiest way to make gold if you're that way inclined!)
So you could say, making millions in the game is really about TIMING and RISK as there always seems to be some obstacle in the game to challenge us. For instance, I still have over a dozen Gold Runestone Boxes from two previous Festivals, in my inventory, which originally sold for 12Kg each but a month into the festival, were only worth 2,500g each! Today, I probably wouldn't get 500g for any one of them! That's a major loss due to my bad timing...but I didn't know the RISK then.
There was a talk at the time that holding onto trending valuables was probably a wise move since they'd only increase in value when they became rare again, which offers you hope, but really nothing more. That's why I'm going to tell you here and now, to sell while you can, as prices typically don't get any better (unless you know how to drive Prices up and that's a whole different topic).
TIP1: At the start of a new game, do the Tutorial for loot drops from enemies and from containers and chests which contain armours. Chests will re-spawn when re-logging and you can do this numerous times to get used gear from them. Collect everything with a Gold value including hard to find Training traits - take as much as you can carry and don't forget lock-picks. The Craft Bag will make it easier to stow hard to find provisioning materials like Bananas and Cheese, without filling your main inventory (subscribers only). Now, level your character as high as you want, ie. lvl-6 or even lvl-50(!), as well as all your main skills, so you're prepared for what's to come.
After, sell everything to a merchant for quick gold. Zero value equipment can be deconstructed immediately to get a head start in craft leveling. DO NOT deconstruct Training traits, instead, Lock protect them as these are hard to find in the game (at least until lvl 50/100). Later, you can sell crafted Training gear for extra cash in the G-Store.
TIP2: Before posting items for sale in the G-Store, check how many other listings there are of your item. Then list yours a few Gold less to sell faster or get a price-averaging addon* from ESOUI.com to find the average selling price.
(NOTE: Price undercutting will lower item values in all your Guild Stores in direct relationship to the degree of undercutting, how many players are undercutting in your guilds, and duration. Combine this with over-supply of an item and both effects can decimate an item's value by reducing its price to worthless in a short period of time! (Trust me I've seen this happen!) One more thing to keep in mind... MM shows the best-priced deals by color-coded listings, however, it doesn't warn you that if you buy a 5Kg item for 500g, it will lower the average price for that item in all your guilds instantly! So what's the point of such a deal? It eventually lowers the value of that item across the board the more players that buy low.)
Tip3: Remember, rare items maintain their value until they become more available and when millions of players are vying for them, a flooded market is inevitable eventually, you just don't know when!
2. Why should I bother with going the extra mile for gold?
Gold is used to purchase goods and services not only from NPCs but from players as well. If you are having a very difficult time coming across crafting motifs, recipes, style materials, or even gear that you want gold will make it a lot easier for you. The more gold you have the easier of a time you'll have to get items that you want.
Remember, everything gets pricier as you level up in the game (weapons, armour, materials) and you'll want to save for expensive items like amount. Study everything about making Gold here, so you'll know how to get it when you need it.
3. Will this guide teach me some glitches or hacks to get a lot of gold?
Absolutely not. While some of the methods in this guide are considered 'cheap', not a single one is against the terms and conditions of the MMO. If you want to cheat for your gold, you are going to have to go elsewhere.
Most game glitches or exploits have already been fixed and new ones aren't around long enough to be very useful. However, if you do find one, I'm officially advising you to report it to Zos immediately!
Ghostfarts: ROFL
Veyonda: (Actually, keep it to yourself or guild members only! Shhh, keep it quiet!!)
4. Can I make gold even if I'm a low level?
Of course, but the amount you make will incrementally increase as your level goes up. The more skill points you invest in certain skill trees, the more gold you can get out of those skill trees. The higher your level, the better dungeons you can do, and the better gear you can get which all leads to more gold.
4a. How Can I Make MORE Gold...Are There Any TRICKS?
If you have ESO Plus you already get a 10% boost in all gold looted! Now the Dark Brotherhood DLC has changed the old armour trait 'Exploration', to "Prosperous" that "increases all Gold gained from monster kills"! So, now you can train all your gear with Prosperous to gain an even greater increase in Gold for monster kills! (Also, see Miscellaneous for more on Vet Champion Points that increase coin dividends.)
The Dark Brotherhood DLC also changed the "Intricate" trait as follows: "This trait now also increases the number of refined materials you obtain whenever you deconstruct a weapon, in addition to increasing the amount of inspiration gained."
This change could seriously increase your crafting level and return valuable mats, especially for higher level players. (And it's the extra Gold you want from those refining mats.) But if you're not so high a level, then make a friend with someone who is and agree to trade raw mats for Intricate items, you won't believe how fast you can level your crafting skills with them!
But if you can't find a high level Intricate item source, do the daily crafting writs which often rewards them and then sell yours in the G-Store. This could create a steady supply bringing in extra coin every month (more on the value of Crafting Writs in Miscellaneous).
DB's NEW Craft Bag is the greatest addition to the Subscriber's game and allows you to collect unlimited materials. With this you'll be able to collect every material without taking up inventory space (but if you have it, you already know this).
Collecting everything then becomes quite profitable as you can collect thousands of mats for every profession and then make mass amounts of valuable supplies for G-Store sale! It will take time to do this though, but that seems to be the way things work in game. (BTW, I'm not here to sell this upgrade, only to mention it's value in making Millions in the game.)
Sometimes it's not about making Gold, it's about saving it...
At a low level you can optimize your potential by making the right choices from the start. Making mountains of gold relies upon your storage space. There's no doubt about it, the more inventory you have the more gold you can make.
(Some will claim all they need is a small inventory to collect high priced motifs. Okay then, if this is what you want to do I stand corrected, as you could potentially make huge Gold just selling these pricey items over and over with your original inventory slots! But I don't advise putting all your eggs in one basket – Diversify!)
So, I advise buying the first 400g inventory upgrade as soon as you can and for as many Alts as you have. You won't believe the cost savings you'll realize from this tip alone...
Save a STAGGERING Amount of GOLD Doing This...(FtP Accounts)
Play with the maximum number of characters when crafting! Here's why...
If you're going to craft, especially for more than one profession, you'll need a lot of inventory space if you don't have the Craft Bag. And if you only play with one character, you'll need storage upgrades constantly for all your materials.
Your first bag upgrade is 400g (for 10 slots) and the next upgrade is 2,000g for the same slots, and it gets progressively more expensive with each upgrade, (refer to "Storage Tips" for Upgrade Price chart).
Therefore, to purchase up to 70 bag upgrades for one character, it will cost you 115,200g!
But with 7x Alt's, you'll now have the first 400g upgrade repeated 7x times for each character giving you the exact same storage increase for much less! In other words you can buy 70x more storage slots for only 2,800g! That's a whopping savings of 112,400g for the SAME SPACE! That's why I say to max out your Alts to use this priceless money saving tip, especially, if you're going to do all the crafting that's available... because now you can SPECIALIZE each Alt as well!
But there's more...
So... you've learned that having 8 characters will give you 540 FREE storage slots right off the bat, instead of the usual 120 for one PC (bag & bank)! That's quite a boost to profit potential! But if you still need more, since the Dark Brotherhood DLC anyone can now increase their character count to 12 (4 more Alts) thereby increasing their inventory space an extra 240 slots for a grand total of 780!
This will amount to much quicker financial gains for big spenders, and this IS going to cost in the Crown Store - 1500 Crowns. But it's virtually FREE for subscribers who get 1500 FREE Crowns a month for a subscription!
Another Gold saving tip is, NEVER repair your equipment early in game when your Gold is low. Instead, either sell or deconstruct damaged weapons and armour and replace them with newer looted items instead. These small savings will add up in the end and you could save thousands of Gold for when you need it most.
5. (REALLY) What's the fastest (EASIEST) way to make gold?
Quests, basically. Side quests, daily quests, and main story quests usually have gold and loot rewards for completion. Relatively speaking quests usually take far less time to complete than any other method of making gold, especially when the amount of time spent leveling certain skill trees and acquiring the skills for them is taken into account. That said though, quests will not get you as much gold as most of the other things listed below.
Ghostfarts: I can't believe AAN2 didn't specifically mention about harvesting and selling the mats as the easiest way to make Gold! Consider this...
Every node you walk past is worth good money when sold in our guild store, but not to an NPC (who buys them for a few gold). For example...
There are so many simple items you run and ride past every day you play, so why not pick them up? It will soon add up to stacks of 100 or even 200. Now imagine what you could do with the Gold you could make from any number of full stacks! I say, pick up everything and sell it quickly in our FG&G's guild store. It will make you money and the handling fees go toward the purchase of a very expensive weekly trader...and that keeps more ESO players across Tamriel, buying your wares! Now check out the list below for our best selling items...
LINK TO COMPLETE LIST OF MID TO VERY VALUABLE ITEMS W/ PRICE ESTIMATE
What about selling BIG ticket items! Alas, you won't find these so quickly without a little luck or guidance. For instance, one of our members reported finding a Heavy Sack after starting a new game... IIRC it had 10 Kuta in it! That's an extremely lucky find that's valued at 63,850g today - JACKPOT!!
Any low level player can start collecting raw equipment materials from outside of any city like Ghosti says. You can then refine these to level up your crafting skill and perhaps even find high value refining mats in the process. When you have enough of these (stacks of 200) you can sell them easily in the guild store and make a killing. The really big ticket, improving items like the purple and gold mats can sell for thousands each! items like the purple and gold mats can sell for thousands each!
TIP4: Super-charge your refining process with this valuable trick: When refining raw mats, do as many as you can in one sitting. That means refining stacks of 200 at a time, or even 5 stacks or more all together! This will improve your chances of getting more of every type of 'improving' mat including the purple and gold ones!
(Of course, this relies on knowing where an abundance of quick spawning nodes are to supply your ever growing needs... read on to find the best harvesting sites in Tamriel.)
TIP5: When posting stacks of items in the G-Store, you'll get better results selling in smaller amounts of 50 and 100! That's because not everyone needs a full stack of 200 of a particular mat. Therefore, you'll make quicker Gold selling more smaller stacks to crafters. Also, consider this... since you're providing shoppers a convenience splitting full stacks, you can probably get a little more than MM price for 50 items - resulting in more gold in your pocket!
According to one of AAN2's fans - Greghole:
Now when you have at least 3K gold in your bank...
"If you have the refining perks you can buy stacks of raw materials for 2-3k and sell the upgrade materials for profit."
EXPLAINED: Advertise for raw mats in /zone chat and pay a little more than average price to sweeten the deal. Buying and refining raw materials will not only level your craft skill but will give tempers that can have a moderate to very high selling price! (Remember, you require the crafting perks to handle any leveled mat in each of the trades.) However, this might only work on real noobs as most experienced players will keep raw mats for their own use.
~ ~ ~
(Once, I came across a new player that had just been ejected from the city by the guards for accidentally harming an innocent NPC [didn't know there was a setting to protect them?]. He had no Gold and was confused and anxious about his troubling predicament and made a plea in /zone chat for help. I sent him a few thousand gold to get by and he said he wanted to pay it back, so I put him to work finding raw materials for me for good credit. I refined these and found a lot of blue and purple mats totaling much more than my initial investment!)
~ ~ ~
Another good tip from Greghole...
"Get 8 characters to at least level 6 and you can do 48 crafting writs per day. You can make 20k gold in about 45 minutes as long as you have a stockpile of materials. If you have the refining perks you can buy stacks of raw materials for 2-3k and sell the upgrade materials for profit. Farming Dwarven motifs is also good gold/hour."
FYI: The Breakdown:
A lvl 7 Provisioner gets 233g per writ...8 chars at same lvl each day = 1,864g, over seven days = 13,048g...but if all Alts do 3 writs a day that total jumps to 5,692g and 39,144g over 7 days! The max 6 writs daily for 8 PCs = 11,182g... for 7 days = 78,288g...now this is the way to run out of supplies fast, but it's great profit for only a few minutes work each Alt!
The thing to remember is, as you level in crafting skill, you use more materials to craft equipment like armor and weapons, but you don't find anymore mats per node to compensate! So replacing higher level mats becomes an important issue when doing writs.
Using a Harvesting addon can improve your harvesting rounds. In fact, when you've found a good route you'll never forget where everything is as it will be visibly labeled on the ground and your map! This will not only speed up your mat collection process but also show up excellent harvesting routes for selecting the best for any particular mat you need!
One final point about Crafting Writs: If you choose to do this, you'll discover Suryey Maps randomly included in your reward pouch along with sometimes even rare and valuable purple mats!
Conclusion:
It's crazy not to do the daily writs, even if you don't have enough mats to make 10's of thousands a week. You'll still be leveling your craft more quickly and finding other materials in the surveys to replace used ones. The only drawback is, all those valuable survey maps can clog up your inventory until you use them up! And I'm not joking!
Ghostfarts: Vey, you make it sound like that's a BAD thing! Lol
Surveyor Maps:
Surveyor's Map are randomly found in crafting writs, which usually gives the player an increased spawn of materials similar to those used in the writ. These super spawns can sometimes result in some higher priced items as well (ie. Nirncrux) depending on your level and luck. (Finding the map location will sometimes take time and patience as they aren't really detailed and you'll have to search a little more than you'd like 'til you know all the locations by heart.) There probably is an addon for this as well.
Thieving:
Also, Thieving any white or green (even blue and sometimes purple) items will make you more gold than questing if you're lucky enough. Just be careful, it's a risky business where you could easily lose all your stolen goods and get fined as well. My best advice is to do your dirty work in areas with few or no NPC's. Googling will show up some good area for this activity, however, check the date for the latest advice, otherwise, you may be working in an area that's already been 'nerfed'.
(I'm going to share this thieves hot spot with you because Ghost thinks it's a good idea! Location: Auridon/Vulkhel Guard/Manor House/Bank - has a rich source of various re-spawning containers, including locked chests. So, now you can potentially steal a minimum of 240-500g in stolen goods and immediately sell/launder them to return to re-spawned containers a few minutes later and do the same thing again and again. I haven't noticed any limit put on this trick yet, so try it out and see if you can steal more than the minimum of 1440-3000g in an hour!) For those of you in the Daggerfall Covenant, you can also do this in the main city's bank.
6. What can I sell?
Everything that isn't 'Bound'. If an item is bound to your character then you cannot sell it to other players, and instead you will have to deconstruct said item (or sell it to an NPC where applicable) to make any gold from it. Most bound items are bind on equip, which it tells you at the very top of the item description screen. This means that you can sell the item as long as you do not equip it. Armor that isn't normally binding on equip will become bound if you dye it.
Nobody's mentioned yet that you can find dirt cheap items in chat or the guild store, even items being given away FREE, if you're observant. You can get these give-away items and then mark them up to resell for an excellent profit...sometimes as much as 100% or more! You'll be surprised how quickly this kind of profit adds up to a fatter wallet, especially alongside any other tricks I've mentioned here.
7. Will this guide show me popular farming areas?
No. Those you have to find out by asking other players or by personal experience. The reasons why are simple. Farming locations change frequently enough that keeping them updated in this guide would be a hassle, too many people farming lessens the effects of farming (i.e. severely drops the value of the farmed items), and because listing farming locations is a sure-fire way to get them patched.
Let me clear something up right here... Farming is a legitimate and popular activity even if you're exploiting an over-rewarding area! (How do you know it wasn't intended?) I can tell you of one such place that's public knowledge and it hasn't been 'nerfed' for many patches! Zos's attitude toward exploit farming may have changed IMAO.
Otherwise I agree, you can find popular farming areas through your Guild, and grouping also perks your XP gains, so ask to join a farming group (in chat) because everyone gets the XP from any and all kills and an equal share of the loot (a 10% damage restriction can apply to Bosses)! And if you're in more than one guild (1-5), you'll find more farming groups this way.
Who hasn't searched for farming areas on YouTube? It's one of the best resources for advanced players.....and Zos! And if you're lucky you may find an over-abundant farming area yourself - more likely in one of them new zones.
These were excellent areas at one time (but are still good for grinding/farming)... Root Sunder Ruins in Grahtwood, Inner Sea Armature EP, Eyevea (Bankorai/Evermore City/Fighter's Guild), the Hotspur & Lydia ships in Daggerfall docks (regular containers only - plentiful and easy pickings), Crow's Wood Dungeon, AD - wolf packs still re-spawn extra fast... .
Other popular spots are the Dolmen Runs and Dwemer ruins where you'll find Dwemer motifs to collect for the complete set. And currently these can go for around 7Kg for 1 of a 14pc set! (Zos did report these being completely ransacked a while ago and had to install more containers to compensate - are they res-pawning again?)
Why not try the Imperial City sewers and City districts? They're a lot of fun to farm for many collectibles including new Armour Sets and special/unique items and rare mats like the Hakeijo Runestone that sells from 9-19Kg each (you'll need a 4 player group tho).
The Daily Undaunted Pledges:
WARNING: These dungeon runs are very difficult and require teamwork and specialization. They provide the chance to test your latest DPS and HEAL builds for instance, and reward the victors with very specialized armour sets.
These daily dungeon quests attract a lot of true warrior types and for good reason...the valuable and uniquely-buffed, loot! Not only are the rewards highly sought after by high level, hardcore players but they're also quite valuable and come in two piece sets which allows up to 3 special sets to be worn simultaneously by the player! (Google “undaunted pledge armor sets” for more on these.)
Here's Zos' link to the official description of the Undaunted Pledges for those wanting the official scoop:
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Fish Farming:
There are 'power' farming areas that can be found nowadays for those eager to spend a few hours looking for Perfect Roe. One such area I found has about 20 spots that re-spawn very rapidly, allowing you to run from one exhausted spot to fresh one within a few seconds!
But fishing for Perfect Roe isn't the most challenging activity in game and the chances of finding it are approximately 1:200. But I must add, that it is worth fishing for, as it is exciting when you do find this expensive mat, especially if you find them back to back in your fish fileting session - rare but it happens. You'll find more on this below in – Fishing by AAN2.
(Actually, I think this fish farming area is so good it qualifies as a 'legitimate exploit'! Of course, if it was an unfair exploit, Zos would have nerfed it, as they have to so many other areas... but it remains... for now!)
So... I guess, if YOU are exploring and really DO find a genuinely unfair exploit that, let's say, gives Columbine infinitely with instant re-spawns, you should, really, let Zos know about it...shouldn't you? I mean, it's the right thing to do, no? And there could be some still around that haven't been found yet! So, you will report it immediately, won't you?!
Ghosti: *NAH* Put a weight on the E key and LEAVE IT RUNNING ALL NIGHT!
~~~
Now, with the One Tamriel patch, you no longer need to know where all the levelled areas are to find those special, levelled mats you need (ie. High Iron ore, Oricalc, Dwarven... etc.), which used to spawn in a particular levelled zone in earlier versions of ESO! Players of any level can now use any harvesting area for their special crafting needs (except Nirnhoned which is still specific to Craglorn).
Here's a couple of Excellent Mat Harvesting Areas for Everything You'll Need Starting a New Game in DC...
Daggerfall Covenant
You'll find this low-traffic area south of Daggerfall City at the Southern Docks. It spans two cliff areas, two islands and a ship. Here you'll find all the materials you need for every craft profession. There are also chests to pick for equipment and Gold and 3 fishing holes you can try for Rare fish & Perfect Roe!
So, if you're in the DC faction, go straight to the southern docks in Daggerfall City and explore on both sides of the docks up to the cliffs and city wall (if you have an updated node finding addon it'll mark where everything is). There you'll find node after node (even on the 2 islands) that re-spawn(approximately) every 3 to 30 minutes.
Here's what you'll find spanning the complete area and on both islands - run this as many times as you want. . .
Mats to be found: 11 ore deposits, 11 wood spawns, 6 clothing nodes, 4 flowers, 3 rune stones, 5 locked chests, 5 Deer, 2 Mudcrabs, 1 Rabbit, 3 fishing holes and M'aiq the Liar. (You can harvest this area all day and still get more stuff. It's a great way to make good starter coin or fill your crafting bag for any level. And remember, raw materials refine into valuable tempering alloys and help your levelling - and abundance is the key here.)
Ebonheart Pact
But If you're on the Ebonheart Pact you have your own special harvesting zone as well. This one I consider the Motherload of harvesting areas, as groups of 15 or more can still find everything they need on a steady basis without EVER running dry! You probably won't ever find these two areas un-populated like the DC area, as spawning times are TWICE (2x) as quick compared to the Southern Docks! (I timed one ore node's regular spawn rate at approximately 1 min 45 secs - repeatedly!)
These two areas are by far, larger than the DC one I just mentioned and include many more mat nodes of every kind including three extra Thieve's Troves. They span two areas in the hidden Bal Foyen region – look for the big village, East (right) of the marshy plantations on the Stonefalls region map.
In fact, this area is hard to find on the map as Bal Foyen is in it's own zone off the regional map, to the East. But once you've found Bal Foyen, you're looking for the Dhalmora Wayshrine, in the South East corner, which can only be seen on the regional map once discovered. It's almost like Zos is trying to hide this Gem of a locale!
So, now you've found the Dhalmora wayshrine, you'll be collecting everything around this area and then you'll take the pathway North into Dhalmora village itself. (The Homestead update has the Humblemud home located just North of the next harvesting area). The first little hut on the right, atop the path, hides the first Thieve's Trove and past that you take the first right down to the water and harvest everything in that area, top to bottom. In about 2 hrs I've collected close to 1K of Rubedite ore (on a good day) and multiple stacks of other mats! Yes folks, it REALLY IS THIS GOOD but try to keep it within the Guild so as not to spoil this region any more that it already is – more players means more pettiness, I'm afraid.
Here's a Youtube link to a video of the area showing what you can find there...this is before it's popularity grew and it hasn't been 'nerfed' in several patches (since November 2016) – like it's here to stay folks!
(If you're on the Aldmeri Dominion faction, I haven't found any special harvesting area of any significance, yet...have you?. Maybe you have and would like to share it with other Guild members. Just leave a detailed description about it in a comment section below.)
3. STORAGE TIPS
One of the most important parts of getting gold is having enough storage to carry the stuff you want to sell. You will need to upgrade both your bank and your inventory if you want to revel in the 'big bucks'. Bank is better than inventory, though, because your bank space travels across characters while your inventory space does not (unless you have the Crafting Bag in which all crafting mats become shared) and you can access crafting materials that are in your bank while creating things.
It is up to your personal preference the amount that you want to upgrade your bank and inventory to, but the more you invest in it the more convenient it will be for you. Here are the pricing guides.
Bank Facts
Max slots - 240
Crown Store - 1000 crowns per upgrade for a maximum of 10 upgrades (10 slots each). Does not allow you to go above 240 slots.
Another gold saving tip - sometimes the Crown Store sells these inventory upgrades - 50% off! So keep watching for the sales.
Banker
70 slots - 1000 gold
80 slots - 3300 gold
90 slots - 6800 gold
100 slots - 11400 gold
110 slots - 20500 gold
120 slots - 28300 gold
130 slots - 31700 gold
140 slots - 37500 gold
150 slots - 42700 gold
160 slots - 45000 gold
170 slots - 50000 gold
180 slots - 55000 gold
190 slots - 60000 gold
200 slots - 65000 gold
210 slots - 70000 gold
220 slots - 75000 gold
230 slots - 80000 gold
240 slots - 85000 gold
Bag Space - Max Slots - 200
Crown Store - 1000 crowns per upgrade for a maximum of 10 upgrades (10 slots each). Does not allow you to go above 200 slots
Storage Tips (cont.)
Stable - 250 gold per upgrade with a limit of one slot every 20 hours and a maximum of 60 upgrades. Also purchasable with crowns in the crown store for 1000 crowns each.
Pack Merchant
70 slots - 400 gold
80 slots - 2000 gold
90 slots - 5900 gold
100 slots - 11000 gold
110 slots - 19200 gold
120 slots - 30700 gold
130 slots - 46000 gold
140 slots - 64500 gold
Bank storage may be more helpful for crafting but that's why it's more expensive overall than bag storage. In my other ESO article, I recommended buying extra inventory space for your horse as it's only 250g per slot every 20 hrs. That's really good value compared to bag & bank storage, because the price doesn't escalate!
You can easily buy 10 slots for 2,500g - one slot every day makes good sense after the 80 slot upgrade. That is, if you don't need space fast, as 10 horse slots will take 10 days to accumulate.
But if you do need an extra 10 slots fast, then you'll either have to buy regular priced storage upgrades or sell up to 13 items to any merchant and then buy them back after your storage crisis is over. This is one FREE way to get extra storage immediately and sold items will remain there until you sell the 14th item, and then the previous items will start to be deleted! So, don't forget to buy back your sold items or you may lose them forever!!
4. QUESTING
Questing is the most common sense way to gain gold. The majority of the quests in the game are fairly easy and the rewards vary. Some quests are even repeatable, so you'll never run out of them.
Quests not only offer set rewards, but they also usually involve fighting NPCs which drop loot in the form of gold, gear, and/or crafting materials. See the tips section on Farming for tips regarding the loot for NPCs. Most quest rewards can be sold to either NPCs or other players. See Guild Stores and Area Chat for more information on how to go about doing this.
(Why not level up your crafting skill by deconstructing looted items and getting better, rarer mats in return? These rarer mats can fetch more gold than selling reward items to an NPC merchant! Some even have needed trait mats for research which I don't hesitate using when acquired.)
The primary benefit to questing to gain gold is that time flies when you're having fun, and quests can be rather interesting. So, it's less soul-crushing than farming for eight hours straight. The primary drawback is that it still takes quite a bit of time, and depending on the quests that you are doing you may not get as high of a reward as you would have if you spent that time farming instead.
NOTE: On occasion, you'll come across a Trophy in your questing. To find out what to do with these look in Farming (incl. DUNGEON RUNS).
5. PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER IN CYRODIIL & THE IMPERIAL CITY
There are multiple ways to get gold in Cyrodiil and all of these ways have their benefits and drawbacks. Let's go over the most common ones first.
Quests and Dailies
There are both normal quests found on bulletin boards and there are daily quests spread throughout Cyrodiil. These quests, if done in a timely manner and in a group, can net you a decent amount of gold in a relatively short amount of time. Groups can be found all throughout Cyrodiil or you can even create your own. Bear in mind that you need to clearly communicate the purpose of your group to potential group members or they may not stay in your group. More details on why grouping is good can be found in the Farming section.
TIP: Start advertising for group members in your guild(s). There you can better explain your intentions and find a better match for your level. Once you know one another, you'll have better chance of going out again perhaps to other tougher locations. And the more guilds you're a member of the more friends you can do this with.
Conversion of Alliance Points to Gold
This is one of the more inefficient ways to get gold, but if you're spending a ton of time in PVP this is good information to have. Gathering Alliance Points can be done by doing certain quests, helping take resources and forts, and even by killing enemy players. Once you have some alliance points, you can begin converting them into gold by purchasing things like Grand Soul Gems that have intrinsic value to merchants. Then simply sell the items to merchants for gold. Or you can go for the purple items and deconstruct them to gain certain blacksmithing materials that are otherwise difficult to come by and sell them to other players (or outright sell them to other players if you can). For more information on this see the Crafting (Blacksmithing, Woodworking, and Tailoring) and the Guild Stores and Area Chat sections.
Imperial City and Sewers
Conversion of Tel Var Stones to Gold
This one is a bit more difficult. Tel Var stones are accumulated in the Imperial City by killing NPC enemies and the more you have the more you get.
The multiplier goes like this:
1x 0-99 stones
2x 100-999 stones
3x 1000-9999 stones
4x 10000+ stones
However, when you die you lose some, so depositing them as often as possible is a good idea.
Death by NPC = 10% 50% of TV stones lost
Death by Player = 80% 50% of TV stones lost
When a player is killed by other players, 50% of their current haul of TV stones will be split among the players that killed them (updated from 80%). If you are killed by an NPC, you can revive yourself using a Grand Soul Gem, but if you are killed by an enemy player (or killed by an NPC after being damaged by an enemy player) you have to either 'release' or be revived by a friendly player.
Tel Var Stones can be traded for some really decent equipment (go for purps), which can then either be sold to other players or deconstructed and sold for parts. You can also use Tel Var Stones to purchase refined materials that you can then use to create items to sell or sell the materials to other players.
Vaults
There are trophy drops that can be gained by killing and looting NPCs in the city and sewers. When you get enough of them (60 for normal vaults, 150 for the Veteran Dungeon vaults) you can open a vault. You get some awesome loot from these vaults, which you can sell to other players or deconstruct and then sell the parts.
Alternatively, you can sell the trophies in guild stores or via area chat. This is suggested if you have bad luck with RNGs, and if you don't feel like fighting your way to the vaults. See Guild Stores and Area Chat for more information.
6. FARMING (Incl. DUNGEON RUNS)
Farming is the most traditional way to get gold in MMOs, but is also the most time-consuming. To properly farm, you are going to have to find an area with NPC enemies that you can fight, kill, and loot. This method requires time and patience in abundance. Here are some tips.
1. Grouping is good. When you are in a group you and your group-mates can all loot the same enemies, regardless of who in the group killed that enemy. For instance, if you and another player are not grouped and you kill an enemy, that player would not be able to loot that enemy if that player didn't attack it and vice versa. However, if you two are in a group if you kill an enemy and can loot it, so can that other player regardless of whether or not s/he attacked it and vice versa.
2. Loot is usually level specific. If you are in a dungeon that is five levels above or below you, you are likely not going to get any good loot. This goes for non-dungeon enemies as well. While there will be some loot for you (usual materials), it's best to stay within your level range for maximum loot.
3. The longer you farm the more rewards you get from it (duh). If you are going to farm, it's best to make sure you can actually put the time into it to make it rewarding.
There are certain dungeons which are great for farming both raw materials and rare drops, but I'm not going to list those here for obvious reasons. Ask around in the game or experiment on your own to find out where these are and how best to use them.
Trophies can be SOLD to other players, but what are they really for?
So, you've found a trophy and are now wondering if it's valuable or not and what it's actually for besides taking up valuable storage space? I can't find any official statement on this, but as far as I can tell, some of them have special animations associated with them. You'll know if they do by 'using' it - right click it and select "use". That's about all they do. Some players sell them for gold or trade if that appeals to you. Or if you want to collect them, so be it, or if you want to delete them that's okay too. As a reward, you can find them listed in your journal/achievement page under the appropriate section. So keeping them doesn't seem necessary or practical.
7. CRAFTING (BLACKSMITHING, WOODWORKING & TAILORING)
If you are a crafter you may as well make some gold off your skills as well. You're not going to get massively rich quickly off of doing this, but here are some ways to make a decent amount of money from NPCs and players alike.
Remember:
All 'refined' materials are worth 4 gold to NPC merchants.
All 'raw' materials are worth 2 gold to NPC merchants.
The value of an item displayed in the item creation screen is how much that item will sell to an NPC.
Adding traits to created items does not increase their value, so either save the trait materials or sell them to players.
Improving items does increase their value, but not by very much. Selling improvement materials to players is the most profitable route.
The style of the item you are creating does not effect the value of the item.
Materials stack to 200 but created items do not stack.
Researching traits seems like it will take forever, but the eventual payout is definitely worth it.
The "Training" trait seems to be the most difficult to find in Tamriel. Maybe that's why you can find it more easily in the Tutorial. Therefore, try to leave the 'tut' with as many of these in armour and weapons and start researching this hard to come by trait right from the beginning of the game or sell them for good Gold. (Unfortunately, a few lvl 3, tutorial items can't be researched, like the Hvy Chest armor and Bow. I've informed Zos of this abnormality but it remains unresearchable.)
The quick and lazy way to make gold is to gather raw materials, refine them, and sell your surplus materials to NPCs. This isn't the even the most profitable way to sell to NPCs though.
The most profitable way to get gold from selling to NPCs lies in the actual creation of items. You can find your 'profitable zone' using this simple formula.
a=amount of materials required to create item
b=value of item
c=amount of profit received from item creation
b-(4*a)=c
Examples:
It takes 6 sanded maple to make a level 1 maple shield worth 6 gold. 6-(4*6)=-18 so you would lose 18 gold by creating a level 1 maple shield.
It takes 4 sanded oak to make a level 16 oak healing staff worth 34 gold. 34-(4*4)=18 so you would make a profit of 18 gold by creating a level 16 oak healing staff.
(The author is unclear as to how this formula works. IMO there shouldn't be any cost to crafting items if all the materials used were free. I can only imagine that the formula is used when purchasing materials from an NPC merchant. And I cannot verify this because I've neither purchased mats to craft or used this formula.)
Using this formula you'll quickly gather that it's not profitable to create items using the lowest level materials, not as profitable to create items using the highest level materials, and completely counterproductive to create low or high level gear that requires a lot of materials (e.g. a cuirass).
Selling crafting materials and crafted equipment to players is generally more profitable, but also takes more time on average. See Guild Traders and Area Chat for more information.
Researching traits takes a long time, but the payoff can be ridiculously worth it if you plan to sell trait or set items to other players. Some players are willing to part with hundreds of thousands of gold for certain set armor types with certain traits. Even if you can't find those guys though, there are usually players willing to pay 20k+ for it.
8. PROVISIONING
Provisioning is one of the easiest and time-consuming ways to make gold in the game. Recipes and ingredients can be found almost everywhere, which is why it is so easy. The simplest way to make gold from provisioning is to level it up and craft things.
To get the most out of provisioning, max out the Chef and Brewer skills. This gives you four servings for the ingredients of one and thereby quadrupling your profit.
If you plan on selling the food or drinks you make to players you'll need around thirteen skill points to make the best foods that are worth the most gold.
Remember:
All ingredients are worth 0 gold to NPCs.
There are recipes that only require one ingredient, but there are ingredients that are not covered by these recipes. The servings created by these recipes are worth only 1 gold.
Alright, so let's talk maximum profitability using NPCs. The most common recipes create servings that sell for between 2 and 4 gold to NPCs. There are recipes that create servings worth 5 and more, and recipes that create servings worth one, but your moneymakers are going to be the ones worth 2-4 gold as far as NPCs are concerned.
Recipes that are worth 4 gold that only require two ingredients effectively double the money that you would otherwise receive from those ingredients. Recipes worth 3 gold that require two ingredients multiply your profit by 1.5, and recipes worth two gold don't multiply your profit at all. Recipes worth five or more gold generally require three or more ingredients meaning that they only multiply your profit by about 1.7 instead of the double that you get by the other recipes. Of course, when you start doing provisioning writs you will get recipes worth 5 gold with only two ingredients, giving you a profitability of 2.5 gold per ingredient.
Here's an example of an efficient way to craft, in order of crafting:
5 gold 2 ingredients
4 gold 2 ingredients
5 gold 3 ingredients
3 gold 2 ingredients
4 gold 3 ingredients
3 gold 3 ingredients
2 gold 2 ingredients
1 gold 1 ingredients
Great places to gather ingredients are the Hollow City in Coldharbour and Eyevea because you can loot everything in both cities without receiving a bounty. Simply use a wayshrine to go to the Hollow City and loot all of the containers and food lying around and then go to one of the Mages Guilds and use the portal to get to Eyevea (because the wayshrine is bugged). Loot Eyevea and then use the wayshrine to get back to the Hollow City. Rinse and repeat.
Also doing provisioning writs daily will get you better recipes and larger amounts of ingredients. The hireling is also a great way to get a decent amount of the rarer ingredients.
Alternatively, you can sell ingredients as well as food to other players. See Guild Stores and Area Chat for more information.
I'm also going to strongly recommend doing the Provisioning Writs on all your Alts (regardless of Prov lvl) in order to find a piece of the Psijic Ambrosia recipe. There are 7 fragments that make the recipe. Once you have them all, you can make Psijic Ambrosia which sells for around 2500g each. With the proper skill investment in this craft you can make multiple items with each crafting. One more thing... Perfect Roe is the main ingredient to make Psijic Ambrosia!
Here is an informative discussion link on the topic with excerpts...
9. ALCHEMY/ENCHANTING
If you are into Alchemy or Enchanting you're going to have a rougher time making gold than if you chose a different craft. The reason is that the materials for crafting are a tad harder to come by in large amounts.
With Alchemy the easiest way to make gold is to sell the ingredients, but with Enchanting a good chunk of the ingredients aren't worth anything (The New DB update re-prices runes to have a value of at least 1g to merchants now). Glyphs are generally worth anything between 2 and 7 gold a pop, so depending on which glyphs you use you can make a decent amount of gold while using the 'worthless' glyphs runes. (In other words, using 0 value runes to make valuable glyphs will realize the most profit.)
The best way to make the most gold from this is to sell potions and glyphs, or their ingredients, to other players in /zone chat.
10. GUILD STORES & AREA CHAT
When it comes to selling things to players things get a bit complex. There are several things to consider when selling items to other players. Things such as supply and demand, competition, and location. A lot of the following is common sense though, so feel free to skip ahead.
To get a guild store a guild has to have at least 50 members and to get a guild trader a guild has to win a bid on said trader. Some bids can get into the millions of gold, so many guilds with a trader charge a premium rate to be a member of said guild. Be sure to ask about what is expected of you when you join a guild for trading. When you sell things with guild traders, customers are coming to you and choosing between buying your goods or some other player's goods. So it is wise to look at other guild traders in the area (and maybe some abroad) to determine how much to sell an item for. For instance, if someone at a nearby guild store is selling the item that you are selling for 5k you can sell your item for 5k, or you can undercut that person and sell it for 4.9k instead. Or you can sell your item for 6k and hope that two people come buy and buy both of your items instead. Also, the lower price your item costs, the higher up on the list it is on default sort.
BE WARNED that if you do undercut people constantly it is going to drop the net worth of that item rather quickly. It's best to only do this if you absolutely need to make gold quick. Alternatively, if you are a farmer you could make a deal with someone who has a guild trader to sell your items to them so that they can sell them higher. This will get you fast gold while not dropping the value of the items as well.
Remember
Knowing which items do what is a real boon to selling items to other players. It allows you to be able to mentally picture what someone would pay for said item.
Knowing which builds are most used is also good because that allows you to gather the proper items for those builds and sell them to those using them.
Check the sales history of guild traders that you are in to see what is selling and for how much.
Check patch notes to see which items will be more in demand or less in demand in the future. If something will be more in demand, stock up on it. If it will be less in demand, try to offload it before that time comes.
When crafting items to sell, be sure to check what your competition is offering for them. Either that or only sell them via Area Chat on an as ordered basis.
Selling in bulk is also a great way to offload items and make a profit at the same time. If you have ten of an item that cost you 1k each, instead of charging 2k each you can sell the lot of them for 15k and still make a profit of 5k.
Three things to consider when it comes to selling your items to other players is what the item is worth, how much it cost you to get, and how badly you want to sell it. If an item cost you 1k to get and nobody will buy it for 10k, it's best to drop the price. The faster you want to sell the item, the lower the price you should have for it.
Buying cheap items and selling them at a higher price is a decent way to make gold, but also carries inherent risk. Before you drop big money on items that usually sell for twice as much as what you're seeing, make sure that those items are still selling for that price in other areas. Buying items from someone who farms them and selling them at the normal market price is also a great way to make money, but again you have to be sure that the prices haven't dropped. The easiest way to lose 100k gold is by not checking market prices before buying a lot of items.
Selling items in Area Chat is a quick way to make some gold, but it also gives people the opportunity to haggle with you. If you're good at haggling you can make some serious bank, but if you lack vocal skills it's best to refuse to haggle and demand a set price. It will take you longer to sell your item this way, but you'll end up making what you want to rather than being talked into making half of it.
I have never had to haggle in /zone chat probably because I know how to create the right appeal at the right time at the right price...I know the value of what I'm offering and I carefully word my WTS ads to be clear and concise. This will then allow your audience to quickly decide whether they're interested or not in your offer. If you get steady responses from your ads, you'll know you're on the right track.
Area chat is also a great way to sell a lot of items at once, as it gives the buyer the option of buying more than what they normally would in a guild store.
People are more likely to buy things from you if you're somewhat like-able, so spamming the area chat is counter-productive. Participating in conversations and striking up a rapport with others, while not being the fastest way to unload items, is a good way to sell what you need to.
Area chat is also a good way to sell 'services' rather than items as well. If you are a higher level player, you can offer to group up with lower level players for a certain amount of gold per dungeon run. Or you can sell werewolf/vampire bites.
Here are a few tips to increase your sales in /zone chat...
1. don't be greedy, get a price check to establish reasonable sales prices
ie. /zone chat/pc plz on [item specifics]
2. be flexible, ready to barter (can result in lower profit sales)
...OR
2a. use my method to appear flexible by offering a high, bulk cost with a lower per unit price compared to another higher per unit price for single sales (this will increase sales by appealing to a broader market with a reasonable offer for commonly sought after goods...like multiple blue motif sets)
3. know and use the current sales price to establish your price for consistent sales of regular items
4. treat rare items with more aggressive prices for higher profits
5. use TTC's website for a broader look at rarer item sale prices and MM/DD for quick sales of ordinary items
6. choose the best time to sell... with no competition
7. allow enough time to test market response...if none, rework the ad to better appeal
8. don't flog a dead horse... if there's no response try again another day
9. Be confident and ready to build a professional rapport with your customers
11. LEGERDEMAIN/STEALING
Stealing is one of the more efficient ways to get gold, but it does have it's risks.
Things to remember:
1. Guards will confiscate any and all stolen goods you have, even things stolen from other areas.
2. You have a limited amount of 'interactions' with the merchants that buy stolen goods, up to a maximum of 140 per day.
3. Common (white) stolen goods sell for 40 gold, uncommon (green) sell for 100 gold, blue items sell for 250 gold, and purple items sell for 750 gold.
4. Stealing is also a good way to get recipes and motifs for crafting as well. You do not need to launder these items to use them.
The most efficient way to get gold using this method is to find areas that are not usually visible by NPCs and check all baskets, drawers, wardrobes, barrels, and crates. Turning off autoloot for stolen items will allow you to check containers without worrying about getting a bounty. This will allow you to pick and choose which containers to loot when an NPC has its back turned.
When you use a wayshrine to go to another area the containers in the area you left will fill back up. In some cases, you don't even need to use a wayshrine. For instance, in Davon's Watch (Ebonheart Pact) if you enter the Outlaw's Refuge and exit back into the city containers will refill.
king up everything that will net you gold, use a wayshrine to go to the next city and do the same thing, and rinse and repeat until you've got a full load. Remember, you only have a maximum of 140 items to sell per day. So if you get all white items you're going to max out at 4,200 per day. Or you can keep grinding until you get a load of green items resulting in a gain of 14,000 gold per day. The maximum amount of gold you can make from this is 105,000 gold per day with all purple items. There are efficiency guides that will assist you in making the most out of your time.
Pick-pocketing can also get you a good amount of gold, but is riskier than simply looting containers. It is a lot easier to get caught pick-pocketing, which means it's a lot easier to lose all of your stolen goods.
Bank & Merchant Chests
These locked chests appear at random as far as I can tell and are really for the advanced thief. They can range from Intermediate to Master locks and are often in plain sight of either clerk or guard, sometimes both! Trying to pick these will test your skill and luck. Don't try them unless you're the adventurous type and know how to lock pick. They are a variable source of Gold (dependent on difficulty of lock) and other, sometimes blue items. IMO they are a little disappointing.
Other merchant's locked chests are another source of gold and can be easier to pick, but the loot may be a little less as a result. If you're having trouble lock picking any kind of lock here is a quick how to for beginners...
Lock Picking Tips: Practice on a few locked chests to memorize the pins' 3x lock-points - just below the top - just below the bottom - right in the middle. When you're ready, choose a pin and depress the pick to each of the lock-points in succession, stopping at the first lock-point and then releasing and then going to the next.
The chests are mostly Simple which gives you enough time to do this on all five pins - you won't break so many picks this way. But if you let your pick release itself ('failed attempt'), it counts toward a broken pick, but a self-release doesn't (10x fails = broken pick).
And here's a vital tip for more advanced locks - DON'T press your finger down on the mouse button so HARD or you'll never release it in time! Keep a light trigger-finger on your mouse and you'll eventually get the hang of the “full stroke and release” method. As you improve, you'll get faster for the Master locks. Now get practising.
12. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT:
You will get a bounty and guards will pursue you. Escaping the guards and visiting the Outlaw's Refuge is the quickest way to get rid of your bounty without losing your goods, but if you wait long enough away from guards your bounty will eventually drop back down to nothing. Logging out while waiting also works, so if you do get caught and have some chores to do, just log out and log back in later.
(Or you can pay it on the spot without any fuss and your bounty will vanish along with all your stolen stash!)
The Reported Best Place to Thieve in Aldmeri Dominion
The following route is for expert thieves with 120 fencing limit...
Do the Vulkhel Guard Treasury & Manor house as there's a variety of containers on two levels. The area is quite large and offers a lot of loot. Then go to the Fighter's Guild hall for more containers on 2 levels. If you still have bag space, go to the docks and check all the containers there including the ship at port and also in the nearby warehouses for the maximum amount of valuables. But be careful as all these areas are populated.
The Reported Best Place to Thieve in Ebonheart Pact
Davon's Watch – market place – there are a lot of weapons & armours in merchant stalls and a few locked chests in the area. It's up to you what to do with stolen equipment as they give the least XP from deconstruction, but they will give semi-valuable mats (don't need to launder them). You can keep your mats or sell them to merchants for the lowest prices – but if you want better prices to keep stacks of 200 or more in inventory and sell them in FG&G guild store for maximum profit! Alternatively, you can sell all the stolen weapons & armours for just under 20g each, it's not a good way to make Gold but you have to take what there is here.
Thieves Troves
When you achieve membership in the Thieves Guild you reportedly can find numerous spawns of what are known as “Thieves Troves” all over the countryside which act like treasure chests. Sometimes these have a lot of Gold, lock picks and other valuables inside. Some players have even criticized them for having too much Gold in them when you calculate the loot. So be on the lookout for them in out of the way places like under bridges in homes...you can tell by the distinctive purple glow and the humming sound they make. (Don't open the large stolen chests in public as it is theft and you might get caught...best to open them in the Outlaws Refuge to be safe.
13. FISHING
Fishing is easy, boring, and profitable given enough time.
Here's a quick guide to which baits to use and where. Protip, if you can't tell what kind of water you're fishing it, try using any normal bait. If you catch a fish it will immediately tell you the type of water you're at. If you catch Used Bait, you're not using the correct bait. Using the incorrect bait will give you a 50% chance of catching Used Bait, while using the correct bait will eliminate that risk. Using the correct bait will also give you a chance to catch a 'Wet Gunny Sack' or 'Special Bait'.
Foul Water - You catch Slaughterfish and Trodh using Crawlers [normal] or Fish Roe [special], or you can catch Chub [special]
Rivers - You catch Salmon & River Betty using Insect Parts [normal] or Shad [special], or you can catch Fish Roe [special]
Lakes - You catch Spadetail & Silverside Perch using Guts [normal] or Minnows [special], or you can catch Shad [special]
Ocean - You catch Dhufish & Longfin using Worms [normal] or Chub [special], or you can catch Minnows [special]
There are two ways to make gold from fishing.
Green Fish, Blue Fish, I Fish, You Fish
This method is best done in a group, because each player fishing in a fishing hole (up to four players) increases the odds of landing 'rare' fish. This is also one of the ways to get the Master Angler title, but who cares about that. So here's the breakdown.
Green Fish - 36 gold
Blue Fish - 110
Obviously you want to go for all blues, but if you have access to Craglorn and a group of fishermen then that will be your best bet. Bear in mind fishing holes dry up faster when you are group fishing.
Fish Farming For Finances
So as you may know, you can 'filet' common fish (not green or blue) by finding them in your consumables sub-menu and selecting 'use'. When you do this, you get the provisioning ingredient 'fish', one per fish filleted. However, you also have a chance to get a material known as Perfect Roe, which is a rare drop and highly sought after for it's use in Psijic Ambrosia. It currently sells for 8,0154g! You can either use the ingredients to craft food/drink to sell to NPCs or other players, or sell the ingredients (or maybe even the fish themselves) to other players.
Psijic Roe sells for over 2,600g
You do NOT want to group while using this method. Grouping will decrease your odds of getting common fish as well as 'dry up' the fishing hole faster. The primary goal with this method is to get as many common fish as possible, so grouping is counter-productive.
You can also sell bait to other players if you do not want to fish.
I've been told that fishing rewards are governed by a random number generator (RNG). It may also apply to filleting fish, decreasing the reward of Perfect Roe (PR) to about 1 in 200 fillets.
Here's more facts on fishing for Perfect Roe and the potion it's used in: Psijic Ambrosia, along with how to find the recipe - exerted from here.
Psijic Ambrosia is one of the toughest to find recipes of Elder Scrolls Online. It is the best and the most useful food you can craft in Provisioning. Why? Just look at the characteristics:
You gain 50% Experience Point bonus from all sources for 30 minutes. The timer pauses when you are offline and resumes when you return. This bonus is compatible with other foods or drinks.
Ingredients: Frost Mirriam, Berverz Juice, Perfect Roe
To Create: Requires Recipe Improvement 6, Recipe Quality 4
According to MM, PR sells for 6,000+ gold each!
In conclusion, fishing may be the most lack-luster activity in ESO but once you've experienced the thrill of finding your first few Perfect Roe, you'll be hooked! Since you now know how easy it is to find more it may become very tempting to continue finding more and more for a fantastic fortune! I was talking to one guildie that's already found 15 of them through persistence! It only depends on how driven you are for Gold and how many mats you have on hand. Good luck with these fishing tips only found here.
14. HOW TO SELL / DB UPDATE / MISCELLANEOUS
Crafting Writs & Their Rewards
Every 24 hrs you can do 1 or up to 6 Writs posted on two Writ boards found in any major city. These are categorized into two types; Equipment and Consumable Writs. These Writs are for all the crafts in Equipment; Blacksmithing, Clothing (Light or Medium), Woodworking, and the Consumables; Alchemy, Enchanting and Provisioning.
You'll first have to qualify for any Writ by taking the note on each board the first time you encounter them. Then follow the instructions in the Crafting section of your Journal ('J'). A small quest will ensue after which you will qualify for the daily writ covering the chosen craft(s). Upon completion of any Writ you'll be given a set amount of Gold and a special reward bag individualized for each of the crafts. Inside you'll find craft specific items and the possibility for a Blue or higher level craft item.
Why you should do the Crafting Writs...
If not for the Gold and regular mats, do the Crafting writs to steadily level each of your crafting skill lines, and for a good chance to find a Survey Map or valuable high level item in the Writ reward – I've heard Fortified or Potent Nirncrux has a rare chance of appearing in a Writ reward. (This material is a rare drop and can sell for 2,500 and 9,000g each, respectively). You'll also be using up unused materials stockpiling in your inventory (highly useful for low-level storage players)... in other words, it's just another fun way to level a lowbie crafter and opens up a virtual world of crafting opportunities.
Master Crafting Writs
Now, for the Master in any of the crafts, you'll get a random chance to find an exclusive Master Writ contract in your reward sack. If you accept the contract (triggered by taking everything in the sack), you'll be expected to make either an Epic quality (purple) or Legendary (gold) item of a very specific nature.
Once completed you'll make delivery to a special contract Mediator named Rolis Hlaalu. He'll give you a special reward that returns a new Voucher currency only you can use to purchase the high level items he carries. Some of these items include; the Ebony crafting motif, Target Skeletons for practising combat skills, epic and legendary furnishing plans, or a recipe for high-quality bonus experience drinks like the Psijic Ambrosia (currently selling for 54K Gold). The voucher cost of each of these high level items increases with their value/rarity.
Of course, you can opt out of the agreement simply by closing the contract window. Then you can collect any number of Master Writs for sale via COD, in the G-Store or by individual trade. The value of these MW's is dependent on the number vouchers it returns. I've seen some sell for 100k Gold or more!
Master Writs can be quite straight forward and relatively easy to do. But the easier the contract the fewer vouchers you'll be awarded (from 2 to a few hundred and maybe more). As you can see, not every MW will be within your capabilities and most won't be.
HOW TO SELL
The above sections don't mention the best ways to sell your items. Here I've included merchandizing details for newcomers to the game. And for those who want more to do with building your character overall and how to master other aspects of ESOTU, also I've included a link to an excellent site with help videos in every aspect of game play (see Deltia bottom of page).
Using Chat Window for Selling & Displaying Item Info
Chat box is at the bottom left of the screen. There are different codes that reach different areas of the region you're in, but use 'zone' chat by hitting Enter and type /zone, then Enter or Spacebar to set the zone. Hit Enter again and start typing your WTS (want to sell) advert that will be displayed to the entire region you're currently in.
To show everyone the item you're selling, right click it in inventory and select 'list in chat' to place a copy of it there. This will now display your item name & graphic data (when selected) for anyone in chat wishing this useful information. However, now you'll have to price it and the most popular method for this is with Master Merchant (MM), Tamriel Trade Centre (TTC) or Data Daedra (DD).
Guild Store
A service provided by Trading and non-trading Guilds with 50 members or more and is accessed through any bank by first selecting the clerk. Having a Guild Trader allows the virtual world of Tamriel access to any item placed in the guild store - but first shoppers must visit the Guild Trading cart that can be in a main city or alone in the wilds. More accessible and centralized Traders cost exponentially more than isolated ones. All items purchased from these traders will appear in the players mail as soon as the game system can deliver it.
Non-trading guilds can only trade within the guild membership and therefore have very limited sales to a small market. Conversely, Trading Guilds vastly increase the members' sales opportunities by increasing accessibility to an entire region of online players. A Trading guild's store is accessed through a Guild Trading cart found in a particular area or city displayed by a specifically labelled icon. It's highly recommended you sell your wares in FG&G's guild store to support the excessive costs of hiring a centralized trader (select FG&G at the bottom of the bank/guild store window).
Trade
From time to time you'll want to sell something directly to another player instead of using COD (ie. selling vamp or werewolf bites). This will avoid a postage cost and help you save a little more gold in the transaction. Perform trades face to face by putting the cursor over your trading partner, selecting 'F' and dragging to the Trade option. This will bring up the trading window which is split into an upper space (partner's OFFER) and lower space (your OFFER) – both on the left side of the window. You then select up to five items of choice from your inventory displayed on the right, to list it in your OFFER space. Then your trading partner makes his OFFER of coin or trade item. The offers can then be accepted or canceled.
Cash On Delivery (COD) for Beginners
This is probably the most popular selling method in the game. I use it all the time. COD is accessed through your mail service by selecting the apostrophe key > '
In outgoing mail you type your recipients game name or ID reference (@name) at the top. At the bottom you select the type of transaction, whether sending Free or COD. Each way accepts a cash amount, but you want to select COD in order to get paid for the item and not send the amount!
Next, you'll have to select your item(s) for sale from your inventory displayed in the main window (right click select Add to Mail). Now you're ready to Send to recipient. One last thing...the pst amount is displayed at the bottom next to the cost area. This is the amount charged by the guild like a handling fee and is a percentage of the total amount specified.
You can also type whatever message you want just below the Title bar. It can accompany your attachment(s) or be sent as a simple message (PM) which is always FREE.
Werewolf & Vampire Bites
Every now and again, you'll see a request for one of these. Of course, it stands to reason you have to be one or the other to give the requested bite! So, take advantage of this one as many times as you're able (1 a week) as the cash can be as high as 2K for each. But use the Trade option with your customer to do this, you'll want the cash immediately as per your agreement.
NEW Dark Brotherhood Update – Wider equipment selection and Gold making Perks...
The DB update has added a lot to the game, including new Armour Sets, Weapons and new rewards. It's also changed the OLD "Exploration" Trait for the NEW Armour Trait "Prosperous".
This new trait now "increases all Gold gained from monster kills" instead of XP for finding new areas while exploring.
Champion Point (CP) system
Consider these Champion Points at levels 50+ to fine tune your Gold making strategy . . .
The Shadow: Fortune Seeker, Treasure Hunter, Merchant Favoured (directly affects Gold acquisition)
The Tower: Inspiration Boost (indirectly affects Gold acquisition)
The Lover: Plentiful Harvest, Master Gatherer (indirectly affects Gold acquisition)
15. GAME CHANGES
(Improved Cyrodiil Vendors: (Directly from Zos' patch notes.)
In this update, we’ve made a number of improvements to the vendors you find in Cyrodiil:
- All armor sold by the Rare Items Merchant (Adhazabi Aba-daro the Golden) in exchange for Alliance Points now has the Impenetrable trait.
-Armor she sells for gold is unchanged, and has either the Infused or Divines trait (a new addition).
- Armorers, Leatherworkers, Clothiers, Weaponsmiths, and Magus vendors in Cyrodiil now sell boxes of green-quality non-set items.
These boxes have a 10% chance to instead award a blue-quality set item.
- Elite Gear Vendors in Cyrodiil now sell boxes containing blue-quality set items from Hew’s Bane, home to the Thieves Guild.
-These boxes have a 5% chance to instead award a purple-quality set item.
- Items received from these new boxes scale to your level and Champion Point total at the moment you open the box, up to and including Champion 160.
So, therefore, any unbound armours bought from these sources with earned Alliance Points, especially the higher grade (blue & purple) items, could be sold for a Gold profit at market value. Zos does seem to be working hard for their loyal subscribers with more Gold surprises hidden in the unlikeliest of places!
The Crafting Bag (For ESO Plus Subscribers only)
Now all your Crafting Materials can be stored within your inventory in a special bottomless crafting bag that doesn't take up inventory space! In other words, it can carry an infinite amount of crafting materials of every variety. With this you can probably remove at least 60 items from your inventory and make room for more valuables!
Alchemy
Just a quick note here that many ingredients have had their effects list changed in the past few updates. Google the latest effects lists if you want to know more.
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