The Unofficial Guild Wars Gold Guide-chapter003
The Unofficial Guild Wars Gold Guide
Fortunately, it is now possible to turn
At the time of this writing, Zaishen Keys
one’s PvP fun into gold for one’s roleplaying characters. The best methods for doing this are listed below.
are easily one of the most reliable ways of making money in Guild Wars because the demand for them is so high. (Each one sells for 5k on a good day, or about 4.2k on a day when not as many people are interested in buying them.) The best part is that no tedious farming is involved: simply talk to Tolkano when your Balthazar faction is getting close to its limit, then go to the Great Temple of Balthazar and hop between districts until you find someone paying a good price for them. You may even be able to trade your keys for skill tomes, weapons, or globs of ectoplasm depending on what kinds of players are around.
Zaishen Keys – Up to 7k per hour
(up to 14k per hour during double Balthazar Faction events)
Zaishen Keys are the “zkey” items you
will hear everyone spamming chat about if you spend much time in the Great Temple of Balthazar. A Zaishen Key allows a player to open the Zaishen Chest on the Isle of the Nameless one time. Most of the chest’s rewards are unimpressive–alcohol, for example–but every so often it produces very rare items that already-rich Guild Wars players may desire for any number of reasons. To make money from their desire, you sell Zaishen Keys to them.
The “best” place to get Balthazar faction
will definitely depend on your personal playstyle and what kinds of PvP you enjoy the most. Luxon versus Kurzick battles from the Factions expansion (particularly the Jade Quarry random battle) are often a good pick because they reward 10 faction per kill, with characters and NPCs tending to die a lot while trying to control the special locations on the map. If you decide to take that route, consider combining this method with the crafting material method below in order to further increase how much gold you make per hour.
The most common method for
obtaining a Zaishen Key is to talk to Tolkano (the tournament NPC who appears in the Great Temple of Balthazar, the Hero Battles preparation area, Guild Halls that have purchased him, and in a few other locations as well) and pay him 5,000 Balthazar faction for one. Additionally, if you obtain any Tourmament Reward Points (for example, by participating in the automated tournaments and winning matches) you can trade 5 of those reward points for one zkey.
Jadeite Shards or Amber Chunks – at
least 750g per hour, but up to 5k or more per hour depending on demand