Help me understand weapon pricing?

I’ll get the ball rolling:

1. Skin. Some skins are just more valuable than others based on aesthetics and rarity, as there is more demand/less supply. For example, eternal/ghostly and zodiac weapons only drop in certain places, making them more valuable as good ones drop less often, and the skins look nice. That being said a nice thing about gw is that valuable drops can come from almost anywhere - a common skin with some of the below features can have good value. Similarly, rare skins drop in unlikely places (non insc paper fans and diamond aegis drop in kaineng city, far from an elite area) so I wouldn’t get hung up on merching things based on where they drop.

2. Insc vs non-insc. Items that drop in prophecies and factions (there are exceptions) have fixed inherent mods I.e. an inscription cannot be added. Good inherents have lots more value because you need a skin + inherent to drop. With NF and EOTN items, you can add your 15^50 later on, so value is more dependent on skin and req only. As a result of this good insc weapons are more easy to acquire, and thus have less value. This effect is exacerbated when inherent mod combinations are very rare to drop e.g 20/20 matching mods on staves, wands and foci. Perfect mods are also worth A LOT more than even near perfect ones.

3. Requirement. Max weapons drop r9-13 in most cases. R9 is much more valuable simply because of aesthetics again, but it also allows you to run lower attributes and get maximum value out of offhand items. R8 gold max swords/shields/foci do occasionally drop but very rarely, and do have good value in most cases, with the exception being non-insc single mod shields/foci and bad inherent swords. Purple r8 weapons can also have value if insc or a nice inherent combo.

4. Inherent mods. Non-insc 15^50 and +5e carry the most value. Good skins with 15stance or 15ench can have modest value also. 15 -1hp and 15 -1e drop more rarely and also have very good to modest value depending on skin and a low req. Other inherents have value once you go below r9.

5. Prenerf items. Items that do not drop any more are valuable as they can no longer be acquired without trading. This includes r8 items not detailed above and all r7 items. This is probably a whole topic on its own.

I’ll stop there, other than to say that these effects stack multiplicatively. A rare skin with good inherents and a low req is going to be worth far, far, far more than a common skin with an okay inherent and a higher req, with the difference being in the 10s to 100s of ectos.

Well for simple guidance, Dungeon / Elite area end chests may drop some rare inscriable weapons, inscriable weapons dropped from normal foes or chests are worthless 99% unless it is q8. Max q8 drops from some nm chests and lvl 17-21 Foes.

For OS items its bit different, in tyria/cantha u can basically drop 3 digit armbrace item anywhere in the game, Any good dual mod wands, offhands, shields & some staffs can be very valuable and they can drop anywhere. Martial weapons (Axes, swords, hammers etc.) are rarely worth much (Except those max q8s, only q8 swords drop thesedays from martial weapons)

Hope it helps a little, you can find list of rare inscriable skins somewhere probably

Quote from S7ewie

Thanks for the detailed replies! It's definitely been a big help so far!

Is "r8" and "q8" the same thing? Just a different way of typing it?

Ok so its sounds like you're slightly more likely to find something valuable in prophecies/factions? But on the whole, valuable items can drop from anywhere?

I found a few rares with perfect mods in my bank that I've been holding on to. Can you help me analyse them? This is less about finding the actual value and more about deciding if its worth the effort to getting a PC or just throw it away.

I guess this is a fairly standard inscribable staff so probably not worth any more than the combined value of the mods on it?

Not sure how common this skin is but I presume the r13 kind of ruins any value in that?

Again, looks like a fairly standard inscribable staff to me?

Probably worth no more than the value of the mod?

Again, presumably worth no more than the value of the mod? I'm guessing r4 is fairly standard for a bow? Its definitely a fairly common skin anyway.

My guess is that these are all only worth "something" for the mods on them, and if they were imperfect then its straight up merch food? Are these all inscribable weapons? Can anyone show me a non-inscribable weapon or something of a higher value so I know what I'm looking for?

Display More

First one you are most likely right. Though there are several different earth staff skins. The obsidian one could be worth a 1-5 ecto I suppose. Same in OS/uninsc. Obsidian skin is worth far more.

Celestial Compass is a wanted skin but as you said req kinda ruins value. 1-5e I would guess. Domination is worth quite a bit regardless of req afaik though.

The Jade staff is actally os/insc, you cannot change the weakness mod. It is worthless however because of that mod.

Runic axe is high req and bad mod. Salvage the zealous mod.

On bow you can salvage the 15^50 mod otherwise not much value to it. Some non max low req have value though, mostly daggers afaik.

Oh also q and req is the same thing.

Also on common skins/inscribable items you can always check the kama chat to see what people sell them for:

https://kamadan.gwtoolbox.com/

Hope this helps!

What I will say here is that 1-5e can be a fair amount of money depending on the player. What generally causes the merching of items like this is the time needed to sell them. So you may choose to list them on here for a week and see if anyone picks them up and then merch them to clear your bank if they’re not sold. So hang onto those NF-only skins, or liked common skins e.g fellblade, if they’re r9, if you’re so inclined.

Low req shields have value too, continuing from above. What you want is the max armor for that req; 15/r7, 14/r6, 13/r5 and so on down to 8/r0. Even blue versions of these can have value.

Yes because it doesn't say inscription there is no way to alter that mod. You can compare that to the first staff. However you can add both a staff head and wrapping on OS staffs too. Just not inscriptions.
Well the white text is always the same on staffs unless it's a really old prenerf one (won't drop anymore). It can be nonmax though HSR 18% as an example which will make it pretty much worthless unless it has some other redeeming quality.

This kind of HCT mod on an insc weapon is not so good. You want 20% chance of the weapons attribute. Typically you focus especially into one attribute when casting thus, with a suitable wand and focus, you can get 40% chance of halved HCT/HSR on the key spells in your build. The 20% mods are common enough that the 10% mods don’t really get a look in.

With insc weapons, all mods can be found on gold weapons of the same type. This means that a r13 wand with a bad skin and 20% HCT can have this mod moved onto a rare insc weapon and made into 20/20. This means that 10% mods are far far less accepted when compared to non-insc weapons. In contrast, 10/10 r9 non insc wand with a rare skin might be considered valuable - nowhere near as good as 20/10 or 20/20 though.

This focus is very safe to merch; r10, common skin, and inscribable.

This thread has also made me understand how weird the gw loot system is for new/returning players...

Things like foci, wands and shields are a right mess. Before insc weapons getting a gold perfectly modded weapon with the best mods was unbelievably rare - you couldn’t change any mods! This was why victo’s bulwark was worth so much compared to other greens from the same place back in the day, given its +30hp mod. Then insc came along and it became really easy.

To me having all weapons have an inherent mod (eg you have to get your wand with a HSR 20% as an inherent, and you add the HCT via a wrapping) and then at least one changeable mod (two for staves/martial weapons), should’ve been in place from day one. They even kind of saw the problem with staves, changing the HSR mod to a universal, free mod rather than a second inherent on staves as it was in the days of yore.

Quote from S7ewie

Okay, quick follow up. I pulled both of these off sales threads and they were going far big bucks. These are exactly the kind of things I’d have probably just thrown away and have probably done so in the past.

What’s about these jumps out to people and says “Wow! That’s worth a lot!”? They’re common skins (I think), so it just the q7 and q9? I’m guessing they’re OS as it doesn’t say anything about an inscription so is it that any the fact that it has two perfect mods? What’s so desirable about these?

Q7 is prenerf and havent dropped since 2006, so any max q7 items sell for someting even if white. Same applies to anything prenerf that no longer drop basically.

For shield, its common skin but as said above, when its OS aka non inscriable, even common skins can be worth even hundreds armbraces.

For this particular shield its because of the Demon mod, DoA players need Demon shields and they pay alot for them.

Quote from S7ewie

Ahh fair enough on the pre-nerf. I don’t have to worry about stuff like that now at least

So for the shield then, if it were +9 instead of +10, would it be worthless?

Basically yes, with OS items they need to be perfect 99% of the time, rarer skins might be worth some even with worse mods, but for core skins the price drops to fraction even with 1 pt off

OS wands, shields and offhands cannot be modded at all so you cant add prefix or suffix to them, thats why good ones are also rare and worth alot because dropping one with 2 perfect mods is very hard.

Req is important, for those OS wands, staffs, shields & Staffs even q10+ can be worth someting, but when it comes to inscriable basically anything q10+ is worthless unless its one of the rarest skins, and even with OS items price drop from q9->q10 is usually huge.

And yes exacly as u said, mods doesnt matter for insc items as you can mod them, only skin and req does.

Well there are only like 10-20 skins inscriable that are worth much of anything in q9-13, so you can just note the skins and u dont need to ask PC's its pretty easy to remember in the end.

OS, For wands,offhands,shields & staffs safe is get PC for anything (dual mod for shield wands, offhands, single mods are worthless)

Martial weapons only q9 can be worth anything basically. q9 +5e and 15^50 are the mods that sell, and sometimes there are collectors hunting other perfect mods q9 for 1-3e/each or someting.

Quote from S7ewie

Oh awesome thanks I'll have a read!

Okay new one haha. What about these? No rare skins, none have particularly good mods, two a purple, but all q9.. worth anything?

Think you answered your own question there so no.

Quote from S7ewie

So q9 isn't that important? .. god I'm so confused

Well common skins and inscribable, 2 are purple at that. so that's why.

It’s important, but just having r9 and no other redeeming qualities typically makes equipment worthless.

Check bsoltans link, it has listed the only insc skins worth getting pcd. Most inscs are worthless even q9

If its normal q9-13 item.

Low req items such as q0-8 can be valuable

This tread helps a lot thank you for your time guys.

Except for Firebrand are there any other Green weapons that have some value?

I know also there are some items which stats have been changed over the time but nothing more.

tnks

The greens question is something that’s being discussed in the context of prenerf greens in another thread. There are those such as wroth’s holy rod which had its stats radically changed, which are worth something - I think the price depends on how many show up on legacy at the same time. Then there are others where dye colour or mod order have been changed. The value of these superficial changes - i.e. the versions that no longer drop- is not well understood afaik. It’s a pretty niche market!

There are some greens that come from ‘off the beaten track’ in the sense that you have to go out of your way to kill the boss, they’re hard to farm, and the drop rate sucks. Think greens from the realm of torment in areas far from outposts for example; these often have weird and wonderful skins too that don’t exist in PvE as a regular drop. These can have a little value to the right person.

I don’t think there are any ‘surface’ greens from regular bosses with any consistent value.

Firebrand stands out among the WiK greens as having serious value; I think the soul reaper and the command shield are also sellable, and Law and Order due to the awesome skin. The others have iffy stat combos even if the skins are nice so aren’t all that wanted (personally I like Peace, which Dunkoro wields with pride!). Aside: a point of resentment, I had 3 greens drop in one play through of WiK, including two during the same quest, but not one since. Hmmph.

WoC greens are farmed to death so I don’t think these are worth much.

I’d get a second opinion but I think I’m reasonably on the money here.

So your daggers can be merched for sure. Even if they were 20% while hexed the mod is not desired at all (even if it could be useful in some hex heavy areas!).

The shield isn’t worth much but you could try putting it up for sale and see what you get. I could certainly see a perfect version going for a few 10s of ectos, even a couple of armbraces. Even though creature mods aren’t that useful in many cases, they are quite liked. Take note of an shields with +10 vs demons as well, these can be worth a lot (10s or even 100s of armbraces) especially when combined with a ‘while enchanted’ second mod.

On the insc vs non insc point, try adding an inscription to weapons like these - it won’t let you, thus confirming their non-insc status.

Can you spend some words about OS focus? of couse a matching 20/20 or 10/20 is great but sometimes you came across some strange pairs, such as +30 hp and +10vs creature or +5 armor -20 life etc.

Are there any wanted or collectible pairs?

Thank you,

A perfect hp mod with a 20% HCT/HSR is also worth a good amount, comparable to a 20/10 combo. +29 or +44 hp mods with a 20% HCT/HSR will also have some value but less that the previous examples. Less hp will be accepted, again at lower value, if the skin is nice. Armor with 20% HCT/HSR follows similar rules but see the last paragraph for the armor mods you want to avoid. 19% mods will obliterate much of the value, and in combination with an iffy hp mod these can turn into merch food.

Mixes of 10% HCT/HSR and hp/armor mods are only really worth anything with a good req and a good skin. Even then the value won’t be particularly high. Common skins and r10 or higher are merch food.

Hp/armor combinations are more tricky to sell. Perfect combinations with a good req and skin will sell for low to moderate value, because people like the oddball factor. Imperfect combinations can be merched. In particular you want to avoid the while hexed mods, armor while attacking, armor in exchange for -20hp and armor in exchange for -5 energy.

Armor +10 vs demons is a bit of a rogue variable here as I understand it. I think a good skin and req and a 20% mod could sell for a lot in the right circumstances.

The +1 (19/20%) mods are worth something in combination with a matching 20% or 19% HCT/HSR or a perfect hp mod. Good skins can sell with a 10% HCT/HSR or a decent armor mod, but not for much.

Generally foci are considered harder to sell than other weapon types. These statements are made based on my observations, other commenters may have different opinions.