Granado Espada Making Money Guide

Granado Espada Making Money Guide by Bnargin

Hey everyone! This is my first guide, so it is by far not perfect. There are still a lot of things about the game I don’t know about, but for most of the guide I’ll be speaking purely from experience. If you find any mistakes, wish to add in details or suggestions, please PM me on the forums with your information and if it’s viable, I’ll add it in! I don’t wish to receive anything from writing this guide, other than knowing I might be helping out a few new people get into the game I’m loving so much – Granado Espada.

So without further ado, here we go!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   

   a. What is Vis and what do I do with it?

• Money Making – The Basic Methods
  

  a. How do I earn money?
  b. Looting
  c. Selling
  d. How do I keep a steady income?
  e. Why am I losing money?

• Money Making – Advanced Methods and Investment Opportunities
  

  a. The Market Manager
  b. Ferrucio Forge
  c. Gold Pieces and The Well
  d. Bellem Boxes
  e. Questing

• General Tips and Advice
  

  a. Learning the Market
  b. Leveling
  c. Enjoy Yourself!

• Conclusion

1. Introduction

a. What is Vis and what do I do with it?
So what is Vis? Vis is the official currency of the Granado Espada world. Like all or most games, the economy needs to run on some sort of currency system, and for this game, that is Vis.
What do I do with Vis? Just like the real world, Vis is used as an offering for goods and services, for example:

• Buying equipment from Merchants
• Buying supplies from Merchants
• Buying items from other players
• Warping from Major Towns to other destinations
• Enhancing Equipment from town Blacksmiths

All these goods and services require Vis of different amounts. Of course in order to use these, you’ll first need Vis. Right?

2. Money Making – The Basic Methods

a. How Do I Earn Money?
Probably the most asked question anyone has ever asked. If it were simple, nobody would be asking it, right? Afraid not because money making is actually quite simple. The most common and simple method of making money is simply looting.

b. Looting
So what is looting? Dictionary.com defines looting as:

1. To pillage; spoil.
2. To take as spoils; steal.

And that’s basically what it is. Doesn’t sound very good does it? Neverfear, it isn’t that bad. Basically it’s picking up everything that’s on the floor – whether it’s yours or not. If someone else has earnt an item, their name will be on it so you can’t take it, which stops people looting the rarer items. However, people who afk can (generally) not pick up loot, and thus, is free for you to take. If you spend the time to pick up everything, you will earn money. It may not happen quickly, but if you last long enough it will happen. Of course not only crappy loot will drop – while adventuring you’re almost certain to find equipment drops, rarer items (like gems) and misc items like recipes, missions and much more. If you can pick it up – do so, as you might be able to sell these to other players who are looking for them, or may need them in the future for certain quests you come across.

c. Selling
Right, so after adventuring for a few hours you have an inventory full of loots, equipments, misc items and whatnot. What do you do with them? It’s time to sell of course!
People often wonder whether or not to sell things to NPCs or to keep them and sell to other players.

The general rule is, if it drops commonly, sell these to an NPC. Things like Talts, Silver Pieces, Aidaniums, Etretaniums, Quartz and different ores are generally sold as loot. Cabosse 99% is a very very good source of income, dropped by Jacks. If you can kill a whole lot of these for loots, you’ll be well into the money early on. I think they sell for 100vis the last time I checked – which is a lot when you’re first starting out.

What should I keep? As a personal rule, I usually keep things that don’t drop too often. Things like Unpolished Gems of assorted colours, Mana stones, High Quality Woods and things like that. While I haven’t actually used any of them yet, they are generally used to make equipment from lower level recipes. If you need the money fast and you have these, then by all means you can sell them – in the end it’s totally up to you.

What about Equipment? I’m sure you’ve all found pieces of equipment which you can or can’t use. This is generally a mixed result. Some people like to keep equips and hold onto them for later uses, some people like to sell them as soon as they get the chance. What I’ve found is that during the lower levels (under 25) people don’t generally buy or sell equips to others. Why? Probably because they’re just too common and don’t make a huge difference to your leveling speeds. These equips I usually just sell to NPC, unless you know of someone who wants it. Once you reach the 30 mark is where the equips really start to get interesting. Uniques start popping up, good weapons and armors with nice options start emerging and people are generally always on the lookout for new pieces of equipment. This is usually the time where you start to make money the fastest. The best items to look out for are good Leather Armors, Rifles/Pistols, Swords and Bracelets. Basically you need to cater to the population and with Scouts/Muskateers probably being the most commonly used class, you’ll be aiming to sell items to these people for profit.

So what do people want? What will people pay a lot for? In order to answer these questions you’ll need to watch and study the market. Listen to what people are broadcasting (except those damn zeny websites and foreign language conversations) and see what’s currently popular. Are people willing to pay big amounts for an item you can hunt for? If so, this may be a good opportunity to get crackin and try and earn some money. Catherine’s Hips (rNPC) are a popular item as they’re rare and essential to finish the Catherine Quest and obtain her card. Unique weapons and rare equipment with good stats are also great for selling. Weapons with high +ATK/ATK Speed/Critical Combos are saught after, armors with high +DEF and +Evasion are always popular and boots/gloves with high stats also sell very well. Remember that after level 72 (or somewhere in the 70s) armor cannot be bought from NPCs, and thus any high leveled armors are worth keeping, no matter the stats. Recruitable NPC Cards are always very popular, especially later in the game when you start to get the higher leveled characters. Catherine, Claude, Lorch, Romina and Andre all sell high into the millions of Vis, so if you can bare to do the quest and don’t want to use them, they are very profitable.

d. How do I keep a steady income?
Ah, sometimes I ask myself this question in real life! But really it’s simple. In order to keep money flowing, you really do need to keep actively leveling for decent periods at a time. The longer that you are out in the battlefield killing monsters and looting items, the more money you are going to consistently get. If you go out and level for 20 minutes and come back to town – not only will you be wasting the time and effort of warping around, and finding a good leveling spot, but the amount of loot you can pick up in that time won’t be enough to gain you a decent income. If, on the other hand you go out to your leveling spot, find a nice spawn and run around picking up loot and killing monsters for a few hours, I’m sure you would’ve gained some decent experience as well as a tonne of loot and various other drops. Like all things, it takes time and effort to come out on top – and gaining money is no different.

e. Why am I losing money?
I’ve noticed some people on the forums and in game always questioning themselves with this. Why am I losing money? Why am I 40 and only have 5k Vis? The first thing you need to do is take a step back and look at what you’re doing. Are you leveling for a good length of time? Are you picking up all the loot you find? Are you selling the right things to an NPC or to a player? If you answered yes to these, then you have to ask yourself a few more questions. Am I buying unneccesary equipment? Am I upgrading equips that don’t really need to be upgraded? Am I buying too many Warp scrolls when I could be walking instead? These are the general mistakes people make. Buying unneccesary equips is probably the most common. Just because a new range of weapons and armors comes out every 4 levels, doesn’t mean you have to buy them. A lot of the time they make small changes to your leveling speed, and at lower levels they hardly make a difference at all. If you can stick with the same equips for 8 levels instead of 4, you might be saving some money. A lot of people also complain about spending money on bullets and orbs. If you find that you’re money is depleting because of these, try and be a little more conservative. Only Quake if you really need to, only buff yourself if it’s essential. Sometimes you wont notice being unbuffed and killing, especially at the lower levels.

In the end, if you don’t need to buy or use something, then simply don’t. The lower levels are usually difficult in terms of money, so being a little more conservative may help in the long run.

3. Money Making – Advanced Methods and Investment Opportunities

So let’s just say that by now, you’re a pro looter, you’re income is nice and steady and you’re leveling nicely, but you still can’t afford that item you desperately seek. How do you earn more money, quicker? Below are a few of the more advanced methods of gaining money. I say advanced simply because in order to gain money, you first must HAVE money. By investing your time and money into the right method, you can start to earn more and more money. The difference between this method, and the basic looting method is that these methods may not work 100% of the time. Be prepared to lose money, but also be prepared to take some risks. They may just pay off for you in the end.

a. The Market Manager
The good ol’ Market Manager. It took me a long time to realise how to use this NPC, but since then I’ve been checking it out on a daily basis, always looking for good deals. So how do you make money in a place where people sell? Buying and selling of course! Before you can start trying to buy and sell for profit, you need to know the general market values of items. Once you have an idea of what an item is generally worth, then you can start scavenging the market place for cheap items. What I’ve noticed is that people will put low prices on their items for a few reasons.

• 1. They don’t know what it’s worth
  Probably the most common case, I’ve seen many items sell for cheap simply because the seller wasn’t sure of the value. Take advantage of this! +DEF armors are probably the biggest culprit. I’ve seen +15 DEF armors go for under 15k, which is a bargain. Rings are also often misjudged in terms of pricing, so keep an eye out for these.
• 2. Quick sales
  A lot of people seem to do it. Instead of trying to sell items at the maximum value of their worth, people will often sell an item just high enough to give them a bit of money fast. If an item is worth 100k, a quick sale price would most likely be around the 75k mark. It’s cheap enough for people to buy which gets them the money faster. You can buy these and try to resell at their maximum value, but be warned that sometimes you may not find a buyer. It all depends on the supply and demand of the server you’re on.
• 3. Market Crash – Fluctuation
  Doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Sometimes items will start to diminish in value and the price will drop. Things like Nerfs (think of Catherine) will usually be enough to drop the price of an item. Catherine’s Hips went from 10m on Cervantes down to 6-8m after her summoning Nerf. While it’s not recommended, if you can find someone who is willing to pay more than normal price, you can use this to your advantage. Bellem’s Boxes are another example of this – once people started learning about the Golden Well (see below) the prices of these went from 19k to 14k-16k on Cervantes. Doesn’t sound like a big difference, but when people buy hundreds, it does show.

How Much Do I sell it for?
This is generally up to the seller. You’ll need to converse with the buyer and try and haggle a good price out of them. I’ve seen people buy Rings for 1m and sell for 2m, I’ve seen armors for 10k which have been resold at 150k. It’s really depends on the item, and how much the buyer is willing to pay. If you can make any profit from an item, then I would think it’s worthwhile in the end. Whether that profit is 50k or 50m, a profit is always a profit.

b. Ferrucio Forge
I can’t really speak from personal experience with using the forge, but I know a lot of people who have been taking advantage from it and making money out of it. For those who don’t know about it, the Ferrucio Forge is a place on certain maps where you can trade in ores for a chance at an item inside the forge. The ore changes with each forge, so you’ll have to check it out and make sure that you’ve got the right materials. The forge can be found on Channel 1 only, and can only be used once every hour (need to check this, I can’t remember 100%). The types of things you can find in the forge include megaphones, rings, gems, ores/stones and other misc items. Rings are the most popular reason for people to use the forge, though I’m not sure if you can make any ring from it.
How it works (or so I’ve been told) is that once you get the correct materials, you are given 1 out of 3 possible items that are in the forge. The item you receive is completely random, so if you don’t get the item you wanted, you’ll need to wait the time limit to use the forge again and submit the correct materials again.
Overall it can be a fairly long process, but if you’re actively leveling and picking up all those ores and stones you find on the floor, it may be worthwhile.

The following screenshots are courtesy of koreanlover. Thanks for taking the time to find them!

Cathari Falls Ferrucio Forge
Requires 200 Bulk Coal

Jezebel Glen Ferrucio Forge
Requires 200 Chalcedonyl

El Lago de tres Hermanas Ferrucio Forge
Requires 100 Refined Quartz

Remember – the items received are random! After someone takes 1 of 3 items, 3 new items will appear for a chance of getting

Due to the recent events surrounding the Golden Well and Bellem’s Boxes, I’m sad to say the below may not be used as an effective money making method. Thank you to those who pointed out what was going on and informing me! I’ll leave it in though – just in case something changes in the future.

c. Gold Pieces and The Golden Well
Ah, my personal favourite. For those who don’t know about it, the Golden Well is located on Channel 1 in the Thueringen (spell check?) Lakeside directly outside the City of Auch Main Gate. The Golden Well is like playing the lottery, though you almost always win! Here’s a basic guide how it works – I will add a picture guide when I get the chance:

1. Obtain as many Gold Pieces as you can. Gold Pieces can be found as a common drop in Dr Torsche’s Mansion, or you can buy them from the Precious Ores NPC in Auch for 165vis each. In order to make the most of the Golden Well, I’d recommend bringing at least a few thousand pieces. Between 5000 and 8000 pieces is good.
2. Go and see the Golden Well. Remember, Outside of Auch, Channel 1 only.
3. Open up your Inventory using Alt+V. This should open only the right side Inventory and not your equipment.
4. Pick up the Gold Pieces from your Inventory and drag them directly onto the Golden Well. It will then ask you how many pieces you would like to drop in. The maximum is 50 Gold Pieces per drop. I’d recommend dropped at least 40 to 50 pieces at a time. This will give you an approx. 50% chance to receive a Bellem’s Box.
5. Rinse and repeat. Keep dropping in 40-50 pieces at a time and watch those Bellem’s Boxes fly into your Inventory.

About Jackpot
After a certain number of pieces have filled the Golden Well, it will Jackpot to a random dropper. What this means is that all the gold pieces are transformed into Gold Bars (I think its 2000 pieces per 1 gold bar) and are given to a random family who is dropping Gold Pieces into the well. A bunch of Gold Pieces will also fall to the ground. This is the moment everyone strives for. 1 Gold bar sells for 150k to an NPC which is very nice, especially if you receive a nice Jackpot. The biggest amount I’ve ever seen anyone get is about 52 Gold bars, which equals to 7.8m Vis. Not a bad day’s profit indeed.

The biggest advantage of the Well is that, not only can you get the Jackpot, but you will always surely get a bunch of Bellem’s Boxes. Let’s work out the Math here shall we:
5,000 Gold Pieces = 825,000 Vis.
5,000 Gold Pieces / 50 Pieces per Drop = 100 drops.
If the chance to receive a Bellem’s Box is 50%, then:
100 Drops / 50% = 50 Bellem’s Boxes. This value will change, sometimes you’ll receive a bunch more, or a bit less.
In Cervantes, Bellem’s Boxes are around the 17-18k mark. If you sell 50 for:
18,000 Each = 900,000 Vis. Profit of 75,000 Vis.
17,000 Each = 850,000 Vis. Profit of 25,000 Vis.

Now let’s say that you pump all 5,000 Pieces into the well and happen to receive a Jackpot from the 5,000 Gold Pieces. Not only will you get the 50 odd Bellem’s Boxes but you should also get 2 Gold Bars (2,000 Pieces per Gold Bar) and a bunch of Gold Pieces, thus bringing your estimated profit up to about 400k. Now 400k is a huge profit for something extremely easy to pull off.

Updated Note: I’m not sure about other servers as I play on Cervantes only, but the price for Bellem’s Boxes have been dropping significantly because of the well. If you want to continue to make money using this method, please don’t sell Bellem’s Boxes for under 16,500Vis each. 16,500Vis is the break-even price. Selling for any lower than this will result in you losing money over time.

Of course the only downside of the Golden Well is that you need money in order to start working it properly. I didn’t start using the Golden Well till I was about the Level 50 mark and was earning money quite easily from loots + sales/reselling. It is however, well worth the time if you want to have a bit of fun, and possibly make a decent profit out of it.

d. Bellem Boxes
This basically ties in with the above (Golden Well). When you receive your Bellem’s Boxes reward from playing with the Golden Well, you have 2 options to take. The first is to sell the Boxes and make guaranteed money. I say guaranteed because people will buy boxes, they always have. I buy boxes and I know a lot of others who do as well. It’s something that you know people are going to buy. The second option is to open them. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. In those 50 odd Bellem’s Boxes you are ALWAYS going to get Healing Potions, and lots of them. They are the single most common drop from the Box. Spinelles will come out quite often as well, so be prepared to pick these up too. What you’re looking for when opening these Boxes are the equips and rare items that drop. Just about anything in the game can drop from a Bellem’s Box, and so you always have the chance to receive a high leveled item or rare equip. The best thing about high leveled equips is that even if they’re plain, they sell really well to NPCs. Cannon’s sell for an insane amount of Vis – about 150k for a plain 76 Cannon. I’ve picked up at least 4 of these over the past week from opening Boxes. Great Swords and Rifles also sell very well, and if they have good options on them, you can throw them in the market to sell to someone else.

In the end, playing with or selling the Box is up to you. You can profit either way, but it all depends on how lucky you’re feeling.

e. Questing
I’m adding this section thanks to koreanlover for the link to the Hedgestone quest. The link can be found here: Hedgestone Quest
Questing, as stated above in regards to RNPC quests can be a great way to make money, if you have the time to spare. Some quests (like Lorch/Catherine) can be long and tedious, but the rewards for getting them are great, and you never know what you’ll find along the way.
I’ll think about adding in some quest guide links to this section in the future, depending on responses.

4. General Tips and Advice

Below is simply a few little bits of advice to help in general money making.

a. Learning the Market
As I stated above, in order to know how much to sell an item for, it’s always best to learn how the market fluctuates, how the prices change and how items generally sell for. The best way to do this is to either ask people you know (faction members, friends), pay attention to the broadcasts that people display and to spend a bit of time in the Market Manager – scanning items and seeing what sells for lots and what doesn’t. If you find an item that you believe to be rare and you don’t know the selling price of it, do a bit of research before you sell it. I’ve seen many items sell for extremely low prices simply because someone didn’t know what it was worth. Keep the item for a while and see if anyone broadcasts it – or broadcast it yourself and see what people offer you. Be patient when selling items – don’t be in a rush, or you may just end up ripping yourself off.

b. Leveling
A very, very, very key point to making money. Keep leveling continuously. Don’t stop your leveling just to try and make money, because simply put – you’ll always be actively making money if you keep on leveling! Leveling generates loot and drops, which generate your income. If you stop leveling, you stop gaining a steady income, and thus, in the end start losing money. Sure it’s nice to take a break and see what the Market Manager has, or see what kinds of things you can buy and sell, but if it takes you hours to buy and sell an item to someone for a small profit, it’s not really worth it, right?
The biggest advantage of leveling consistently is that you’ll eventually get to the higher level areas which generate much more income from drops. Rare items Level 72 and higher can sell for quite a lot of money, especially uniques, recipes and gemstones. The ordinary monster loot also sells for more, which will aid your money making process.

c. Enjoy Yourself!
The very last point I want to put across is to simply enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re not having fun, why play? Don’t try and think of money making as a chore or a task that you have to do, grab some friends or faction members, go out exploring and just actively pick up loot. Stick the squad looting rule to Acquire by Turn and loot/equips will come to you. Try and enjoy yourself as much as you can – it’s part of what the game is all about!

5. Conclusion

And so this ends what I believe to be my guide on making money. Like I said at the beginning, it’s my first guide and is still rather rough – please go gentle on the flames x_x. If you have any questions, opinions, or would like to contribute to the guide, please PM me. If you have any negative views on the guide or would like to flame it, please PM me as well, I’d like to keep this thread cleanish.

Oh! Before I forget, if the colour scheme/formatting doesn’t look very good, can you please let me know? I wasn’t sure on what colours would work with this forum board colour or whether or not my formatting is too clustered >.<

Credit for this Guide goes out to:

• Dyingtimes and his Guide to Writing Guides
• CloudNine Faction Members Darkwood and Osbourne for teaching me about the Forge and the Golden Well
• Infocomm Asia Holdings/Hakkyu Kim for this wonderful game!

Thanks goes to everyone who reads this guide!