yeah its like gambling LOL....i dont know how much has changed since its release, since i have played it only recently... but for what i've played its still random, some days i got more money than what i had initially, while other times i lost what few i made selling stuff....for now looks like the approach right now is going "eco", so that's what im doing, trying to save whatever money i have, i do mostly hunting and sweating, there are missions now, so i have done some of the starter misions and had a good time getting freebies....used it to hunt in the weekend, but now im up sweat gathering again....
note for those that dont know, "sweat" in EU is a life or energy essence that its extracted from living creatures (doesnt include other players, NPCs or machines), its used to create something called mind essence which is used for mindforce (the equivalent of magic in this game)......
its a free resource but due to its free status it has a low price, so you have to farm it in large quantities to make it valuable.....
the key right now is to read some guides, but the best approach is to try to use the most durable items, so you can keep doing your jobs more time, its not like you just throw money at the game and buy the best gear, but actually buy the starter items and keep leveling with them and trying to spend as less as possible, until you have the skills to jump into better stuff...its usually like that. of course, it becomes more expensive as you progress. but im not really interested in the hall of fame, i just want to save enough money for getting good average stuff which i can repair or whatever.......