Age of Conan economics 101

Not everyone can be clobbered and stripped of all material possessions. Sometimes, for instance, the other guy is bigger than you are and you’ll actually have to dig deep in your pocket and pay for what you want. This section provides a brief overview of the economic world of Hyboria.

Hyborian Currency

There are four types of currency in Age of Conan: gold, silver, copper, and tin. One hundred units of one currency represent one unit of the next currency value, like so:

1 gold=100 silver

1 silver=100 copper

1 copper=100 tin

Enemies in Age of Conan drop a wide variety of this currency, though most of your income will come from questing and selling items early on, with crafting serving as another way of earning cash for more advanced players or those who are inclined to take up the trade.

Buying and Selling

One way to acquire items and equipment is from NPC vendors that specialize in trading certain kinds of goods. Scattered around the world of Hyboria, though mostly in settlements, you will find vendors that specialize in selling things like weapons, armor, potions, and more. Interacting with these vendors opens up a trade window, where you can peruse what they have for sale and offer them your own items for cash.

Trading With Other Players

Face to face trade with other players is possible by choosing the Trade option in the menu. This opens the Trade window, divided into two parts, an area showing the items you’re giving and an area showing the items they’re offering. Once both players accept the trade, the trade is complete. However, to prevent players from cheating, making changes after accepting a trade will reset the trade (meaning you’ll have a chance to look it over again before accepting the trade).

Using Tradeposts

Not everyone wants to stand in the street shouting to sell their items. Places to go and people to kill, right? To that end, Tradeposts are where players will do most of their buying and selling, similar to the auction houses in other games. Tradeposts are found in cities (both regular cities and player cities), and using them brings up an interface that combines your bank, mailbox, and a marketplace to buy and sell items. To sell something, you put it in your bank, set it to “for sale” with whatever price you want, and wait for the customers to come in. Importantly, the tradepost is not built around auctions. You list something for sale and someone buys it (or they don’t), without bidding or waiting for hours to get your item (or your money!).

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