How Does the Auction House Work in Lost Ark?
Smilegate’s Lost Ark is about to go fully live for the NA and other western regions in a few more days. Gamers are getting ready to log in and try their luck in the world of Arkesia. Players who bought Founder’s pack for their Lost Ark accounts have early access, so they will be able to play ahead of most gamers. As heroes of Arkesia grind their way to become stronger, there is one feature that players might find confusing. Whether it be looking for equipment for characters or selling items for profit, gamers need to know a few things about the ARPG’s Auction House. The Auction House is complex and Lost Ark’s trading system isn’t easy to wrap your head around so this article will walk players through everything they need to know.
Table of Contents
What is Lost Ark?
The game is an ARPG developed by Smilegate RPG. The Korean MMO features similar gameplay to other popular ARPG such as Path of Exile and Diablo. The game features gorgeous graphics, excellent environment and character designs, and stunning visuals. The beauty of the game is one of the things that gives it an edge over other ARPG titles. Unlike PoE and Diablo’s dark and grim environments, Lost Ark shows players a colorful and vibrant atmosphere where they can grind Lost Ark gold satisfyingly.
Smilegate’s ARPG is based on the world of Arkesia. At the time of players’ entry, the world is on the brink of destruction as the demon lord Kazeros is about to break free from his centuries-old volcanic imprisonment. The demon lord seeks to lead his horde of demons to annihilate all life in Arkesia. Gamers are plunged directly into conflict as they are tasked with finding and recovering an ancient relic called the Lost Ark which was used before to imprison Kazeros.
What is the Lost Ark Auction House?
Aside from great visuals and fun starting classes, the Lost Ark MMO also features an Auction House which will be integral to the players’ overall gameplay. This feature is the mechanics used by players in Arkesia use to buy, trade, and sell items, equipment, and other consumables. All the items in this trading system use gold since silver is only used for buying items from NPCs and other game functionalities such as item repair. In addition, the Lost Ark Auction House supports cross-server trading, with the caveat that these are region locked. For example, all NA-West servers can trade with one another.
The Auction House has two major tabs: the Auction Tab and the Bidding Tab. The Auction tab features items that can be bought right away with fixed prices that may vary from time to time. The Bidding tab features pieces of equipment and artifacts. In this tab, players will have outbid each other in order by staking more gold than others in order to receive or acquire the items in question.
The Auction Tab
In the Auction Tab, most of the pieces of equipment or gear sold in this section are usually or have been used before by other players. The rest of the items will be consumables such as recovery items, combat goods, sealed books, and other items. The only pieces of merchandise that are not pre-used in the auction tab are the outfits. Items in this section are separated into different categories. Here is the list of categories in the Auction Tab:
- Equipment Chests
- Avatar
- Seal Books
- Enchant Materials
- Combat Goods
- Food
- Life
- Adventure Book
- Voyage
- Pets
- Mounts
- Misc
- Gem Chests
These categories are further broken down into subcategories for easier navigation. This section has a simple filter feature where players can look for items depending on their grade or tier level.
The Bidding Tab
The Bidding tab features equipment that can be worn by players and any item related to gear. The filter system in this section is more complex than the one in the Auction tab. For the filter system in this section, players can sort offers by item type, class, skills items have, the level of skills items have, and further bonuses. This section also offers players multiple presets or templates of filters so that gamers can just load them to look for specific items instead of ticking boxes repeatedly.
The bidding tab also has two ways of acquisition: bidding and buyout. In bidding, the item goes to the highest bidder or to the player who provides the highest amount of gold. Meanwhile, the buyout is a price set by the sellers where gamers can buy items immediately without undergoing the bidding process. Buyouts are significantly more expensive and costly than bidding.
Players can set several items in the bidding section as their favorites in order to view them easily. By marking an item as a favorite, gamers do not need to search for them or use the filter system to look for the specific item. In addition, players can also check the offers’ quotes or price history. By looking at the price history, gamers can compare the current and previous costs for any item in the Bidding tab. This feature helps gamers in how much they should price items they are selling or how much they should invest in buying desired pieces of equipment.
Peons
Another difference between the Bidding tab and the Auction tab is that buying any item from the Bidding tab requires both gold and peons. Peons are another form of gold currency that are only used in the Auction House. Peons can be acquired through login quests, daily quests, or by buying them with blue crystals. While bidding always requires this type of currency in any transaction, some items in the Auction section will also require players to use some peons. These pieces of equipment are usually pre-used or second-hand items.
Since Lost Ark is set to be available for everyone on Feb 11, understanding how the Auction House works will help players avoid making unnecessary Lost Ark gold and peon expenses. In addition, understanding how the auction works will enable players to navigate through the feature easily whether they are looking to buy items or sell pieces of equipment. As the release date draws near, gamers should be ready to gear up their characters whatever their Lost Ark classes may be.
