You’ve probably seen the angry Reddit threads. People screaming that the Throne and Liberty auction house is a "pay-to-win dumpster fire" because it uses Lucent—the game’s premium currency—instead of standard gold. It looks bad on paper. If you want that shiny new Epic Greatsword, you need the same currency people buy with credit cards.
But honestly? That’s only half the story.
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If you actually play the game instead of just reading the doom-posts, you realize the marketplace is basically a giant wealth redistribution machine. It’s where "whales" (the big spenders) hand their money over to the "grinders" (you). You aren't just a buyer; you're the supplier.
The Lucent Loop: Why This System Actually Works
In most MMOs, you farm gold. In Throne and Liberty, you farm the cash shop currency directly.
Every time a big spender buys a Rare Lithograph or an Epic Trait from the auction house, that Lucent doesn't just vanish into the developer's pockets. It goes to the player who listed it. This is the only way for Free-to-Play (F2P) players to get things like the Battle Pass or leveling materials without spending a dime of real-world money.
Basically, the whales are your customers.
You need to be Level 40 to even touch the Throne and Liberty auction house, which keeps the botting somewhat under control. Once you're in, the game feels less like a traditional RPG and more like a high-stakes trading floor.
What You Can Actually Sell
Most items you pick up are "Bound" to you. You can't sell them. To make them tradable, you have to get creative:
- Trait Extraction: This is the bread and butter. You take a piece of gear with a high-demand stat (like Heavy Attack Chance or Max Health) and use Trait Extraction Stones to pull that stat out into a sellable item.
- Lithographs: Think of these as blueprints. You can turn certain items into Lithographs using Blank Lithographs (bought from NPCs with Sollant), which then lets someone else craft the item.
- Great Successes: When you craft gear or food, there’s a small chance it becomes "Tradable" automatically. This is pure RNG, but when it hits, it hits big.
The Tax Man Cometh (And He’s Greedy)
Let’s talk about the math, because the game is kinda sneaky about it.
The base tax on the Throne and Liberty auction house is usually 20%. Then, the guild that owns Stonegard Castle can tack on another 1% to 3%. So, you’re looking at a 22% or 23% cut taken off the top of every single sale.
It gets worse. The game rounds down.
If you sell a cheap stack of materials for 10 Lucent (the minimum listing price), you don't get 8 Lucent. You get 7. That 22% tax effectively becomes a 30% tax on low-value items.
Because of this, listing items for 19 Lucent or 20 Lucent often results in the exact same payout after taxes. If the market is flooded, always go for the lower number in that bracket. You’ll sell faster and lose nothing.
Stop Listing Random Trash
One of the biggest mistakes players make is wasting their Trait Extraction Stones. These stones are a finite resource. You get them from the Contract Coin shop and some events, but you will run out if you aren't careful.
Check the "Recent Prices" tab. It’s a literal goldmine of info.
If a Trait is selling for 10 Lucent, don't waste an extraction stone on it. The stone itself has more value for your own gear progression. You should only be extracting traits that are currently "meta." For example, in the 2026 meta, anything involving Cooldown Speed or Damage Reduction for Heroic gear is usually a safe bet for a high-Lucent payout.
The "Whale Feed" Strategy
If you want to make thousands of Lucent, you have to time the market. When a new Tier of gear drops—like the T3 sets—the first few days are absolute chaos.
Rich players want to be the first to max out their new gear. They don't want to farm for three weeks; they want to buy everything right now. If you've saved up your Abyssal Contract Tokens and burn them all on day one of a patch, you can sell basic traits for 5x their normal value.
A Lesson in Bidding vs. Buying
Unlike old-school MMOs where you’d sit and outbid someone by one copper in the final seconds, the Throne and Liberty auction house is primarily a "Buy It Now" system.
However, there is a separate "Guild Auction" system. This happens after World Bosses or Guild Raids. The loot goes into a special tab, and guild members bid on it using Lucent. The "winning" bid is then distributed among the guild members who participated in the fight.
This is why being in a high-tier guild matters. Even if you don't win the item, you get a "dividend" of Lucent just for being there. It’s passive income for just showing up and hitting a boss.
Actionable Steps to Master the Market
Stop treating the marketplace like a trash can for your inventory. It’s a tool. To actually get ahead, you need a process.
- Price Check Every Epic: Before you dissolve an Epic item for materials, check the Auction House. Even if the item itself is bad, it might have a "Precious Trait" that is worth 500+ Lucent to someone else.
- The 10-Lucent Rule: If an item is listed at the 10-Lucent floor, don't bother selling single units. Stack them. If you're selling materials, sell them in bundles that make sense for a single craft (e.g., stacks of 10 or 50).
- Watch the Castle: Check the "Current Tax Status" in the menu. If the tax is at its maximum (25%), wait a day. Guilds rotate, and sometimes a "friendlier" guild will win the castle and drop the tax back down to 21%.
- Focus on Consumables: If you've leveled your Cooking, keep an eye on Boss timers. People buy buff food right before the major Rift Stone or Castle Siege events. Prices usually spike about 30 minutes before a world event starts.
The Throne and Liberty auction house isn't about being lucky; it's about being observant. The players who make 30,000 Lucent in a week aren't just getting better drops—they're selling the right things to the right people at the exact moment the demand peaks. Stay patient, watch the trends, and stop selling your traits for pennies.