Forgive the newbie question but I have tons of gold crowns of the obsidian but have no idea how to use them. They seem to be different than regular gold in the game. Can I buy weapons and armor with them?
You cause use them to buy item from the Crown store or sell/trade them to other players. You could also pay taxes with them. But, with the current trade value, you're better off selling them to other players and using that gold to pay your lot taxes.
They can also be used to upgrade your lot deed (to a bigger size, to tax-free, or to the kind of deed that isn't limited to player-owned towns). But that's probably not something you'll need any time soon, or a spending decision you'll want to make quickly. Just an option to be aware of for the future. But if you ARE interested in land ownership, and don't already have the deeds you want from your bundle, keep in mind that upgrading can be expensive, so you may want to keep saving those crowns up. If you don't care about land ownership -- Crown shop spending spree! But if you want to spend them on weapons and armor, remember that the Crown shop gear is cosmetic only. It may look great, but it will still have basic stats.
@Chastain I think it's great that you have lots of crowns. I've been here since 2013 and have never had lots of crowns. I could only wish. I have however bought quite a few bundles ofcrowns over the course of years I've been here but I always spend them. This is a totally crowdfunded funded game so these crowns are what pays the bills to keep this game developing. So like Runes of Magic game used Diamonds this game uses Crowns of the Obsidian.