Guys, is trading an immersive experience with good player interaction?

Two key points:

1) Trading is a speed bump.

This primary function is to have players burn through content slower.
They don't get bored as fast and stick around, compared to to clearing everything in a week.



2) Stash tab sales. (Main income source for GGG, this is how they funded themselves so far)

Showering players with insane amounts of loot is the secondary function,
(even with filters - have you seen what a blue map looks like in a 3 man party?)
to awaken everyones inner hoarder who doesn't want to miss a opportunity under insecure pressure of not knowing which items he can sell and for how much.


So players pick up everything of any value to increase their sales and income,
turning real money into stash tabs = into tons of items = into ingame currency via eventual sales.



And no it is not fun, it sucks.
I rather have a wow style AH anytime over this ridiculous waiting for others to reply,
and then not even being sure about the price. Pure. Fucking. Cancer.

For normal items OK. For maps it’s horrible

For white-yellow tier maps, you're better off asking in global 820 (I think that's the one?). Whatever the global is for assistance with challenge completions. Especially early to mid league, people are trying to complete the atlas and will often trade maps you need for maps you have in abundance.

As long as humans are involved, I'l avoid trading in online games. Assholes, assholes everywhere. And those assholes ruin it for me. SSF is the best way to play this game (my opinion, so don't shoot me.)

*Ding!*
/Alt Tab
'___ copied to clipboard'
"Hi, I would like to buy your...."
/wait for a response before going back to what you were doing.
/Get no response.
/Go back to what you wer....

*Ding!*
/Alt Tab
'____ copied to clipboard'
"Hi, I would like to buy your....."
'Auto response, this player has DND on'
/Go back to what you were doing.

*Ding!*
/Alt Tab
'___ copied to clipboard'
"Hi, I would like to buy your...."
/wait for a response before going back tow hat you were doing.
/Get no response.
/Go back to what you were doing.

*Ding!*
/Alt Tab
'___ copied to clipboard'
"Hi, I would like to buy your...."
/wait for a response before going back to what you were doing.
/Get no response.

*Ding!*
/Alt Tab
'___ copied to clipboard'
"Hi, I would like to buy your...."
'Auto response, this player is AFK'

For your entire night, getting barely any mapping / campaign done because you're spending 90% of your time not actually playing the game, but trying to diplomatically instigate and conclude an actual transaction.

Other countries have vending machines, but you're told to pride yourself on the skill of speech and bartering to fill a void in your soul that is.... acquiring a can of soda.

Fun.

Pretty much agree with the above.

"

stuncc wrote:

Do you enjoy the social aspect and player interaction of trading?

Thanks

What is this? Your 4847th thread about trading?

The trading system we have in PoE isn't designed to be an "immersive experience" or "good player interaction". It's designed to preserve and protect the economy and in-game progression.

The trading system we have in PoE reminds me of a quote from Winston Churchill;

"

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time

The trading system is bad. But most alternatives are worse. If you were able to see the game as a whole - for everyone - from start to finish, you would see that an automated auction house would do more harm than good. It might be convenient for rushers, aiming for maps as fast as possible, ignoring 99% of drops besides currency and never wield a self-found items after level 70. But believe it or not; that's not most players.

"

Phrazz wrote:

The trading system is bad. But most alternatives are worse. If you were able to see the game as a whole - for everyone - from start to finish, you would see that an automated auction house would do more harm than good. It might be convenient for rushers, aiming for maps as fast as possible, ignoring 99% of drops besides currency and never wield a self-found items after level 70. But believe it or not; that's not most players.

Most players would actually prefer an auction house though.

I haven't come across a single person that's said something similar to:

"Thank god this game requires you to leave game to parse through a website in hopes that 1 out of the 20 people your message will message you back and you'll actually end up with the item you want before several hours have passed since you first tried. I can't imagine how this game would survive without this kind of human interaction!"

Dramatizations aside, there is a reason why all modern trade systems go through a central and anonymous ( relatively ) process. The art of "Bartering", and depending on other individuals to meet your expectations is a hobby endeavor, not an intrinsical one. The vast majority of people don't like to actually go through the nonsensical and redundant processes of extra hoops to do something you could just finalize with a few button clicks.

That's not to say that people are losing attachments or some other metaphysical label for people not wanting to sit down and talk with people for hours on end, but we just don't have to anymore. Bartering is a tool out of necessity, for the time's it was used; and is still infrequently used. For all other intents and purpose ....you don't need all this dramatic interaction for something that has a fixed buy price.

Why do people prefer to have packages shipped to them, rather than to make a day of it and travel out to the substations to pick it up yourself? Are they devoid of sense towards human interaction? No, it was just always an inconvenience, and since you can entertain yourself via a multitude of other means ( like playing the actual game, for video games ) ...using it as your sole entertainment for the day isn't required either.


Of all the negative things attached to PoE's trade system ...keeping it around to "Preserve the Economy" is the most blatant lie around. If this was true, no economy would be working today.

The only reason why it hasn't changed is because Chris doesn't want it to. He wants trading to be super hard and painful to players ...it's some sort of child-like power trip / gratification he gets; like when a person watches someone suffer through something you can do so effortlessly.

In an actual belief that you want your economy to be as thriving as possible, it makes zero sense to have it be as convoluted as possible; thus reducing the size of your economic influx.
If most players are put off by the trading system, and they don't use it, then it means a much more constricted economy that has less room to protect itself from wide shifts; exactly like what happens currently with the game's economy.

It's great for those who have control of the economy ..but it's not an actual economy then is it? It's just Monopoly.

They'll remove trade all together long before they add an auction house.

"

JoeShmo wrote:

The only reason why it hasn't changed is because Chris doesn't want it to. He wants trading to be super hard and painful to players ...it's some sort of child-like power trip / gratification he gets; like when a person watches someone suffer through something you can do so effortlessly.

such nonsense. The reason is because you are meant to be finding shit by playing the game not buying it off other people then whinging that the game is boring because you geared up in a week (a la D3 with ah + rmah). Trade being a pita is the only reason people will grind for items instead of just buying them. Trade is useful for mitigating rng but it shouldn't entirely replace playing the game.