Trading System

GGG,

I loved PoE1 and and loving PoE2. I put over 600 hours and $200 dollars into PoE1, something I have never done for any online game. However, I eventually quit PoE1 with a bad taste in my mouth, and the very same issue (as I see it) is in PoE2: the trading system.

I seem to recall seeing or hearing somewhere that the idea behind the trading system was to foster meaningful in-game interaction between players. I would contend that trading items between players in not meaningful interaction. Fostering meaningful interaction between players would be implementing an in-game LFG system.

Instead, here is how trading interactions tend to go. There are two varieties, smooth and rough:

The smooth trading interaction involves you stopping the action, potentially with your friends, going to your hideout, find the item, trade with the player, and then go back to the action. It's an interruption, and if you are a player who is good at finding things other people want, this system actively punishes you by taking you away from the very game itself to instead essentially manage a storefront.

The rough trading interaction involves you stopping the action again, potentially with your friends, going to your hideout, find the item, only to find that the player is now refusing your party invites. In the 15 to 30 seconds it took for you to receive their initial DM, optionally tell them 'omw', and invite them to party once in your hideout, they have already bought a similar item from someone else. Often times, you now have to spend a couple of minutes messaging them to find out what's going on, only for them to tell you this. So, you waste several minutes of your time and are taken away from the gameplay to experience a frustrating outcome because some players refuse to wait even 30 seconds to get what they want.

MMO's have been using in-game trading systems and auction houses that require no action from the player to complete transactions for literal decades now. Why is PoE so behind the times?

I left PoE 1 because of this trading system and it feeling so inconsiderate to the players. Please fix this so I don't leave PoE 2 as well.

Yeah, one of my biggest gripes with POE1 was the trading system and it seems to have the exact same shortcomings in POE2. Also, the current system continues to cater to those that deceive through fraud and those with 3rd party programs that can snipe underpriced valuable items way quicker than the average player. Why they have not tried to address this at all in POE2 is very disappointing.

I've actually made multiple posts across multiple forums about the lack of an item exchange (like the currency exchange but for other items) but the threads are either downvoted or ignored.

This is something GGG has backpedaled on. As recently as 10 months ago they did an interview where they said the market for games has changed and players won't tolerate a system that doesn't have instant buyouts. However, in the PoE2 reveal livestream they said they think the currency exchange solves 90% of trade issues.

My point here is, GGG doesn't think there's a problem anymore. So if you disagree then you should be asking for an item exchange with a gold tax because that's the only alternative they are willing to consider.

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I seem to recall seeing or hearing somewhere that the idea behind the trading system was to foster meaningful in-game interaction between players.

That may be a small side-benefit but the primary reason the trading system works the way it does is to slow down trading. They think trading being too easy means people will gear up too easily and trivialize the game. This was the main message they were trying to communicate in the famous "trade manifesto".

Again, the only alternative they will consider is a system with instant buyouts + gold tax, because the gold tax is another way to slow down trading. They will not consider an alternative trading system that doesn't have some sort of friction to slow it down.

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USMC_Maxim#6265 wrote:

Also, the current system continues to cater to those that deceive through fraud and those with 3rd party programs that can snipe underpriced valuable items way quicker than the average player. Why they have not tried to address this at all in POE2 is very disappointing.

btw, just in general because of other threads that are around. Sniping with 3rd party software will even get worse if an auction house would be introduced. The normal palyer will never be able to get a good deal on sought after items.

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CooCooCaCha#5529 wrote:

However, in the PoE2 reveal livestream they said they think the currency exchange solves 90% of trade issues.

How would the currency exchange solve that much of the trade issues, when the majority of things people trade are not currency? Does not compute

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skoomabrewer#0095 wrote:

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CooCooCaCha#5529 wrote:

However, in the PoE2 reveal livestream they said they think the currency exchange solves 90% of trade issues.

How would the currency exchange solve that much of the trade issues, when the majority of things people trade are not currency? Does not compute

I don’t get it either, but it was during the ZiggyD interview after the PoE2 early access reveal last month.

I have wasted 2 hours of my time trying to get someone to sell me an item to start a new toon, its so incredibly hard now, no one will come out of their map (which is fair enough as maps are so frigging long you you can't just be popping in and out every minute.

I had an idea for a way to smooth out the trading in poe2. My personal experience has been very mixed. Between people not replying, which is most of the time, or having to sit and wait, its not a great use of my time, the base is hot lava after all. People are busy running maps, and they aren't leaving what they are doing for low value trades.

What if we used the systems already in place. You place items in a public tab, with an exact price. Someone searches for the item the want on the website, and uses the website to message you about purchasing the item.

Then instead of having to leave what you are doing or ignoring the other player completely. You could click on the player name and invite them to your hideout. Then once the player is in your hideout, they could talk to a specific NPC that would act like a vending machine. It would show the items you have set to public with an exact price. The player could then move items to a purchase window and as long as they enter the currency that was expected they could take the items without you even being present. Then upon returning to your hideout, you could withdraw the currency from the NPC (vending machine), with a recap of purchases made.

This idea I feel bridges the gap between the current system and a traditional "auction house". It includes some player interaction, as you could still list items and accept offers, but also allows for some automation and time saving for less valuable items or items that don't fluctuate in the market.

Also adding the ability to trade normal unaltered waystones through the currency exchange could be useful.

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Kevitron#9225 wrote:

I had an idea for a way to smooth out the trading in poe2. My personal experience has been very mixed. Between people not replying, which is most of the time, or having to sit and wait, its not a great use of my time, the base is hot lava after all. People are busy running maps, and they aren't leaving what they are doing for low value trades.

What if we used the systems already in place. You place items in a public tab, with an exact price. Someone searches for the item the want on the website, and uses the website to message you about purchasing the item.

Then instead of having to leave what you are doing or ignoring the other player completely. You could click on the player name and invite them to your hideout. Then once the player is in your hideout, they could talk to a specific NPC that would act like a vending machine. It would show the items you have set to public with an exact price. The player could then move items to a purchase window and as long as they enter the currency that was expected they could take the items without you even being present. Then upon returning to your hideout, you could withdraw the currency from the NPC (vending machine), with a recap of purchases made.

This idea I feel bridges the gap between the current system and a traditional "auction house". It includes some player interaction, as you could still list items and accept offers, but also allows for some automation and time saving for less valuable items or items that don't fluctuate in the market.

Also adding the ability to trade normal unaltered waystones through the currency exchange could be useful.

This is pretty much the brokerage system from Everquest 2.

You got specific furniture for your house that you put items in and listed for a price. People would come to your house, click on the furniture, and buy the items.

This was twenty years ago.

There is no excuse for a similar system not to exist in PoE 2.

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

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USMC_Maxim#6265 wrote:

Also, the current system continues to cater to those that deceive through fraud and those with 3rd party programs that can snipe underpriced valuable items way quicker than the average player. Why they have not tried to address this at all in POE2 is very disappointing.

btw, just in general because of other threads that are around. Sniping with 3rd party software will even get worse if an auction house would be introduced. The normal palyer will never be able to get a good deal on sought after items.

If they introduced an auction house there would be no need to open it to an external API, and thus no (legitimate) way to run a third party program to do the sniping. Anyone regularly doing so could very quickly be identified and removed.