[MUST READ] Revised and Enhanced Solutions for Fixing the Trade System {COMMENTARY REQUESTED}

Revised and Enhanced Solutions for Fixing the Trade System

After thoroughly reviewing the issues, examples (like the 9,999,999 Mirror listings and 500,000 Divine posts), and the mechanics in Path of Exile 1, it’s clear that Path of Exile 2 needs a revolutionary trade system overhaul—not a recycled version of the original. Here’s the final optimized approach:

Core Problems Addressed

Unrealistic Pricing: Obvious abuse of the system, such as listings for unattainable values (e.g., 9,999,999 Mirrors for low-value items), skews market perception and blocks honest trading.

Manipulation by Third-Party Sites: RMT sites and bots artificially inflate prices, cornering parts of the market and profiting at the expense of genuine players.

Lack of Transparency: Players, especially new or casual ones, lack tools to determine fair prices, leading to a discouraging and confusing trading experience.

Copy-Paste System: POE 1's trade system allowed similar exploitation, which alienated many players. POE 2 must not repeat this.

Optimized Solutions

1. Listing Cap Tied to Gameplay Progress

Mechanism: Players can post a limited number of items on the trade forum or marketplace based on their gameplay progression and activity:
Progression: Higher-level characters unlock more trade slots.

Activity: Regular gameplay (maps run, monsters killed, etc.) adds temporary trade slots.

Reasoning: This discourages bots or inactive players from flooding the market, while active players—especially average ones—can participate fairly.

Example:

A level 90 player who actively farms has 20 trade slots.
A bot farming low-level content remains capped at 5 trade slots.
2. Tiered Gold Posting Fees

Mechanism: Charge players gold (a non-tradable, in-game-only currency) to list items, scaled based on the item’s price.

Example:

Items priced < 10 Chaos Orbs = 1 Gold.
Items priced between 10-50 Chaos Orbs = 5 Gold.
Items priced over 50 Chaos Orbs = 1% of the listed price in Gold.

Reasoning: This discourages excessive or frivolous high-priced listings (e.g., 9,999,999 Mirrors) and ensures players consider the cost of posting an item.
Implementation Bonus: Gold cannot be traded or bought, so bots and RMT sites can’t bypass this system without actively playing the game.

3. Verified Pricing Tool Powered by AI

Mechanism:

AI scans item stats (mods, rarity, level) and assigns a suggested price range based on actual market activity.

Items listed outside this range are flagged for review or marked with a "Price Outlier" tag, warning buyers of potential manipulation.

Reasoning: This creates a transparent baseline for fair pricing and discourages dishonest practices. It also educates players on what constitutes reasonable pricing.

4. In-Game Marketplace (Replacing the Forum)

Mechanism: Replace or supplement the trade forum with an in-game trade market:
Items are listed with fixed prices.

Buyers can instantly purchase if they meet the asking price.
Listings are time-limited (e.g., 24 hours), and relisting incurs additional fees.

Reasoning: This system eliminates the need for manual messaging and back-and-forth negotiations while creating a smoother, fairer trade experience.

Anti-Bot and Anti-Manipulation Enhancements

5. AI to Detect Manipulative Listings

Mechanism: AI flags and removes listings that show clear signs of manipulation:
Unrealistic pricing (e.g., level 30 items listed for 9,999,999 Mirrors).
Abnormal trading activity (e.g., repeated low-value items listed at extremely high prices).

Excessive relisting of the same items.

Reasoning: Directly tackles the most obvious abuse cases, ensuring a cleaner market for average players.

6. Tracking Trade History

Mechanism: Introduce a trade history ledger for public visibility:
Players can view the last 10 trades of an item type, including the selling price.

Example: A player looking for a unique helmet can see its recent sales history to assess fair market value.

Reasoning: Provides transparency, helping honest players understand pricing trends and preventing misinformation.

7. Gold Rewards Based on Gameplay

Mechanism: Increase gold rewards for players based on time spent actively engaging with challenging game content:

Example:

Players farming Tier 14-16 maps earn significantly more gold/hour than those in Tier 1-5 maps.

Gold is earned from combat, crafting, and league mechanics—not just logging in.
Reasoning: Ensures that active, honest players have enough resources to participate in trading, while bots and inactive players struggle to keep up.

Final Implementation: Incentivizing Fair Play

8. Dynamic Posting Limits

Mechanism: Set dynamic listing limits based on player behavior:

Active, fair traders who complete trades gain bonus slots.
Manipulators and spammers lose posting privileges (e.g., flagged accounts are capped at 1-2 slots).

Reasoning: Rewards honest participation while punishing disruptive behavior.

9. Real-Time Price Recommendations

Mechanism: AI provides real-time price guidance when listing items, educating players on realistic pricing based on market trends and recent sales.
Reasoning: Helps average players navigate the market and prevents accidental overpricing or undervaluing of items.

10. Community Feedback Integration

Mechanism: Add a player-driven feedback system for the trade market:
Players can upvote or flag listings as "fair," "inflated," or "manipulative."
Listings with excessive negative feedback are reviewed or removed by moderators.

Reasoning: Empowers the community to self-regulate and reduces reliance on bots or bad actors.

Why This is Better

Fair for Honest Players: It gives casual and average players tools to compete fairly without relying on bots or third-party sellers.

Deters Manipulators: Posting fees and limited trade slots ensure that manipulators can’t flood the market with bogus listings.

Educates Players: Pricing tools and trade history empower players with knowledge, leveling the playing field.

Streamlined Trading: An in-game marketplace simplifies transactions, removing frustrations caused by forum-based systems.

Please take this into consideration, work hard to implement upon release, and lead the way in a gaming industry history.

Just think of how many players have been lost in POE 1 using POE 1 trading system.

You have a choice to move forward with an old model or define the future.

AI is your only way forward.

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What the hell even is this post? Talk about reinventing the wheel and ending up with a square wheel made out of concrete...

Let's develop multiple systems requiring AI (at comparatively massive compute cost) for what can very easily be achieved with a standard, run of the mill auction house with a set buyout price. Items set at multiple mirrors simply don't matter, they are easily filtered by even the current system where necessary. Price manipulation happens almost exclusively in the opposite direction, by listing items at low cost and refusing to sell them - a problem immediately solved by an auction house.

Listing items at a high price trying to "fix" the item isn't manipulation - it's up to the seller if they want to try to get a higher price. If they are overestimating the reasonable price, cheaper items will continue to appear and sell, and if not, the item isn't overvalued.

TL:DR; you've invented like.. 8 or 9 different systems that are completely unnecessary to replace an already existing solution that does everything you aim to solve, only better. "Must read", you claim? I suppose as a recipe for what definitely not to do.

to solve this economy problem is by increase the drop rate, make it higher.. more drops so feels no worth for it, cant do scummy RMT.

i'm new player first time playing this game since EA release.

with dev vision in mind "lots of diversity builds" i found there's trade system and first time what i think is
'oh that's trade system is for helping search items needed for my build if i dont get it from drop'.

but reality is different, it became some greedy hellhole.

if you think it to easy because drops, play SSF. i bet there're some items wont drop how long you grind. that's SSF what created for is it?

that's my suggestion is, another suggestion welcomed by me.

I think yall are too invested in a dungeoncrawler's trading system/economy. I just play with the gear my toons find or occasionally stuff my friends find and think of holding on for me. There is no point to an imaginary rat race that will reward you with nothing. My commentary is that you might be making mountains out of molehills.

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LeFlesh#9979 wrote:

I think yall are too invested in a dungeoncrawler's trading system/economy. I just play with the gear my toons find or occasionally stuff my friends find and think of holding on for me. There is no point to an imaginary rat race that will reward you with nothing. My commentary is that you might be making mountains out of molehills.

if this economy stay like this, who you think gonna create new account when this free game full released? it's bot bot and bot. bot everywhere..

yeah i know u gonna just talk like i just wanna be strong with ez drop items.

but what suggestion u give to repair this situation? nothing.

"

Validus#6349 wrote:

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LeFlesh#9979 wrote:

I think yall are too invested in a dungeoncrawler's trading system/economy. I just play with the gear my toons find or occasionally stuff my friends find and think of holding on for me. There is no point to an imaginary rat race that will reward you with nothing. My commentary is that you might be making mountains out of molehills.

if this economy stay like this, who you think gonna create new account when this free game full released? it's bot bot and bot. bot everywhere..

yeah i know u gonna just talk like i just wanna be strong with ez drop items.

but what suggestion u give to repair this situation? nothing.

I gave plenty of solutions, start with the gold one. Make sure you read it, since it sounds like your mad at me.

"

BrewskiesBrew#0748 wrote:

"

Validus#6349 wrote:

"

LeFlesh#9979 wrote:

I think yall are too invested in a dungeoncrawler's trading system/economy. I just play with the gear my toons find or occasionally stuff my friends find and think of holding on for me. There is no point to an imaginary rat race that will reward you with nothing. My commentary is that you might be making mountains out of molehills.

if this economy stay like this, who you think gonna create new account when this free game full released? it's bot bot and bot. bot everywhere..

yeah i know u gonna just talk like i just wanna be strong with ez drop items.

but what suggestion u give to repair this situation? nothing.

I gave plenty of solutions, start with the gold one. Make sure you read it, since it sounds like your mad at me.

oi bro, i quoted that guy so it means i reply to him.. and i mad at him not u.. lol

i was backing reinforcing and backing you up !! my bad

I noticed that there is still no gold comment recommendation.

[quote"BrewskiesBrew#0748"]AI scans item stats (mods, rarity, level) and assigns a suggested price range based on actual market activity.[/quote]
No, no no no. Ai is far to easy to manipulate.

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