Introducing the Trade-House Idea (Offline Trading)

"

Rustychops wrote:

I wonder if you can combine 3 lesser currency items to create a better one.

Doubtful. Though similar to the rune system, the currency items will range from very common to extremely rare.

I think the only way to handle this is to allow the player a small blurb of text to specify what they would want in return. You could still filter those by keyword then. That would be the only way to get the necessary amount of detail without having an incredibly complex system.

there won´t be one...point.^^

GGG really went out on a limb with their choice to go with currency items and no actual currency. It's a feature that is pretty prominent and core to the inter-player dynamics of the community.

They attempted to fix a problem they saw with economies of other games, but clearly it comes with it's own hurdles.

At some point GGG will have to address how they intend on really implementing a system to allow for players to *easily* find an item they want and then trade for it, given that all trades will be complex assortments of item-item trades.

I've played in games with forum trades, and it's hard or impossible to easily find and trade items, with the requirement of sifting through thousands of links that get bumped and move around and result in sloooow trading.

I've played in games with individual venders where the player can open a vender shop... again hard or impossible to easily find what you want without sifting manually through thousands of shops.

We've all played in games with regular auction houses and they work fairly well...

So the question is, we've talked about it quite a bit, and the dev diary addressed currency items, but didn't address how they will be supporting the economy with fast, easy, and secure trades in such a complex system.

I say the ball is in GGG's court atm to address this. Currently it's believed that players will have to rely on bumping into someone that has something they want and negotiating, or leaving message after message on countless trade threads... both of which are terribly inefficient.

What if there was a "market" where you could go to trade? What I mean by this is when you load the game you have the "play game" button, but you might also have a "visit market" button (you would chose the char to log in with and go from there like normal). The market would look just a like a town in game except it would be organized into groups of people trading axes, bows, helms, etc. and you would go to the appropriate group with an item you were looking for or an item you were wanting to trade. There could be signs up pointing towards the directions of where the different kinds of trading was going on.

While it's still more work than an AH, it's at least somewhat organized as far as the trading is concerned. You'll still have to work for the trade (dialogue, bartering, etc.) but without a set currency (not just currency items) I don't see how you could do a whole lot better than this. General forums would be more painful as you would have to set up a meet and then trade vs. just being there to look at the items and then work out a deal.

Thoughts?

its too early... after release the economy will raise and show us how to trade or not to trade;)

"

innoruuk wrote:

its too early... after release the economy will raise and show us how to trade or not to trade;)

I'll agree with Innoruuk on this one. While the developers could slap a old design like an AH on PoE i think it would be better to wait. See the player's feedback after we've played and then came up with a system while considering that feedback.

"

kungfooe wrote:

What if there was a "market" where you could go to trade? What I mean by this is when you load the game you have the "play game" button, but you might also have a "visit market" button (you would chose the char to log in with and go from there like normal). The market would look just a like a town in game except it would be organized into groups of people trading axes, bows, helms, etc. and you would go to the appropriate group with an item you were looking for or an item you were wanting to trade. There could be signs up pointing towards the directions of where the different kinds of trading was going on.

While it's still more work than an AH, it's at least somewhat organized as far as the trading is concerned. You'll still have to work for the trade (dialogue, bartering, etc.) but without a set currency (not just currency items) I don't see how you could do a whole lot better than this. General forums would be more painful as you would have to set up a meet and then trade vs. just being there to look at the items and then work out a deal.

Thoughts?

I mentioned this in my post... it's nearly the same system as people putting up shops, and it doesn't work well... especially in a dynamic server system such as POE where everyone will be spread across instances.

I also totally disagree with those above saying they should wait and see... that's no way to run a business. You need plans early and often so they can be considered and revised.

I'm not sure I can recommend a game to people that doesn't supply a centralized system for organization of trades that includes a robust search and filter system.

Many of us vet and review games for large communities of thousands of people, so these core functionalities matter a lot when a game is almost entirely based on items. Anyone that thinks that trading in a game centered around items isn't core would be crazy.

"

zeto wrote:

I also totally disagree with those above saying they should wait and see... that's no way to run a business. You need plans early and often so they can be considered and revised.

True. But as GGG increases the number of alpha testers over the coming months and into the closed beta they'll get a lot of feedback about this sort of thing. Maybe they could manage something in time for the final release.

Sorry should have been more specific. Yes i think there should be an established trading method. However what I'M saying is that it's still in alpha. As the alpha pool expands as tpapp said then it will be better know how to handle it. Though yes in 1.0 there should be an established trading system that goes beyond local trading.

"

Rustychops wrote:

Write out how the auction house will work with the trading and currency system of PoE. Then people will listen to you. Maby draw an interface too.

I did on page two. It's a moot point though since I think GGG are pretty firmly set on trade forums and no auction house.