In-Game Trade System: Cancelled?

Dear Chris, GGG

Have plans for an in-game, non third-party trading system been cancelled?

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Chris wrote:

Trading is a huge, core part of your game, and it allows players to act as content for each other instead of relying on you to put out new acts and features. How high on the priority list is improving trading between players?

There are a lot of questions about trade in the questions thread. We're working on several different things that make the process of getting items onto sites like poe.trade easier. These are improvements that are very possible in the short term (a month or so) and will have a big impact in the short term. There will probably be other improvements in the future - advanced tech such as cross-instance trading would of course be awesome, but requires significant investment. We're very excited about the trade API changes we're working on and look forward to talking more about it when they're closer to being ready.

The “answer”, quoted above from your Developer Q&A, is very much a non-answer. It is at best a politician-style dodging of the actual question asked by so many people in the designated Questions thread, a response that left a bitter taste in my mouth from its absolute emptiness.

Quoted in the following post are all the questions players asked in the Questions thread that had to do with the trade system. I stopped quoting after the first 30 pages, but the pattern is pretty obvious.

As you will note, NONE OF THEM talked about API’s, poe.trade or anything having to do with third-party programs/websites. They all had the same basic idea behind them - when, and how, will we see an update on the integrated trade system that was promised years ago?

The true answer I infer from the “response” given is that there are no more plans to create an in-game, integrated asynchronous trading system within Path of Exile. I see no other way to interpret the response, currently. This is disheartening to say the least, if it is true. If it isn’t, please, please, please state it clearly, and update us on the status of this very crucial part of the game, so that we (I) know if we (I) should hold our (my) breath or just move on.

If the game is heading towards keeping its third-party reliant trade system, please also state this clearly so that your playerbase is at least aware of the situation and not kept in the absolute dark as it currently is!


The last actual communication the community has received on this issue (to the best of my knowledge) is this one:

on January 15, 2014 4:07 PM

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Chris wrote:

The new trading changes aren't in the March 1.1.0 patch - there are two reasons:
a) We're keen to deploy them as soon as they're ready. There's no real need to wait for the next four-monthly patch.
b) The new trading stuff is not ready yet. It's a major system overhaul and we're still working on it. I'm really sorry about the delay.

As for how it works, the current plan is a combination of public stash tabs (to make it easier to find items) and separately, an asynchronous cross-instance-website trading system. You can basically trade (without buyouts) across the game and website. The trades and offers are still there when you log in later, so it's possible to trade with offline people or people who aren't in your game area or are on their phone or work PC.

This was over a year and a half ago. I believe a little bit of an update on this is long overdue, what do you think?

Thanks for your time!

These are abridged to keep it short and to the point. Only the relevant parts were kept - context was not modified in any way however.

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darkjoy wrote:

Will we ever see a proper trading system?

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Perq wrote:

Trade rework. Will we see integrated trade any time soon?

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Shaileen wrote:

Do you think that a faster/better trading systems will have large negative effects if you would introduce it?

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Dreggon wrote:

Trading is a huge, core part of your game, and it allows players to act as content for each other instead of relying on you to put out new acts and features. How high on the priority list is improving trading between players?

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Daidelos wrote:

Do you guys plan to integrate core parts of the game into the game instead of 3rd party websites?
1. Trading (setting shop in game, setting buyout prices from stash tabs, enabling automatic buyouts if the seller is willing to set a fixed price)

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Wh1ter wrote:

I am not always "uptodate" with PoE but 1-1,5 years ago there were some rumors about an in-game trading system. What about that?

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Abobabo wrote:

I wanted to ask, ingame trading system? Any new info you can give us about, how fare are you with it? What are the plan with it and so?

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LMTR14 wrote:

when will you add a searchable trading system that doesn't rely on the other player being online at the same moment to the game?

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Riandro wrote:

Finally, you are most likely sick of this question, but what plans or thoughts do you and team have for trading?

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SidleJinks wrote:

Trade. WHEN?
You told us years ago that you will develop convenient mechanism of off-line trade via forum. When are you going to do this?

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Scorptice wrote:

Can we expect a solid trade system soon.jpeg?

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Epicyon wrote:

Trading sucks major d**k - For more than 2 years you are rellying on 3rd party Auction House websites. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

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sck666 wrote:

Have GGG discussed building some sort of in-game trading.. house lately?

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Corsal8 wrote:

there will be a solid trading system soon? Maybe also asynchronous?

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yhateful wrote:

Can you shed ANY light on trading mechanics you are considering implementing? I know it probably comes under specifics of future content, but we could really use a real update on this topic.

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Phoobrak wrote:

Yep, quoting self!
• Is an integrated trade system still planned and/or in the works at GGG?
• Can we possibly get an update and/or an ETA on such a system being included in the game?
• Out of curiosity, seeing as how PoE's main feature is its trading, why has this received so little attention in much over two years?

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hobokiller21 wrote:

I would like like to now if there a set date yet on a new updated trading system that isn't revolved AH but something close to it !

seriously

If you read between the lines, it's a perfectly fine answer. The answer is yes.

As long as someone else is willing to do the work for free it will never come. If you want an in game trade system start a buyout and shut down poe.trade crowdfund.

The day that comes out is the day when cows rule the world in short

Never.

Things like this make me think that if GGG posted a roadmap of enhancements and allowed players who purchased points and packs to "direct" those purchases toward enhancements we could get moar done :3

Maps are crashing in game, and they can't add features without people exploiting them every single season (look at ghost, look at boxes, look at tempest ect) game is still runs on dx9.

I would be very wary of them adding in in-game trade system. All it takes is something small to fuck up or a little bug and suddenly you have people duping items 24/7 (D3), people getting their items stolen, extra payouts ect.

People think you just add in an AH interface and them "bam done" it works flawlessly. Not saying GGG doesn't try their best in updates or don't make good ones, but due to the random inconsistently quality of some features I wouldn't rush them to put one out.

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Xavderion wrote:

If you read between the lines, it's a perfectly fine answer. The answer is yes.

I agree, this is what the response seems to indicate.

However, you did put your finger on the exact point of the post: can we please stop having to read between lines here and get a straight answer, instead of this asinine rhetoric?