In Path of Exile 2, many players are increasingly annoyed by a missing feature. However, the developers seem to refuse to implement it out of principle.
Which feature is it? Since the game’s early access release on December 6, 2024, trading in PoE2 has been a recurring topic in the community. More and more players are complaining about the poor implementation of trading in the game.
As a solution, many are demanding an auction house that should help make trading safer and more efficient, but the developers seem unwilling to take this step.
The developers revealed in a video how the bosses of the ARPG are created:
Point of Contention: Trading
What annoys players about trading? To trade in Path of Exile 2, players cannot use an auction house as in other MMOs. Instead, the developers provide their own website that aggregates the community’s offers. There, players can search and filter for items like in an auction house, but there is no direct purchase option.
To acquire an item, players must chat with sellers via in-game chat and meet up locally to make an exchange. Many scammers also lurk to deceive unsuspecting players and take their items.
Not only the scammers, but also the many players who never respond and the additional step via an external website annoy users. When MeinMMO author Cedric Holmeier criticized the trading system in December, the opinion from the community was quite clear.
- Kozrek writes there, for example (via MeinMMO): “Yeah, I will never trade through this system; it opens the door wide for cheating. A decent, proper auction house would be good. And not this medieval system, it just doesn’t work.”
- Amizaras also shares this opinion (via MeinMMO): “Honestly, I can hardly believe what I’m reading here. External website? Waiting for the player to be online? Ridiculous. I have already collected a few unique items, but they will probably just gather dust in my stash. I hope they introduce an auction house; otherwise, I’m out when it comes to trading.”
- Naix feels similarly (via MeinMMO): “I’ll also be out of trading like in PoE1. I mean, there’s already a currency market in the game, so why not for equipment too? Not only is it so cumbersome through the website, but you always have to wait for the player to be online, and you have to be careful not to be scammed. […]”
The Auction House Should Solve the Problems
How should the auction house help? Not only MeinMMO author Cedric Holmeier is demanding an auction house. There is now a large portion of the PoE2 community on Reddit that shares this demand. For them, the auction house would be the solution to several issues.
On one hand, it would protect against scammers, as many scams occur through chat or the trading window. On the other hand, players could sell their items at any time without having to interrupt their gameplay. Moreover, the issue of players not responding would be resolved. But the developers seem reluctant to agree to this.
Why are the developers against it? Every time a new post appears on Reddit where players reasonably demand an auction house, a counter-side also speaks up. This often refers to the developers’ trading manifesto. The trading manifesto is a post by the developers (via pathofexile.com) from 2017, in which they explain their philosophy behind Path of Exile’s trading system.
The developers state that easier trading would lead to less motivation for character improvement because instead of obtaining upgrades from monsters and bosses, players would simply attempt to buy the best item for their build directly.
Furthermore, drop rates would need to be reduced to prevent players from flooding the market with items, which could spoil the game experience for gamers who do not trade.
Additionally, many players would never trade, making them at a strong disadvantage if there were a greater focus on such a system. Also, an auction house could quickly be dominated by bots, which would dictate the prices.
For the developers, it is clear that easier trading would replace the core aspect of grind and exploration in Path of Exile, which is not in their interest.
So is an auction house ruled out? No, as the trading manifesto from the developers originates from Path of Exile (1) from 2017. Although the developers have not chosen to implement an auction house in PoE2, they have not ruled it out either.
The community’s desire for simpler trading likely stems from the many new players that the successor has managed to attract. Whether the developers will eventually be persuaded to redesign trading remains to be seen. One player was actually quite lucky and would have had to spend a lot of time trading, but then his dream burst: Player finds the most lucrative item in Path of Exile 2, but before looting, the dream bursts
