Wow that original thread was from 2018, interestingly right away theres a link to GGGs trade manifesto written by Chris in 2017 when he was actually involved with development instead of collecting cards, its actually well written and touches on every point in this thread but this was written regarding players wanting an ‘auto trade’ style system like an AH
Its a massive manifesto, key points:
-They want players to be able to trade but they didnt really at first (no trade windows, no API’s for shops etc)
-Items are extremely important to be able to trade and progress and better gear is a sign of progression
-Big on player ownership of items
-Trade should be difficult
-Automation problems
Heres the thing, GGG knows players and I quote “Easy trade reduces the number of times a character improves their items.” this is not true on a new league character, you upgrade continually, on second/third character where you have established gear this is largely true
The fundamentals is they think trade makes the game too easy but they know it has to exist and repeatedly kept up with player demand, they added in SSF and STILL allow people to exit anytime into trade league, and the final:
“Easy trade means reducing drop rates
Compare two hypothetical games. In the first game, trade is very difficult. The majority of items that can’t be used by your character are not traded to other people. In the second game, trade is very easy. Many of the items that you can’t use are traded to other people for items that you can. In the second game, because of trade, you have a much higher acquisition rate of useful items. While that sounds great if you want instant gratification, in reality it means that the second game either receives reduced drop rates relative to the first, or ends up being a whole lot easier and less challenging to achieve goals in”
He is basically saying trade = easy mode but there is also reduced drop rates. Which is meaningless in games where bosses drop the best loot on a fixed lootable on a dice roll, reduced drop rates dont affect the pinnacle content anyway
Reducing drop rates in LE means slightly less Fire resistance shards, you get guaranteed exalt/rune/glyph drops from monoliths anyway, really does 400% rarity do ANYTHING?
I want trade as its a better experience for the player, but I was really keen to see the shitstorm of trade problems and how this game was going to handle it but instead they took the dev route and made it a better experience for them (way less hassles)
Realistically LE needs about 3-5 more years of content for a robust trading system, theres nothing to support it and for about the 6-8th time ever; Gold should of just been straight either removed or replaced with ‘Timeline currency’ you know something unique to your game…