Look I can understand that people would be mad that a feature originally promised has been reneged. The good news is that, in this case, the feature that was promised would have been a TERRIBLE mistake, and ditching it was absolutely the best move if EHG is trying to make a fun and satisfying ARPG.
I played D3 at launch, and it was boring AF. Why? The AH. It took the thrill of finding loot away. Instead of an exciting lottery-type rush every time you killed a boss or found a unique, it became essentially a numbers game. There’s no excitement when the perfect item drops, because I already have it. It makes the game too easy and takes the “risk” and “use what you’ve got” aspects out of it. Instead, everyone gets everything they want and it’s all sunshine and rainbows. But for some reason, your character feels empty.
This isn’t an MMO with a living economy where people are interacting all the time and there are a lot more variables. You kill monsters and grind for loot. That’s it. Having a mechanism by which you can exchange anything and everything you find for something of equal value that suits your specific playstyle trivializes the entire reason why ARPGs are interesting and challenging.
Min/maxers want a free trade system because it makes the game easier to get that perfect build with less effort. With a little time investment, you basically go to the market and choose the ideal items to match your wildest dream loadout. But the items you have aren’t yours. Someone else found them. I don’t know about you, but I remember the time and place where I found specific items I had been looking for just because it’s such a rush of excitement. Laissez faire trade takes feelings like this away.
There’s a reason D3 got rid of the AH in less than two years after launch. It made the game better, more rewarding, more difficult, and more fun. But I had long quit the game before then, because it was too easy, and basically just a bland free for all. There’s such a thing as too streamlined, too accessible, too convenient, and that’s what a trade system does to a game like LE.
Thank you EHG for making this design choice, stay strong and don’t listen to the haters.