Yes it is possible and not entirely unexploitable, however trading will cost favor for both parties involved.
On top of that only items without a CoF requirement can be traded.
And items can only be traded once.
So while all of this never rules out any abuse of the system it limits it in very severe ways.
Will it still happen? Of course, but that will be the case for any other system as well.
I would’ve preferred a trade league/SSF option or something as I don’t know how this will work with ladders/races etc. This is still far better than no trade though. Thanks for listening
SSF (solo) will still be an option.
With ladders they’re leaning towards putting MG/CoF tags on each player but having them all on the same ladder.
Idols will be included in both the MG and CoF systems. They will follow the same rules and restrictions as all other equipment.
I was excited to have something to use my gold, but Lightless Arbor to me is more than a gold sink, it wastes too much gold for very little benefit in my opinion. I will only do the boss and take the very minimum from the vault.
It will naturally keep MG in check because as items are purchased, they are removed from the market but the gold isn’t. So, eventually prices will rise on items and selling something and then using the gold on the vaults will become more lucrative. This will drain the market of gold and item prices will drop again.
We do plan to add more gold sinks which don’t directly compete with the vaults.
Is there any reason why you just don’t remove all the extraneous fluff and make it so people playing trade can just trade, and people playing SSF can keep their item bonus as the penalty for not being able to trade?
You are penalizing the people who want to trade by adding in all these restrictions and ham fisted rules while the people who want to play SSF can do so without any detraction. Just give each people what they want without adding the drawbacks.
It is fair that if you play SSF that you get 50-100% more/better loot but with the restriction being that it is stuck to you and you don’t get to “choose” what you want like you can with trade. Pretty much everyone is on board with that.
Let trade be trade.
Hi 
CoF is not SSF; it does not restrict you to playing alone, nor to items found alone.
Mike addressed this in more detail in an earlier post on this topic.
Exactly, I really wish people would come into this discussion without trying to shoe-horn in the way POE does it’s systems. I understand it IS the comparison to make, but this system is very different.
Hyperbole isn’t a great way to get anybody to listen to you mate. There is nothing “ham fisted” about what we currently know about how they plan to restrict trading. This attitude of “If it’s not exactly perfectly what I want I’m being penalized” is not useful or productive.
You raise a faction rank one time, you can’t spam trades in either direction, you have to actually engage with the game to trade things, and people who want tradable items have to forego significant “self found” bonuses. You get powerful filtering in searching for items you want to buy, and it’s all asynchronous and instantaneous. So ham, many fist.
Because it’s not people playing SSF that might want to go CoF, they (the devs) also, as has been said many, many times don’t want trade to be the easiest way to get gear. Mike even had a post above about their aims with this system, thanks for reading it.
Let’s ease up a bit of them here eh? It’s ok to be critical of the system too.
Will we be able to see the progress we are making towards enabling resonances with a specific friend, like a bar in our friends list?
If we end up resonating with several dozen friends and a resonance drops, does it roll its compatibility between all resonance-enabled friends, or is the resonance friend-agnostic? In other words, does a resonance drop and then I can assign it to any friend I resonate with, or is a friend more likely to be able to receive the item if I have fewer players to split the odds between?
Maybe, we’re still deciding on that, I can see the appeal for it but it’s not necessarily something we want to expose.
The second question is tougher to answer so I’ll answer something else instead that should clear this up. You can only gain progress towards and drop a resonance for people that are currently in your party and zone. Getting one to drop that is associated with one person in your party doesn’t affect them dropping for other people.
Nice to see that EHG took a more dynamic path. Good on ya.
I believe I’m misinterpreting how resonances work, or maybe their purpose.
I thought they would drop even if your friend was offline, so that you could give them an item when they got back on, as the current gifting system seems to already fulfill the ability to give a friend an item while you are partying together.
The resonance items themselves only drop while you are playing with people.
Resonance can be used on equipment items to make that equipment behave as though that person was with you when the equipment dropped.
So you’re playing with your friend Bill and you find a resonance. Later Bill logs off but you keep playing and the perfect item for Bill’s build drops.
The next day, you’re playing with Bill and you apply the resonance to the item then you gift the item to Bill.
This allows you to share items that you find with people that you frequently play with.
I see! That’s very interesting, and fulfills the function I was hoping for!
Thank you for taking the time to patiently answer questions. You are appreciated! I love how EHG is always putting its own spin on traditional systems.
Will players in CoF also be able to wander through the bazaar area? If not, will CoF players also have a mini zone to congregate in? I admit that being able to have a character exclusively go into either Aldor Rise or Scryer’s Tier in Shattrath City gave a feeling of character identity to me. I look forward to trying out some characters as CoF and some as MG to have different play experiences.
It’s still undecided, the CoF area wouldn’t serve much of a purpose but it could be cool.
I’m so proud of this team I could cry thanks EHG