Bazaar Thrills or AH Apocalypse? A Veteran's Rant from the Trenches!

I've got some concerns about the trading system in POE2, and I wanted to share them here based on my 20+ years of experience in MMOs and ARPGs since 2003. I've seen all sorts of market and economy models over the years, and the ones that really stood out to me were those built around a certain level of inaccessibility for goods. It created natural scarcity that kept everything dynamic and engaging—like real-world market stalls or bazaars, where a vendor sets up shop, but their items are only available when they're actually there hawking them, not 24/7 like in an automated Auction House (AH). They might only pop up for a few hours a week, which forces buyers to time their hunts, haggle in real-time, and navigate the chaos of who's online or not. That limited access stopped markets from getting flooded or too predictable, injecting a real sense of strategy and excitement that a lot of modern systems just don't have.
I'm worried that POE2's trading might end up feeling pretty shallow, similar to the AH in WoW. Remember how Diablo 3 launched with its own AH, only to scrap it later? It was a mess for multiple reasons, but the core issue was the instant access to items pushing the market toward extreme equilibrium swings—stuff got wildly overpriced or dirt cheap, creating massive imbalances. Sure, POE2 has a totally different itemization setup (which is awesome), but I still fear it could shake up the overall economy and market in unintended ways.
Think back to grinding trades on poe.trade: how many times did you find the perfect listing, only for the seller to be offline, forcing you to get creative? I had the same vibes in Diablo 2 around patch 1.10—that clunky, frustrating system made you truly hunt for near-perfect rolls. It was irritating as hell sometimes, but it had this unique charm, like wandering a bustling marketplace, scouring for hidden gems, and yeah, haggling like a pro :D.
Now, with POE2's market setup, I'm concerned it might mimic Diablo 3's launch AH disaster. That said, my worries are tempered by POE's killer currency system—those orbs and such are brilliantly balanced between item and currency markets, which could keep things in check. We've all seen how a big YouTuber's league-killer build video can spike item prices by 200%, 600%, even 800% right at league start. It's wild.
Honestly, I don't know what to make of it all. GGG isn't dumb—they're way sharper than Blizzard in my book. Maybe this is just testing grounds, since it's still early access. The whole point is to iterate, so let's test it out and see where it lands. What do you all think? Anyone else feeling this way, or am I overthinking it?

what about just let us see how it goes and ggg will adjust if needed.

there are a lot of pros for the new trading and ofc there will pop up some cons.

but pls just let see how it goes.

and the old way to trade is still in the game.

and if people go for most popular builds then they have to pay for the items - seems logical.

OT: and there will still be niche item compositions for very viable builds that are not that much popular and dont cost much in trading.

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x3nz0xeso#3128 wrote:

I've got some concerns about the trading system

D3 scrapped the AH cos they allowed purchases for real life currency and a lot of bots showed up. The interaction you desire is the worst part of the game, at least for people like me. How many times I spent literally 8+ hours upgrading my build just searching the AH for all the pieces to max resistances and still max other stats only to find the person is not responding. Its colossal waste of time cos if you don't get one item, the same item of equal quality with same resists may be 10x more expensive so you need different combination and back to drawing board you go. how is that fun? And also no one banters. If its good item, they won't and if its bad item, why do you want it?