Auction House in PoE 2: It’s Time for a Real Solution – Let’s End the Excuses!

Dear GGG and Fellow Exiles,

We all know this debate comes up every league, every year—yet nothing truly changes. As PoE 2 0.3 approaches, it’s time to have an honest, grown-up discussion about why an Auction House is no longer just “nice to have,” but absolutely necessary for the future of this game. Let’s address every major argument against it, one by one.

1. “Auction House Goes Against PoE’s Philosophy. Frictional Trading Is the Point!”

If “friction” is just code for “wasting players’ time and energy,” it’s not a feature—it’s a problem. Games need to adapt to changing times and player expectations. The core fun of PoE is slaying monsters, making builds, and finding loot, not opening 20 browser tabs, spam-whispering strangers, or getting ghosted by AFK sellers.
Let those who love manual trading keep it. But don’t force everyone into a broken, outdated system under the excuse of “philosophy.”

2. “Auction House Would Ruin the Economy: Race to the Bottom, Bots Everywhere, Flipping Madness”

The current system is already a playground for price fixers, flippers, and bots. They thrive precisely because there’s no transparency or automation. Auction House systems in modern games have proven anti-bot protections and can be designed with price floors, rate limits, cooldowns, and better monitoring than anything we have now.
A true Auction House would level the playing field for everyone, not just the 1% of “market sharks” who are online 24/7. And yes, more volume means prices might drop—that’s called a healthy, competitive market.

3. “Auction House Would Hurt Casual Players, Only Hardcore Traders Would Win”

This is simply false. The current system already punishes anyone who can’t be online for hours, can’t micro-manage their stash, or doesn’t want to hustle on Discord and third-party sites. An Auction House finally gives casuals a fair shot: you list your item, log off, and maybe actually make a sale. For the first time, it’s not about how many hours you can be glued to the screen, but about what you find and want to sell.

4. “GGG Needs Premium Stash Tab Sales – Auction House Would Hurt Revenue”

On the contrary, easier trading means more people trading, and more stash tabs are needed. That’s what happens in every game with an AH: more market participation equals more demand for storage and quality-of-life upgrades. GGG could even monetize advanced AH features, listing boosts, or convenience tools. The fear that Auction House hurts revenue isn’t supported by any MMO or ARPG precedent.

5. “The Real Fun is in the Struggle of Trade!”

Let’s be honest: the “fun” in PoE is loot, progression, crafting, and building. Wasting time fighting with old website UI and AFK sellers is not “content,” it’s an annoyance. If you genuinely enjoy bartering, haggling, and social trading, nothing stops you from doing that with friends or in trade chat. Auction House is about giving choice, not taking anything away.

6. “Auction House Removes Social Interaction—The Game Will Feel Empty!”

Most trades today involve zero actual social interaction. You send a template message, get an invite (maybe), make a silent exchange, and get booted. Real social connections come from parties, guilds, and playing together, not from 10-second item swaps. Let’s not pretend the current system is “community building.”

7. “Not Everyone Wants It—The Community Is Split!”

Every league, every Reddit and forum thread, every streamer’s chat—this is the most repeated request in the game’s history. If the majority didn’t want an Auction House, we wouldn’t see these threads and complaints every single day for years.

8. “Auction House Will Automate Everything, Remove the ‘RNG’ From Trade!”

PoE is, at its core, a game about loot and trade. Currently, most trading happens outside the game via external tools, Discord servers, and third-party overlays. Bringing trading in-game with an AH makes it more accessible and keeps the economy healthy. RNG in loot will always exist; Auction House just lets players interact with the economy without unnecessary roadblocks.

Let’s make PoE 2 not just a game for the elite, the bots, or the market manipulators, but a game for everyone who loves ARPGs.

No more excuses. It’s time for an Auction House.

The future of PoE 2 deserves better than the past.

Nah we don't need AH. We don't need trade and for sure we don't need more loot balance around economy. We need game and gameplay that allows you to get to a point where you can farm what you're after.

/Copium

Do you REALLY think they're going to be able to make a functional AH? You should know better by now... Unless you're new, if you're new, this is not something GGG is equipped or willing to do. Ever.

If GGG tries to roll this out there will be monkey paw fingers curling all over the world -- it'll be bad and broken and likely unusable, a pain to navigate.

Only bad comes from AH.

I 100% agree with the OP. The 'reasons' given for not having an auction house simply do not make any sense. The current system is the definition of anti fun.

"

Rakie1337#5746 написал:

Do you REALLY think they're going to be able to make a functional AH? You should know better by now... Unless you're new, if you're new, this is not something GGG is equipped or willing to do. Ever.

If GGG tries to roll this out there will be monkey paw fingers curling all over the world -- it'll be bad and broken and likely unusable, a pain to navigate.

Only bad comes from AH.

Let’s be real, GGG has pulled off incredibly complex systems in the past. Implementing a basic Auction House is not rocket science; dozens of smaller studios have done it.
And if the concern is bugs or growing pains: that’s true of any new feature. But refusing to improve trade just because it’s “hard” is not a valid excuse.
With proper community feedback, iterative testing, and clear priorities, a functional AH is absolutely possible.

+1

"

Aim_High#3562 написал:

Nah we don't need AH. We don't need trade and for sure we don't need more loot balance around economy. We need game and gameplay that allows you to get to a point where you can farm what you're after.

/Copium

Exactly my philosophy. The tail is already wagging the dog when it comes to balancing. Everything is balanced around trade. Being a hideout warrior is already the most effective way of playing the game

Now imagine you improve ease of access to trade and remove all the "friction". Price would obviously drop. For some people that's great, but anyone who understands the game knows that it will get even more lopsided when it comes to the comparison of farming vs. trading. It's already in such a bad state that you can buy gear for 10-20 ex that can carry you to high level maps. Try that with farming and using your 10-20 exalts for "crafting" and see how far that carries.

Now, I wouldn't mind an auction house if the would cordon off SSF and trading entirely and balance SSF appropriately for a decent SSF experience (a ton more Omens, Essences, Expedition mats, instilled emotions, significantly higher drop rates for uniques and currency used for crafting like chaos orbs, annulment orbs, etc.)
But I think they are even more opposed to appropiately balance SSF than to having an auction house. sigh

I simply agree that we need an AH or well we need async trading ot be exact and there are multiple ways of doing so. Even ways where the player has to be online.

For example someone requests a trade the person accepts the trade and the buyer can collect the item from an NPC in the players Hideout. So there isnt a person to person trading. But the Player who sells still has to be online.

I prefer full offline trading but thats fine too.

+1

Trading is a horrible experience in this game.
Enjoyment would be greatly improved in this game with an AH.

And when it comes to stash tabs, I have 20x more than I need and I dont have many at all.

I play on console and price checking is unbearable so I just don't do it. I just guess prices for everything, and guess what, I barely make a sale ever. Its at the point that I dont pick up any loot from maps regardless of tier.

The current trade system is directly stopping me from purchasing stash tabs as the ones I have rarely even get used, completely pointless. If there was and auction house with some form of price checker or suggested list price then I might sell more and need more stash space.

As it stands now a single public stash would take months to clear in sales at the rate my stuff sells. Ill say again, this trade system literally makes stash sales not only unnecessary but a complete waste. I would be an idiot if I bought any stash tabs.

The currency exchange is an exact template for how it could work. It's beyond normal reasoning to say you could and should not implement it in the exact same way.

The developers are not worried about making quality decisions that improve the players experience if it shortens the amount of time you are in game.

Funny enough after these past few months of absolute cash grab greed while all but one playstyle is viable and the rest of the game hardly functions as intended has brought my play time to... zero.

which is worse?