[Suggestion] Breaking the TFT Monopoly: A Comprehensive In-Game Service & Mirror System for 3.28+

i think theres levels where you can be against something and actively doing all you can to stop it, being against something but tolerating it happening, being ok with something happening on a small scale but not wanting to support it or provide qol for it because you are not ok with it happening on a larger scale and then actually approving of a thing, wanting it to be more commonplace and being willing to support it and hence encourage it.


i think we often talk in black and white terms on issues like these in the forums, same with is the game balanced for trade or self found, is the game designed to be instantly understandable or requiring external studying? does it require external tools? i think the reality is theres probably a more nuanced take behind the scenes where different people are at different points along the grey scale between the 2 poles, conversations are happening, opinions are changing back and forth.



i dont think they should encourage carries and services personally. its not in the spirit of how i think the game should be played. it happens, its fine that it happens in the limited way it currently does but i wouldnt want them to make it 'part of the game'. i do think there should be a scam proof user interface for mirroring items, have we not heard devs talk about that as a possibility before? my memory is so hazy.

+1

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ZUCKER#3890 wrote:

Here is why the "services are an exploit" mindset is fundamentally flawed:

• The D2 Annihilus comparison proves the exact opposite of your point: In classic D2, the inability to trade the Annihilus charm securely led to rampant drop-trade scams. What was the ultimate solution in Diablo 2: Resurrected? They made it tradeable in the secure trade window. The developers recognized that players will always trade high-value assets, and failing to provide a secure system just empowers scammers. GGG recognized this exact same principle with item trading, which is why we finally got the Currency Exchange and async trade in 3.28.
• Trading gameplay vs. trading items is an arbitrary line: In an economy-driven ARPG, time, effort, and character power are the core commodities. If a player builds a dedicated bosser, farming the boss and selling the loot is functionally and economically no different from selling the boss kill itself. Both are transactions of time and character power for currency.
• The "head in the sand" approach only helps cartels: Wishing services didn't exist doesn't change the reality that they are a massive, permanent part of the PoE ecosystem. Refusing to support them officially doesn't stop them; it simply hands a total monopoly over a massive chunk of the game's economy to unregulated, third-party Discord servers.

I disagree with nearly every aspect of this list, and your analysis of each item.
1) D2 Annihilus becoming tradeable was, in my opinion, Blizzard's historical way of "caving" to pressure (negatively). This is why we got D3 and D4.....I believe you drew the wrong conclusion, and Blizzard made the wrong change for their game. It would have been FAR BETTER for the uber encounters if the item remained untradeable: a true reward for a self achievement.

2) This is the biggest problem with everything you have written in this thread. It is NOT an arbitrary line to draw. GGG wants you to play their game. That is why it exists. That's why they continue adding content. They design bosses to be interesting to play. They design mechanics they want you to interact with. Why in the world would they spend all that time and money, if they wanted you to be able to bypass it all? They have worked pretty darn hard throughout history to make it more cumbersome to do, albeit indirectly most of the time. And then we can see through the initial and current designs of PoE 2 what they TRULY want from players.
This game is designed on replayability. It is designed on players making NEW CHARACTERS to accomplish things they otherwise could not on a different character. Services and carries RUIN this aspect of the gameplay loop. Not every single thing in the game is designed to be completed on one character, in one league. Thinking otherwise is simply wrong. Just dead wrong.
Players have grown to have insane expectations of what they should baseline be able to do in a short amount of time. This is a problem that needs to be fixed.
I also completely disagree that "selling a boss kill" and "selling a boss item" are functionally the same. They may have the same result, but the actual function is wildly different. This is a classic "ends justify the means" argument.

3) On this you are right: wishing doesn't do anything. Which is why I ALSO wrote...they should actively abolish carries and services. The reason they haven't is because they are treading a very fine line. I think its finally their chance to get bold.

Absolutely support this.

PoE’s economy is at its best when players can stay in-game, not when the most important services are pushed into Discord gatekeeping. A proper in-game board, secure escrow, and automated mirror service would cut scams, reduce RMT exposure, and make high-end trading far more accessible without killing player interaction.

The biggest win is trust: if GGG can systematize services the same way they already systematized so many other league mechanics, the community no longer has to depend on third-party monopolies to participate in endgame commerce. This feels overdue.

+1

+1

GGG please this would be peak.

TFT will be back...you ban one person doing RMT not a whole community :/

I am curious why OP is asking breaking the TFT monopoly considering that TFT mirror shop is not working for more then a week and I dont see it ever working again. GGG has confiscated all the mirror tier items (which were crafted by lots of people) so its effectively GGG who holds monopoly on mirror services and it seems GGG has decided to put an end to affordable mirror services. I dont think there are many enthusiasts left in Standard who whould like to dedictate lots of time to recraft all those items which were lost.
Will GGG put all those confiscated items on automated mirror service? I doubt. It wasnt GGG employees who crafted them so it would be malpractice to use items crafted by someone else.

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