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Booting up Path of Exile 2, you can tell the campaign isn't meant to be a speed bump. It's paced like a trek, with fights that ask you to pay attention and builds that don't fully "click" until you've lived with them for a while. And yet, almost from day one, people are already talking about the economy and how fast someone can convert PoE 2 Currency into power, even if it's all technically earned in-game. That tension sits in the background the whole time you're learning the new systems.
You hit endgame and the goalposts move. During the story, you're reading enemy tells, rerolling links, scraping together resistances, making do. Then maps start scaling and suddenly "making do" feels like a mistake. The efficient path often isn't another run or another boss attempt; it's checking prices, selling what you don't need, and buying what you do. A lot of players don't mind that. Others do, because it changes what "skill" looks like. If the cleanest upgrade is a browser tab and a quick trade, the dungeon starts to feel like the side activity.
The best ARPG moments are personal. Your first big unique. The rare that lands with the exact stats you were chasing. That little jolt when you realise your build just jumped a tier. Trading can dull that. Not always, but often enough. If you know you can simply purchase the missing piece, the thrill of hunting it drops off. And when players start flipping items for profit, the game turns into a kind of routine: farm the most liquid content, sell fast, buy faster. You're still playing, sure, but it's a different kind of play, and it doesn't scratch the same itch for everyone.
Calling it "pay-to-win" can feel unfair because most people are trading time, not swiping a card. But the line gets messy once you factor in outside pressure on the economy: real-money services, bots, and players who treat the market like a job. Even without that, trade advantages the people who know pricing, who track meta shifts, who can log in at peak hours. That's knowledge and effort, but it's not the same as learning a boss or mastering a build. GGG has to keep trade useful without letting it replace the core loop.
The sweet spot is where trading supports your journey instead of skipping it. People should be able to patch a weak slot, grab a map-sustain tool, or sell a lucky drop without feeling forced into full-time market watching. Better crafting routes, stronger self-found progression, and smart limits on friction could all help the "I found this myself" feeling stay alive. And yes, some players will always look for shortcuts, including using marketplaces like U4GM to buy currency or items when they'd rather spend their hours mapping than bargaining, but the game still needs to make sure the top end feels earned through play, not just purchased efficiency.
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