(moving this over from GD)

L1 - Can trade standard and militia items
L2 - Can trade advanced items
L4 (L3?) - Can trade prototype, officer, FW items, and later BPOs, boosters, etc.

Thoughts?

I feel that this would be preferable because it allows legit day one characters the chance to get rid of some loot they may come across, but more importantly it lets them acquire it themselves if they go searching. As they advance it gives them a goal, hopefully letting them hit rank 2 about the time they get full advanced fits, and then into 3 (or 4) somewhere around when they have full prototype gear.

I think the Loyalty Rank system should be readjusted though so that way AUR doesn't have much of an influence at all in the first 3 levels, and making those first 3 levels a little less painless to acquire. That way it still takes some effort to get there, but it also doesn't take forever without shelling out some cash.

Well CCP wants a pure LR trade system, so my apologies for offering up a compromise.

I see you haven't blown through all of your steam yet. I have. Now I just poke at them and keep myself amused. The budget was axed, and most of the dev team was migrated away. This is now the pet project. Valkyrie which started as a few people messing around in the office has WAAAAAAAAAAY more support than this game ever will.

You simply have to face facts: DUST 514 no longer has an adequate budget or dev team required to provide a polished, ever advancing game that's tied meaningfully into New Eden. It simply is not a reality that can be accomplished under current circumstances. Perhaps Legion is in full swing in the shadows, and they'll surprise us all (highly doubtful), but if you expect anything big from DUST then you're just setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment.

And, while I totally agree a real market and real trade features would be lovely, CCP is concerned about people who made armies of alts to collect all the random loot from the newsletters and events and stuff, so they don't want those people suddenly sitting on this massive stockpile without having to actually put in some effort to unload it all. Basically, blame hoarders along with CCPs apparent inability to flag these rewards as untradeable (think soulbound)

So new players who can only use standard and advanced gear will have no interest in purchasing their gear at reduced prices?

You learn something new every day.

Niether this or CCP's grab is a remote restriction towards new players as said new players can easily use microtransactions money to increase their AURank for the ability to trade freely.

The amount of time it would take to actually "purchase items at reduced prices" from other players is far to cumbersome for the 10k ISK you'll most likely save, making that a moot point too.

If the actual point is to restrict throwaway alts and new players, CCP should look at things such as time spent in battle, character age, and WP; all of which actually determine whether or not a character is new or legitamate.

As it stands, new players will be locked out from the most BASIC feature that should have been in from DAY ONE, unless they spend $$$$$ or an ass ton of time in game. New players should not be locked out from player trade, at least not entirely.

I just think an occasionally updated F2P game with limited development doesn't deserve to force players to shell out cash to access the simplest of basic features.

In the end I suppose this game does rely heavily on the Carrot on a Stick mentality, so putting something else out there that people feel they need is a good deal for CCP. I'm rank 7 so it's w/e, it just puts a bad taste in my mouth that it took 3 years to get player gifting, and you can't even do it as a new player :/

If a player doesn't spend money, then how is time not a factor?

Considering ranks didn't exist in Open Beta.....

Go make a brand new character and tell me when you've hit L4 without spending cash. I'll be waiting.