Lets be real, I'm a selective grinder. I bought elite because spaceship customization and combat. Hundreds of hours of combat in the same HazRES? I can do that grind. I enjoy that grind. Trading sucks, I don't want to do it in any game and this one is no exception. Not interested in searching ruins for artifacts. I want to go kill things and make the universe safer from piracy (and alien invaders when they get here), and then pay someone else (who enjoys exploring ruins and gathering, yes those people exist in every MMO there is) more and more of my space credits to assemble me better and better ships.
Would this type of P2P sales mechanic bother people? I mean, I know elite's thing is that there are no classes and do what you want. Well what I want is to be a space combat pilot and nothing else without losing access to ship modifications which can be a significant combat advantage. And the gatherers would get the benefit of being able to set their own prices and expand their resources by tinkering out interesting builds and selling them when they get bored of them or whatever. I feel like this would increase people's ability to play how they want rather than hinder it.
In real life, if I'm a racercar driver I'm paying to buy enhanced performance parts, and paying someone to fit them to my car, I'm not involved in the mining of the ore required for casting them or their machining or installation. Why? Because it takes a lot of time to be very good at 1 thing. While the ore mining, machining, and installing was being done I was studying track film, doing test laps, practicing my own totally different skillset. If I get more skill and experience, and win, I get paid more and can buy more of your machining and mechanical skills. If ED wants to be so "real life in a future of colonized space" then this would really only make even more sense, when was the last time you met a miner, mechanic, combat veteran, archaelogist, financier (all in one person) here on earth? Then why is every single CMDR in this game forced to be exactly that by default?
