[b][i]Note: This is not about gifting. Typically, when discussing trading, one of the biggest arguments against it is the potential for players to gift items to other players. That isn't trading.[/i][/b] Trading can work in Destiny, and it can improve one of the biggest shortcomings of the game, which is that, when a player moves beyond a particular tier of gear or when a player acquires duplicate gear or when a player just doesn't want the gear he or she acquires, the only option is to dismantle it for materials. That's just not very interesting. Not only do players not have any options to consider, but the activity is simplified to holding a button down for a few seconds. With House of Wolves, Bungie is giving the Speaker the ability to exchange materials for us. We can trade ascendant energies for shards, or radiant energies for shards, etc. Trading in Destiny could work in a similar fashion. [b]How it could work[/b] Create a vendor in the Tower that two players can go to for the purposes of trading. This vendor could be called the "Trade Arbiter" or something. Essentially, Bungie could work out a hard exchange rate for every item, ensuring nothing is given for free or unreasonably cheap. For instance, you have two Gjallarhorns, and your friend has none. You both go to the Trade Arbiter, and you say to him, "I would like to trade my spare Gjallarhorn to my buddy." He turns to your buddy and says, "The required trade offering for a Gjallarhorn is 10 motes of light, 10,000 glimmer, and 1 exotic shard." Your friend hands over the goods. You approve of the transaction. The stuff is swapped between players. Everyone is happy. You don't shamefully have to waste the most desired weapon in the game because there's literally nothing else for you to do with it. And your friend gets to see what all of the fuss is about. [b]Why we need this[/b] As I state above, it's a bummer to get these great weapons that we can't really do anything with. We need options for what we can do with gear that we don't want or need. Currently, players who have progressed to end-game content are junking the vast majority of drops, and that's just not fun. There's an opportunity here to implement some depth to a shallow portion of the game. In addition, this would bolster social interaction and community. Who knows? We might make a friend or two (yay). Also, I hear from the maintenance bots that the trash compactors in the basement are getting full of useless weapon parts and armor pieces, and the catapult that fires the garbage at the Fallen is in need of repairs. So it's time to implement a recycling program, or the leftovers of our weaponry may spill into the City, and if that happens, we may have some savvy civilians piecing together make-shift assault weapons, and then we'll have gangs. Don't let the City form gangs. We've got enough to deal with already. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Edit: I like the idea of incorporating a like-for-like trade value system. So, for instance, if you want a Gjallarhorn, you'll need to offer a similar-tier exotic weapon in exchange. Edit 2: Bottom line for me is I think the game could benefit by presenting us options for the stuff that we [i]don't[/i] want. We're out there, chasing this loot, but we're getting a lot of stuff that might not be useful to us. Just dismantling everything is boring. This is an opportunity to fill out that part of the game. Okay, I don't want this. What can I do with it besides trash it?