Hearthstone Card Trading Ideas

I know Hearthstone is a CCG (Collectible Card Game) that doesn't allow any trading. And if they allowed trading, that would lead to a lot of scams, system exploits, ripping people off, auctions and so on while fewer people would be buying packs as they would be getting the cards they want. Thus this would cause serious problems for Blizzard. I know Blizzard will NEVER implement a trading system into Hearthstone. But let's just imagine an alternate scenario in which such a function was in fact allowed.

How could it be? It shouldn't stop people from buying packs altogether, it also shouldn't motivate people to create multiple accounts or bots to farm AI for hidden quests rewards over and over again. Although the latter "might" still be a possibility for the theory I am about to offer here but as you can see the line is very thin so I will try to approach this as delicately as possible with multiple theories.

First of all, the trades would be strictly monitored and operated by Blizzard itself. So there are no Ebay auctions or PayPal transactions as people wouldn't be able to make the trade themselves. The system could be "like" an Auction House that allows a person to pick 2 cards they are willing to trade for 2 cards they wish to receive. Of course in the end you will only get and lose 1 card but I thought 2 cards would increase the chance of matching the players for the right trade in the examples I will provide later on this post. 

So let's say I have Nozdormu and a Sea Giant and I want to trade 1 of them for let's say a Mountain Giant or Preparation. I put this information on the system and if someone wants to trade their Mountain Giant for let's say my Nozdormu, they could click on my listing and start the trade. For trading to take place, this person won't have to be in my friends list. You just pick the card you want to give and the card you want to take that are on the trade listings and the system automatically does it. So you won't be able to answer my listing if you want a Nozdormu but don't have Mountain Giant or Preparation. Although maybe this system could also allow "suggestion" like the player could suggest giving me a Molten Giant instead of the other two cards I listed and if I accept this condition the trade could still take place.

Now this trade obviously needs limitations. First and foremost, in order to bring the multiple accounts to a minimum and still get people to buy packs, the trading should be limited to only one time per month. So within a ranked season, you can only make one trade so you have to make that one count. Trading system might also request money or in game gold. Just for the sake of it let's say 5.99 dollars or 400 gold per trade. The prices might be daft as I am not in a position to actually price a product but just imagine it being something like that. The price would be more than what 3-4 packs would cost though as you would be getting a card you really want and as this can happen only once per month you need to be careful with the card you will pick. Therefore gathering the cards you want for a certain deck will not happen in a day, so players will still be tempted to keep on buying packs for a chance to get the next card they need. As a f2p (free-to-play) player I'd prefer to earn gold for a card I know I will certainly get rather than playing roulette and getting 4 Argent Squires in 1 pack as a result (that's 20 dust for 100g, that's how "lucky" I am). That is a true story by the way.

If trading was like this, even if you created an account of your own both players would still need to pay the money or the gold to finish off the trade and one account can only trade once a month so it won't matter if you have 9-10 alt accounts that farm quests and AI for your primary account. It could also exclude friends list to avoid extra abuse. Or come to think of it, it could be totally random. Like in the example I've given, if someone wants to get the cards you want to give and have the cards you want to take; the system automatically matches you with this random player and creates the trade. This means there will be no listings as I suggested before, it will just be about matching players' wish list. But then how will the system know which one to give out of the two cards you picked? Check the following scenario:

I want a Mountain Giant or a Molten Giant (I really do want them by the way), and I am giving away a Nozdormu or Sword of Justice for one of them (it sure sounds like I hate my Nozdormu and in fact I really do). The system lets me pick the primary and the secondary card I want to get. This could clearly help the system decide which card I will be getting first; like if someone happened to give away both Mountain and Molten at the same time. In this scenario, I'd put Mountain Giant on primary and Molten on secondary, that also goes for the cards I wanna give away. I'd set Nozdormu as primary and Sword of Justice as secondary. So if there were to be someone who has Sword of Justice as his primary target and has both Giants to give away (let's say for the sake of argument his Mountain Giant is on his primary give away card), I'd lose my Sword of Justice and get Mountain Giant because it was my primary pick.

But this example wouldn't happen if there is a better candidate for the cards I pick. If someone also wants to primarily get Nozdormu and wants to primarily give away a Mountain Giant, the trade would happen with this person over the player above as it would be more appropriate for both players. Of course what would happen if no primaries matched? Well the system will also prompt you to either reject or accept the trade. Before trading is complete you will be able to check the cards you will be getting and losing so if you are happy with that result you can therefore accept it or if that type of trade is unacceptable for you, you can reject that trade and wait for your next match. 

If this is too complex, maybe setting a primary target for the cards you are willing to give might be removed. So the system will ONLY focus on what you want to get first instead of trying to match what you want to get first and what you want to give away first to those of another player's. This could actually be much easier. I even made an incredibly simple chart to show how easy this could be:

So what are your thoughts on this idea? I know it won't happen and I know most of you might think it's stupid. But I'm at least trying to think of something and I wouldn't mind other ideas to maybe build on this theory or your own thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment below.