To sum up what I've seen with the new system:
1) Apparently, trade range is now shorter.
2) I have lowered accessibility to my trade options: I am in a region of my realm, not traveling, and unlike before do not have tools to set up trades.
3) Trade offers must now have a "best before" date.
4) I must now chose the price from a drop-down menu, severely limiting one's flexibility.
5) I can't target specific regions with my offers, I can't chose to favor one buyer or seller over another. I therefore cannot send caravans before food is available, hoping they'll arrive just in time to snatch it when it becomes available before others.
What have we gained? I haven't had much chances to fiddle with the new system yet, but all I'm seeing are negatives...
1) Trade range is now a factor of your character and their position. Not a factor of distance from your region
2) Yes this is true, unless it is your own region you will need a market place in the region to access trade
3) I've got no idea about this one. Do you mean they expire if no one fills them within a certain time?
4) No idea about the design choice for this, might be related to the fact you can't partially fill orders any more, or to make it easier for traders to broker deals.
5) Why do you need to, you DON'T send out caravans anymore. If you want to "Snatch" food from a region. Click the buy button, the food is now yours. No one can beat you to it.
Some positives I see,
1) traders no longer have to GO to a region to buy or sell food, they can operate on all regions within their trading range, speeding up the sales they can potentially access
2) It is easy to actually see all the buy and sell orders now
3) Using a steward willing to travel, you can now move food large distances, without needing a trader to travel both ways
4) No more caravans returning without actually trading.
