Blizzard Confiscates Gold From Exploiters, Donates it to Charity

[shrekfan246]

It can be argued that the people who get furious about it are a vocal minority, as things tend to go on the internet, but it still happens and it's still hypocrisy either way.

Rather, it can't be argued that the people who got furious are anything but a vocal minority. Still quite popular here, but irrelevant to Blizzard's targeted market.

I would like an offline mode too, as only play HC characters and DCs are the bane of them, but so far so good, maybe I have been just lucky. If anything is criticizable is that the first 4 or so hours after release the game was almost impossible to access, and the first 1-2 weeks it had a hiccup here and there.

Yeah, I've got a level 48 Hardcore Wizard at the moment (in addition to all of my 'softcore' characters), playing on Monster Power +2 and working my way through Nightmare while dreading how quickly I'll probably get crushed after moving on to Hell. I try to make sure I mostly play when I believe my internet will be reliable, and I haven't had any issues from Blizzard's end since the launch itself. I don't even get random disconnects or anything.

P.S D3 is ok and dare i say a pretty good game that I enjoy playing still, its just not 'As good' as D1&2 not quite as addictive.

Hell, I actually enjoy it far more Diablo II personally. The UI is far less clunky, skills are easier to use, the new system for skills means it's very easy to swap abilities when you want to try something new and there are tons of different ways to go through once you've started unlocking them, and while there may still be 'optimal' builds for getting through tough locations, it's much more lenient than the skill-tree system of D2. Potions and gems stack, which means you don't have to juggle them in a tiny inventory, I've never really liked Town Portal/Identify scrolls being separate items because it's just extra busy-work, and the inventory is larger. About the only thing I definitively wish had been kept from Diablo II that was changed is inventory Tetris, with the added ability to turn items on their sides within the inventory spaces. Having everything take up one or two spaces means you don't get the satisfaction of weaseling out every last space in your inventory to fit that one last item you wanted to pick up.

Also, having 'signature class skills' that don't cost any resources but still have unique effects are a lot more fun than boring Auto-Attacks that every other ARPG always uses for the left-click action.

 

[Tanakh]

Yeah, I've got a level 48 Hardcore Wizard at the moment (in addition to all of my 'softcore' characters), playing on Monster Power +2 and working my way through Nightmare while dreading how quickly I'll probably get crushed after moving on to Hell. I try to make sure I mostly play when I believe my internet will be reliable, and I haven't had any issues from Blizzard's end since the launch itself. I don't even get random disconnects or anything.

Two words, Auction House, use it, love it. Last HC char i got offed was a mage during the AH downtime last week, because it seemed like a "good idea" to solo clear Hell with level 30 gear and 2 mofos sitting at town...

lol, I am so dumb sometimes.

Also glad to see someone else enjoying the reduction of the metagame.

 

[waj9876]

Yeah, not really endearing me to D3 guys. Horrible DRM, they mess up and blame it on players and ban them over it...

It can probably be argued that some didn't know it was an exploit. They messed up and are donating what thet took from players to charity for good PR.

 

[unstabLized]

Okay, the whole donating to charity is a very nice gesture. I agree with that. But "Users who took advantage of the exploit got their accoutns banned"? What? People took advantage of something that was broken in the game and got their accounts banned for it? Why? That's like banning people at shooters because they might be using an overpowered weapon. It still sucks for others that they're using it, but banning them for it is a tad bit extreme. Unless I'm missing something here, Blizzard just fucked people over because of their mistake.

 

[Aeonknight]

Yeah, not really endearing me to D3 guys. Horrible DRM, they mess up and blame it on players and ban them over it...

It can probably be argued that some didn't know it was an exploit. They messed up and are donating what thet took from players to charity for good PR.

If you're too "naive" to know what constitutes cheating, you shouldn't be playing online games. Ignorance is hardly a good defense here.

Blizzard did mess up, but people who took advantage of said screw up don't get a free pass. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should do it.

 

[Qizx]

What's the problem man?

The problem is that people are still butt-hurt over Diablo III. ¬_¬

You don't even have to use real money for the AH, which is something people seem to either not know or conveniently ignore, and people bought gear for Diablo II off of seedy sources all the damn time; What's the issue with having an official, Blizzard-sanctioned way to get gear instead?

Anyway, no sympathy for people who try to exploit glitches to dupe out an Auction House. Where's the satisfaction behind it, anyway? You neither got the gold for yourself or found the gear yourself, you just basically cheated. So long as no legitimate players get burned over this and end up banned, good on Blizzard for striking back and being charitable at the same time.

You are also conveniently ignoring that the Gold AH is separate from the Real Money AH, the problem with the RMAH is that all the best gear goes there, or gear that's worth more than 250 goes to the GAH for absurd amounts of gold which is then sold on the RMAH. Even the Diablo III's creator admits it was a bad idea to have the RMAH.
OT:
I think this isn't too shocking, there were always glitches in Diablo from day 1 that people were abusing to make real money, some less direct that others.

 

[Gamergeek25]

Okay, the whole donating to charity is a very nice gesture. I agree with that. But "Users who took advantage of the exploit got their accoutns banned"? What? People took advantage of something that was broken in the game and got their accounts banned for it? Why? That's like banning people at shooters because they might be using an overpowered weapon. It still sucks for others that they're using it, but banning them for it is a tad bit extreme. Unless I'm missing something here, Blizzard just fucked people over because of their mistake.

Yes because exploiting bugs is against the rules. People took advantage over an exploit knowing using exploits was against the rules.
as someone else said

Blizzard did mess up, but people who took advantage of said screw up don't get a free pass. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should do it.

 

[shrekfan246]

Okay, the whole donating to charity is a very nice gesture. I agree with that. But "Users who took advantage of the exploit got their accoutns banned"? What? People took advantage of something that was broken in the game and got their accounts banned for it? Why? That's like banning people at shooters because they might be using an overpowered weapon. It still sucks for others that they're using it, but banning them for it is a tad bit extreme. Unless I'm missing something here, Blizzard just fucked people over because of their mistake.

Actually, it's like banning people in shooters for clipping outside of the arena map and being untargetable, but still able to kill the enemy team. Or spawning with rocket launchers/sniper rifles.

You know, cheating. Actively exploiting a system for personal gain, perhaps at the expense of others.

You are also conveniently ignoring that the Gold AH is separate from the Real Money AH, the problem with the RMAH is that all the best gear goes there, or gear that's worth more than 250 goes to the GAH for absurd amounts of gold which is then sold on the RMAH. Even the Diablo III's creator admits it was a bad idea to have the RMAH.

I fail to see how that necessitates people needing to use the RMAH, or negates that people would be buying gear with money or gold even if the Auction House didn't exist.

Are drop rates for useful gear pretty abysmally low in the game? Sure. Can you find good enough gear, either in-game or on the Gold Auction House, that you wouldn't need to buy the best gear and could sustain yourself with grinding for the loot manually, you know, the way the game is supposed to be played? Also sure.

Are most of the people who complain about the Auction House people who haven't played Diablo III and wouldn't ever use it even if they did play the game?

Maybe I'm some sort of savant or something, but I don't see how the mere inclusion of an extra option means I should feel the strong compulsion to spend tons of money on code.

 

[Ferisar]

Yeah, not really endearing me to D3 guys. Horrible DRM, they mess up and blame it on players and ban them over it...

It can probably be argued that some didn't know it was an exploit. They messed up and are donating what thet took from players to charity for good PR.

No. Please stop with this nonsense.

This is the equivalent of a money-printing machine being left alone for five minutes. If you go and print money from it without being part of its workforce, guess what, it's not FUCKING LEGAL. You can't UNKNOWINGLY walk up to it, click the button repeatedly, and give them the puppy-dog eyes when they catch you. "Oh but it was exposed for five minutes, how could I NOT DO IT?" is not a valid defense.

People actively knew how to abuse this exploit, and those who didn't are unlikely to be banned to begin with. Blizzard's Customer Support, thankfully, is fairly competent.

OT:
Good. The economy is inflated enough without that thing circulating the AH. Good on them for the charity move.

 

[Qizx]

Okay, the whole donating to charity is a very nice gesture. I agree with that. But "Users who took advantage of the exploit got their accoutns banned"? What? People took advantage of something that was broken in the game and got their accounts banned for it? Why? That's like banning people at shooters because they might be using an overpowered weapon. It still sucks for others that they're using it, but banning them for it is a tad bit extreme. Unless I'm missing something here, Blizzard just fucked people over because of their mistake.

Actually, it's like banning people in shooters for clipping outside of the arena map and being untargetable, but still able to kill the enemy team. Or spawning with rocket launchers/sniper rifles.

You know, cheating. Actively exploiting a system for personal gain, perhaps at the expense of others.

You are also conveniently ignoring that the Gold AH is separate from the Real Money AH, the problem with the RMAH is that all the best gear goes there, or gear that's worth more than 250 goes to the GAH for absurd amounts of gold which is then sold on the RMAH. Even the Diablo III's creator admits it was a bad idea to have the RMAH.

I fail to see how that necessitates people needing to use the RMAH, or negates that people would be buying gear with money or gold even if the Auction House didn't exist.

Are drop rates for useful gear pretty abysmally low in the game? Sure. Can you find good enough gear, either in-game or on the Gold Auction House, that you wouldn't need to buy the best gear and could sustain yourself with grinding for the loot manually, you know, the way the game is supposed to be played? Also sure.

Are most of the people who complain about the Auction House people who haven't played Diablo III and wouldn't ever use it even if they did play the game?

Maybe I'm some sort of savant or something, but I don't see how the mere inclusion of an extra option means I should feel the strong compulsion to spend tons of money on code.

The problem with that though is that they legitimately made the drops rates specially lower just because they knew the AH's existed. And I have played D3, quite extensively. Until I got to Inferno Act 2, then I realizes how stupid the game is. You NEED to grind way more than in D3 than D2, and you're grinding for Gold rather than items, which isn't as fun. Basically the game is AH tycoon. I ended up getting to Act 3 before totally quitting, the inclusion of the AH just made it less fun, and I did this all without using the RMAH at all.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

I fail to see how that necessitates people needing to use the RMAH, or negates that people would be buying gear with money or gold even if the Auction House didn't exist.

Are drop rates for useful gear pretty abysmally low in the game? Sure. Can you find good enough gear, either in-game or on the Gold Auction House, that you wouldn't need to buy the best gear and could sustain yourself with grinding for the loot manually, you know, the way the game is supposed to be played? Also sure.

Are most of the people who complain about the Auction House people who haven't played Diablo III and wouldn't ever use it even if they did play the game?

Maybe I'm some sort of savant or something, but I don't see how the mere inclusion of an extra option means I should feel the strong compulsion to spend tons of money on code.

The problem wasn't the RMAH it was the Gold AH, it's influence on drops and that true transparent market is shit for a real community.
The AH made farming the AH way more profitable than playing the game (by a factor of 10-100). Now you'll maybe say "but i dont have to use it" and you couldn't be more wrong. Because other players will use it that way, you have to do it too or else you'll never be able to buy anything because those who do get billions of money because the item prices rise into absurd hights.

When the whole "items for billions" thing started i had farmed a few millions, yet some players sold/bought items for +100 millions, which either came from the first gold bug, whose consequences were pretty grave but are neglected nowadays or from AH farming. So either you farm all by yourself or if you want to part of the online play, you farm the AH.

Buying gear with money isn't the problem, D2 had that too and it wasn't a problem. Bots are and the AH/RMAH does not remove them. But the way the game is percieved and played was changed drasticly.
Also you already mentioned the bad item system, always the strong point of Diablo. Besides that the uniques are boring as fuck and do not offer alternate playstyles the itemization is bad.
The amount of suffixes/affixes are far higher than in D2 and lead to a bazillion of useless drops, which make the disparity between mediocre gear and the good items even worse. Gear to finish the game is available for a million or two. The best gear probably has at least 11 digits.

Tl;dr
AH farming more profitable than playing
Goldbugs
Shitty drops
Item disparity
=> GAH was a bad decision.

PS: The items broke the game. It was the reason neither Titan Quest nor Sacred could reach Diablo. The items are the endgame and D3 delieverd poorly on that end.

 

[Slugz]

Next Valve will donate hats to charity, HHEHEHE

 

[Kenjitsuka]

I want a refund for buying D3, and I would have rather spent that money on a charity than on Blizzard if I had known how bad D3 turned out to be. Really disappointed in D3

I waited in the cold early in the morning, first in line for the deluxe edition...
Got the deluxe book too...

Sigh...

Also: Moneygrubbers donating a tiny amount of money (which came from customers!!!) to charity as a publicity stunt?
Amazing!

I was a massive fan, Blizz, now I am bitter.
I finally understand why you take like 13 years to make a sequel; so I'll forget what jerks you are!!!

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Next Valve will donate hats to charity, HHEHEHE

They effectively did after the Sendai Earthquake/Tsunami. They had event where they had specific hats (for a short period of time) that if you paid for them the money would go the relief fund.

 

[Ferisar]

I want a refund for buying D3, and I would have rather spent that money on a charity than on Blizzard if I had known how bad D3 turned out to be. Really disappointed in D3

I waited in the cold early in the morning, first in line for the deluxe edition...
Got the deluxe book too...

Sigh...

Also: Moneygrubbers donating a tiny amount of money (which came from customers!!!) to charity as a publicity stunt?
Amazing!

I was a massive fan, Blizz, now I am bitter.
I finally understand why you take like 13 years to make a sequel; so I'll forget what jerks you are!!!

Because any entertainment company's money would come from someone OTHER than customers, right?
RIGHT?

They took money from someone who exploited the transaction system and gave it to charity. What's the problem again? WITH THIS SPECIFIC ISSUE, don't bring up "oh but this one time they kicked a puppy" as a response, because that doesn't count.

I swear you can't throw a dead cat without hitting someone who had their life ruined by D3.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Activision: "Hey, look, a little bit of Blizzard's soul is peeking out."

*stomps*

 

[lacktheknack]

I swear you can't throw a dead cat without hitting someone who had their life ruined by D3.

Stealing this quote.

OT: That's as good of a use for gold as any, really...

 

[Nexxis]

I have a question. If the duplicated gold was confiscated and given to charity, does that mean that Blizzard technically created money?

 

[Mromson]

Like a small minority of the posters have stated, I am extremely concerned with the gleeful joy of seemingly everyone else here. Blizzard literally just banned a bunch of people (450 or so, if I'm reading the article correctly) FOR EXPLOITING A BUG IN THE GAME. They didn't use illicit software, hack, or anything else that Blizzard's TOS forbids. All they did was go against the intended message of the rules, which might as well happen by happenstance. Did you find yourself outside of the allowable area where you can attack the enemy without it being able to retaliate? EXPLOIT. Are you supposed to get banned for that as well? That clearly goes against the intended message of the rules.

It concerns me that people instantly cheer whenever they hear that something went to "charity", as if that was some magical word that made everything into pink rainbows and ponies. Here are people losing a game (or in some cases, maybe "games", as the "account" was banned) that they legally paid for, all because they used the game in a way which the developer did not intend them to, with the tools that the game itself PROVIDED. Nothing more. Is Blizzard somehow supposed to be praised for this? It's shit like this that adds to why I avoid Blizzard games.