Diablo III's Auction House

[Dirty Apple]

I dont see how an auction house makes sense in d3 considering its not a player driven economy or anything like that, I mean something like this would vaguely make sense in wow but d3.... just weird, sounds like motivation for blizzard to make items a huge pain in the ass to get

If TF2 shows us anything, if you create a market people will come. I predict, based on TF2 again, that a metagame will manifest around the selling of ultra rares and prestige items. Eventually, for a lot of players, the game will just become secondary to collecting uber loot.

 

[viranimus]

I adore how the justification for this is...

"Ultimately players want it," Pardo says. "If Blizzard doesn't do this system, I'm not so naïve to think that it's not going to happen." Anybody who played Diablo or Diablo II remembers how sketchy it was just to trade items. And that's before you took all the shady third-party item sellers into account

So it boils down to "if we dont do it, other people will do it for us and thats the only reason why we are doing this.


Ok Pardo.. ive got a real easy solution. Seeings how your the organization who controls the code of the game, Perhaps, maybe, you can code to prevent these transactions all together. Yeah go ahead, cut the connectivity cord. Wouldnt that be easier than making a system you are trying to sound like you dont want?

Yes...clear and blatant cash grab. At least have the decency to admit its a blatant cash grab.

 

[frehls]

hue

 

[The Philistine]

So to curb people's accounts getting hacked, Blizzard is having you buy gold through them rather than a shady third party site? While that may take out some of the risk, that isn't going to stop scammers and hackers from compromising accounts. Hell, it just makes things easier for them to cash out once they've gotten a hold on someone's stuff.

 

[Weaver]

So basically, Gold farming is okay so long as Blizzard gets their due cut.
Great.

 

[Alar]

Strangely, I don't mind this.

I think the fact that you can't turn take the money into the real world and spend it on anything other than Blizzard stuff makes is good.

You can, but as was stated before, only on an item-by-item basis. This means that you could set up your (probably going to be) PayPal account and switch it on when you're selling something big, get the money for that (minus the fees) and then switch it back to your Battle.net account for the other items in order to pay for Blizzard Store items or WoW subs.

I also don't really mind this all that much. I think too many people are making a big deal out of it.

 

[Baresark]

Not a fan. I think there is a real danger of this affecting the balance of the game world. People spending money to get better equipment, giving them an advantage over player who do not participate in this scheme. Between this, the always on DRM, and the prohibition of modding create a real problem for the game world. Ugh, I'm sure lots of people find this to be a good idea regardless. But, if it's wrong that it happened previously, why is it right now that Blizzard are the ones doing it?

I'll with hold judgement for the moment though. I'll bide my time, definitely not a first day pickup.

So basically, Gold farming is okay so long as Blizzard gets their due cut.
Great.

I'm with you on this same subject.

 

[Atheist.]

I love how so many people are bitching about this. It isn't an MMO, you can always play offline. Plus pretty much every weapon has a level and stat requirement. What's so different from this and someone having a high level alt and feeding good items to their lower level character? Just because someone has a job/life and can't play until level 99 shouldn't be a severe handicap. You aren't really buying power as much as saving time grinding for items, which frankly, not everyone has time for.

Once the game gets old enough, the economy will balance out anyhow. It's not like people are going to get rich trying to sell items that thousands of other people have already found. I think this option is leagues better than before. Anyone else remember all the hacked shit that went on in the previous Diablo games? Yeah, I'm good on all that.

 

[Baresark]

I love how so many people are bitching about this. It isn't an MMO, you can always play offline. Plus pretty much every weapon has a level and stat requirement. What's so different from this and someone having a high level alt and feeding good items to their lower level character? Just because someone has a job/life and can't play until level 99 shouldn't be a severe handicap. You aren't really buying power as much as saving time grinding for items, which frankly, not everyone has time for.

Once the game gets old enough, the economy will balance out anyhow. It's not like people are going to get rich trying to sell items that thousands of other people have already found. I think this option is leagues better than before. Anyone else remember all the hacked shit that went on in the previous Diablo games? Yeah, I'm good on all that.

That is the same reasoning as to why it should be ok for gold farming and sales in WoW? And you can still use this to purchase more rare equipment for your character at the level they are at. The people who don't/can't participate will be at a disadvantage, and the game world will be out of balance. And, you can't play offline, you are always online with the system they have in place for this game.

Also, I'm getting sick of watching ads for the captcha. I know you want revenue, but fuck off.

 

[Atheist.]

I love how so many people are bitching about this. It isn't an MMO, you can always play offline. Plus pretty much every weapon has a level and stat requirement. What's so different from this and someone having a high level alt and feeding good items to their lower level character? Just because someone has a job/life and can't play until level 99 shouldn't be a severe handicap. You aren't really buying power as much as saving time grinding for items, which frankly, not everyone has time for.

Once the game gets old enough, the economy will balance out anyhow. It's not like people are going to get rich trying to sell items that thousands of other people have already found. I think this option is leagues better than before. Anyone else remember all the hacked shit that went on in the previous Diablo games? Yeah, I'm good on all that.

That is the same reasoning as to why it should be ok for gold farming and sales in WoW? And you can still use this to purchase more rare equipment for your character at the level they are at. The people who don't/can't participate will be at a disadvantage, and the game world will be out of balance. And, you can't play offline, you are always online with the system they have in place for this game.

Also, I'm getting sick of watching ads for the captcha. I know you want revenue, but fuck off.

Diablo isn't the same as WoW in terms of content. WoW is a literally a PVP based game. Horde vs Alliance. Diablo is primarily co-op or PVE game, with optional PVP content. Also, are you sure they completely removed single player? Every other Diablo game has had a single player component, granted you couldn't use that character online, but whatever. From what I understand, it's always online, but there is still a single player option, this is probably to prevent hacking.

My only issue with this is that it disturbes PVP balance, which isn't a major deal to me. Some people may have more of a problem with it, but if they care enough, they'll find time to farm their gear. Honestly, if someone wanted to get their epic sword of awesomeness +10 without this system, they'd just buy it online or find a way to hack it. This doesn't change a whole lot in my opinion, it just helps the sheep do it easier and safer.

 

[bakan]

snip

Diablo isn't the same as WoW in terms of content. WoW is a literally a PVP based game. Horde vs Alliance. Diablo is primarily co-op or PVE game, with optional PVP content. Also, are you sure they completely removed single player? Every other Diablo game has had a single player component, granted you couldn't use that character online, but whatever. From what I understand, it's always online, but there is still a single player option, this is probably to prevent hacking.

My only issue with this is that it disturbes PVP balance, which isn't a major deal to me. Some people may have more of a problem with it, but if they care enough, they'll find time to farm their gear. Honestly, if someone wanted to get their epic sword of awesomeness +10 without this system, they'd just buy it online or find a way to hack it. This doesn't change a whole lot in my opinion, it just helps the sheep do it easier and safer.

They removed single player and you have to be always online.
Besides this 'official' shop will eliminate item for item exchange and the ingame currency auction house is a farce, as everyone will go for the premium shop except the hardcore mode players.

At the same time you will have a black market who just sells items without Blizzard fees and a bit cheaper than the official auction house.

Oh and it will overthrow balance as they even advertise arenas.

Blizzard just wants to have a new cash-cow.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

I don't know about this. I don't really find it fair at all - people with big wallets in real-life can buy their way to victory now?

Also: No mods, no offline playmode. I guess making another character is going to cost money as well, or a name change. Blizzard really isn't the same anymore.

I"m looking forward all the more to Torchlight II now.

 

[Atheist.]

snip

Diablo isn't the same as WoW in terms of content. WoW is a literally a PVP based game. Horde vs Alliance. Diablo is primarily co-op or PVE game, with optional PVP content. Also, are you sure they completely removed single player? Every other Diablo game has had a single player component, granted you couldn't use that character online, but whatever. From what I understand, it's always online, but there is still a single player option, this is probably to prevent hacking.

My only issue with this is that it disturbes PVP balance, which isn't a major deal to me. Some people may have more of a problem with it, but if they care enough, they'll find time to farm their gear. Honestly, if someone wanted to get their epic sword of awesomeness +10 without this system, they'd just buy it online or find a way to hack it. This doesn't change a whole lot in my opinion, it just helps the sheep do it easier and safer.

They removed single player and you have to be always online.
Besides this 'official' shop will eliminate item for item exchange and the ingame currency auction house is a farce, as everyone will go for the premium shop except the hardcore mode players.

At the same time you will have a black market who just sells items without Blizzard fees and a bit cheaper than the official auction house.

Oh and it will overthrow balance as they even advertise arenas.

Blizzard just wants to have a new cash-cow.

Not trying to argue most of your points, but there appears to be a single player here.

"Will there be a single-player component in addition to multiplayer?"

"Yes. In addition to battling the hordes of the Burning Hells cooperatively with friends over Battle.net, players will be able to adventure through the world of Diablo III solo. More details on both the single-player and multiplayer experience will be revealed at a later date."


I've found this quote on numerous websites.

I'm fairly confident there is single player, you just need an internet connection to use it. Plus, there are always mods to fix it, if there seriously isn't the option at launch.

Although considering the quality of Blizzard games, can you blame them for wanting more money than the 60$ (Or whatever it is in your region) per game? At least they aren't charging everyone more money. They have seem to be getting greedy recently, but I think that started when they merged with Activision.

 

[John Funk]

Basically, people complaining about the auction house never played Diablo 2 online

 

[bakan]

snip

Not trying to argue most of your points, but there appears to be a single player here.

"Will there be a single-player component in addition to multiplayer?"

"Yes. In addition to battling the hordes of the Burning Hells cooperatively with friends over Battle.net, players will be able to adventure through the world of Diablo III solo. More details on both the single-player and multiplayer experience will be revealed at a later date."


I've found this quote on numerous websites.

I'm fairly confident there is single player, you just need an internet connection to use it. Plus, there are always mods to fix it, if there seriously isn't the option at launch.

Although considering the quality of Blizzard games, can you blame them for wanting more money than the 60$ (Or whatever it is in your region) per game? At least they aren't charging everyone more money. They have seem to be getting greedy recently, but I think that started when they merged with Activision.

Well I should have said offline mode, that's what I meant in the first place

The problem is with the greedy part, first microtransactions for WoW (I only played till Burning Crusade) and then you had to be always-online in SC2, at first (changed later on) and the stupid custom maps system, so they could easily profit off the pay-to-play maps (again, didn't play SC2 for this very reasons).

Now they do it with D3 and eventually screw around with the balance of the game and the way you would normally play it.

Additionally they removed the skill system and exchanged it with this kinda weird and bad pool/traits system, you don't have a movable camera/zoom function, they removed the option for mods as you don't have an offline mode anymore, you have to run over mana and health bubbles and I kinda dislike the art style etc...

In the end the auction house and that you have to be online the whole time kinda clinched it for me and I'll pass on it.

 

[Kris015]

Wait wait wait.. I don't get this.

I can sell and buy things for real money? Or only buy things and sell them for blizzards own currency?

 

[Tanki]

This has already been done in a game called "Drift City" http://driftcity.gamescampus.com/ it's a Korean game. You could buy items from the developers and sell them in the auction house for in-game currency called "Mito". I played this market and by the end I knew every in and out of the system. I dominated the in-game market for 3 years and never spent a single cent on the game. But eventually it came down to this, having so much money and nothing to do with it except buy more items to make even more money. Ya this "meta game" will get old very fast for a clever man, while the people that don't know what they are doing will keep getting ripped off. They have essentially created the same in-game market by not allowing the player to cash in their e-money for real money. I know exactly how this will end. Noblesse Oblige

 

[TaboriHK]

This way, way incentivizes account thievery. At least in D2 you had to be complicit in the system, imagine all the account hijacking from WoW but now with the middle man cut out. Thanks, Blizz.

 

[Xanthious]

This is just another step down that slippery slope. This is also a bad sign for that yet to be announced MMO Blizz is working on I believe. Looking at how they have been treating WoW lately and now this it's clear Blizz is far more interested in developing ways to separate players from their money than they are making good games. Real world currency has NO PLACE in a game except for the initial purchase and subscription fees if they should apply.

 

[UnusualStranger]

Basically, people complaining about the auction house never played Diablo 2 online

Sir, I am offended and appalled that you would make such an accusation, as I am an unprofessional devil's advocate and Diablo 2 player.
Meaning that I can both complain about the auction house and play Diablo 2 online. Have at you! >


On a more serious note....I understand what blizzard is trying. They are trying really hard to keep moving in this up-to date world with all the Pirates and stuff....but the problem is that they are caught up in a bad race. Always on? Hell, there is no way I will get a game like that. Because then I not only have to depend on my ISP, I also have to depend on my router, my computer equipment for online play, and also the servers on their end. Too much dependency that is out of my hands.

The auction house sounds good on paper, but I think it ignores how many people can abuse said system, and how it doesn't even stop what they claim. This system is 100% secure? When someone says that, run, DON'T WALK, away. Especially in online environments this is a stupid idea to think that you are secure, that people won't be hacked, that accounts won't be compromised, and that users are not stupid and won't give away their information to random messages that look official.

Sorry Blizzard, you used to be cool and all, but I can't play your games.