If you haven't heard the big news yet... Apparently Blizzard is going to allow item purchasing via real money (USD, EUR, etc.) in Diablo III. It's not like the microtransaction system seen in many F2P MMO's, as no items will be sold by Blizz directly (supposedly), just by players who have looted them themselves, nor will any non-item transactions be available. It will be a fee based system, with a fee to put it up for auction then a flat rate goes directly to Blizzard (note that they're staying away from a percentage system.). Depending on your stance, the good/bad news is that they will not be doing this in WoW. The reasoning is simple. In Diablo III, almost no items will be 'soulbound' (or whatever the D3 equivalent will be), whereas in WoW, nearly every high-level item is, as well as the majority of low level epics and vanity items. In other news, Diablo III will also require an always-on internet connection, with no offline mode available. *Disclaimer - All claims subject to change. I provide no guaruntee to the authenticity nor accuracy of states claims. If you have issue, take it up with the source.*
Will be interesting to see how hard gold farmers can push the prices down. Though it is currency region restricted so that might save them. I feel Blizz has to manipulate it or gold that took 15 hours to aquire will be worth about 20c.
They know people will do it anyway so they want in on the cash. Logical with how poor they are and all
I can't begin to describe how furious I am about this. Not that I would ever be a Diablo fan, I stuck to Warcraft/WoW and Starcraft but just the notion that my very favourite game company is showing up to be more and more like the unanimously dispised EA is tad depressing. Did anyone forget that the Multiplayer is going to be a lot about PvP? Buying power in a PvP game? Really? Also as TotalBiscuit pointed out Blizzard is basically printing money for doing absolutely nothing. They take a fee when you bid/put up stuff on the auction. They take a cut when you buy an item. They take a cut when you transfer the money off of your account. They don't need to add any new content whatsoever to the game for years and years and recieve a steady stream of money while ****ing up PvP balance in the process. Oh but the most important thing is that modding won't be allowed. Gee, thanks.
Yeah, it's not like the good old diablo 2 or WoW where people never buy PvP advantage from each other for real money! Newsflash: it's already happening, everywhere, all the time. Blizz just wants in on the cash. We can only hope they don't start actually selling items for money and somehow minimize effects on PvP
You mean Diablo 2 which was never designed with PvP in mind? Or WoW where you can't buy PvP advantage whatsoever? (I mean even if you buy Chinese gold whatchya gonna do? Buy enchants?)
It's more that if they do it like this, there will probably be little to no modding legally possible in the game. I like modding
Yeah, the lack of mod support is the real deal breaker for me. My experience in Diablo is restricted to a UMS map in BW based on it (I've been waiting for D2 to drop below new game price :/ ) so I'm not sure of the relevence of the rest of the announcement though.
What exactly could mods add to the game when it came to multiplayer in previous releases of the game? Just interface stuff, or real model changes and such as well? D3 looks great so far as it is... =/ I don't agree to the whole real money auction house, though. The concept of easily being able to buy items that give you and advantage over others is a big letdown. Combine that with Blizzard trying to milk their customers even more, and me buying D3 is becoming more unlikely every day.
I like it tbh, I mean you can no longer be frustrated by dropping an awesome item that's not for your class. Now you can think "aw awesome, that's like 3 euro, a free coffee" or something As for the farmers etc, I personally never cared about game economies, be it in RL money or in-game currency(in the case of either gold farmers or ah prices) since I never bothered with them... If I can earn 1-2 euro from dropping loot I don't want then sure, why not?
Because if you want to play multiplayer you will get your face pwned by idiots with no skill who happen to be willing to spend a lot of money on buying powerful items. If you never plan to PvP then I guess you won't be all that affected by it.
^ This If PvP is anything like WoW (it will be), skill only matters at the higher echelon of power. In scrub PvP, better gear wins >80% of the time, with only experienced PvP'ers overcoming gear difference.
