Diablo 3 will involve real world money

[Pike]

Articles about it here:

Diablo 3 will let you buy and sell items for real-world cash (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/08/diablo-3-will-let-you-buy-and-sell-items-for-real-world-cash.ars)
Diablo 3 Will Let You Auction Your Loot For Real Money (http://www.1up.com/news/diablo-3-real-money-auction-house)


Hence, the new currency-based auction; a quick rundown of its features below:


Like you'd expect, it features both an auto-bidding and an instant buyout price. Players are kept anonymous during the process, and there will be one regional auction house per currency type.
Nearly everything can be sold. Items, gold, and later on, even characters, can be sold through this auction house. Only quest-related or very specific items will be soulbound to players; everything else that drops on the ground can be auctioned.
The auction house interface can be pulled up anywhere, and items can be sold from either your current character's inventory or from the shared stash. Transactions happen pretty much instantly (and securely), and if you successfully bid on an item, it then shows up in your shared stash.
There will be a smart-search mode that can automatically loot for suitable items based on your current equipment and what would work best upgrade-wise. You can also specify certain parameters for your build, or search for items by class (since everything works in and out of your shared stash).
Blizzard will charge a listing fee and a sale fee. The former you pay no matter what, while the latter only comes up if you make a sale. No specific figures have been given, but Pardo describes these fees as "nominal. He also believes that since there is a listing fee, this will help the auction house self-correct into only listing noteworthy items, as people would be discouraged to pay a listing fee to sell trash or vendor loot.
On the flipside, to help seed the auction house and to let players get a feel for the auction house without investing too much money, Blizzard plans to let players have a number of free listings per week.
The auction house is designed to facilitate player trading; Blizzard has no plans to officially post items for sale through the auction house themselves. Nor will the company put up gameplay enhancing additions in the auction house.
Players have two choices for proceeds from their sales: The default option puts the funds into their Battle.net e-balance. That e-balance can be used for goods/services offered by Blizzard, ranging from purchasing items from the auction house to World of Warcraft subscription time or other paid services (such as character transfers). The other option is to "cash-out" the sale to a third-party payment provider (Pardo comments that the contract hasn't been finalized, so he couldn't name the service just yet -- we're assuming PayPal or somesuch). Though, the cash-out option could be subject to transaction fees from both Blizzard and the third-party provider.
The currency-based auction house is completely optional. Player-to-player trading still exists, and there will be an auction house that uses in-game gold as well. Also note that the auction house is the only method of using real-world currency (i.e. no using cash for player-to-player trades).
Hardcore characters (a special difficulty mode that features permadeath for characters) cannot used the currency-based auction house, only the in-game gold one. "We're protecting players from themselves -- we don't want a situation where someone spent a lot of money and then that character --along with the items -- gets deleted due to combat or PVP soon afterwards," notes Pardo.
Interestingly, Blizzard's official position is that if an item gets altered in a patch down the line, Blizzard will not provide a refund or any other accommodations if this happens. So buyer beware: your new loot could get nerfed.
Finally, the gold-based auction house will be featured in the D3 beta. The currency-based auction house won't be live until launch. "It'd be mean to have that running since we wipe all the beta characters at the end," quips Pardo.



Does this not sit well with anyone else?

(Meanwhile, nerds everywhere quit their jobs and spend their weeks farming in D3!)

[Caelheim]

I can't say I'm very impressed with the move. Many gamers seem to be under the impression that they might make a bit of cash from it, though for those who don't have the funds to be able to fork out for buying and selling gear...it's going to be pretty unfair and imbalanced.

It also raises a few concerns for me in regards to the future of gaming. The company has proven to be pretty influencial - especially when it comes to MMORPG's - and I worry that if this feature does end up being successful, it'll carry over to other aspects of gaming.

[Flying Mullet]

All this does is encourage more bots to farm items and makes it easier for them to sell items, since they don't have to go through external websites to do it.

[Slothy]

All this does is encourage more bots to farm items and makes it easier for them to sell items, since they don't have to go through external websites to do it.

I think it would be more accurate to say that Blizzard wants to get a cut of something that's already been happening outside of their games. Now on the one hand, I can at least see this protecting those who do want to purchase items from getting scammed, but it also doesn't sit well with me, though I'm not sure I can put my finger on exactly why just yet. Off hand, I think this may do more to encourage some people to waste ungodly amounts of time in search of rare drops to sell for some cash, and I do not think games that are already basically a skinner box should be doing more to encourage addiction.

[Pike]

Yeah, a lot of it has to do with Blizzard wanting to legitimize something that's already happening in the dark (http://www.brokentoys.org/2011/08/01/blizzard-adding-player-rmt-services-to-diablo-iii/).

I think a big reason why it doesn't sit well with me is because video games are my escape from reality and work and having to worry about how on earth I'm going to be able to afford lunch or gas next week. I don't want to be reminded about money while I'm safely ensconced in my escapism. This is possibly getting too personal here, but I'm going to say it anyway: it's often hard enough for me to deal with in-game money without feeling a bit of a panic attack coming on because of the reminder that I can't make money that easily in real life. I certainly don't want to see any references to real-life money in my games!

I keep envisioning some poor schmuck somewhere who starts farming items in this game for a bit of cash on the side, but as is life and human nature, something will come up or his work hours will be cut and soon he'll be farming on top of his day job just to support his kids. Before you know it, video games are work. That thought doesn't sit well with me, either.

I'll be the first to admit I might be super biased due to personal experience, though.

EDIT: They are also requiring an internet connection and prohibiting game mods (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/01/diablo-iii-no-mods-online-only-cash-trades/), it looks like.

[Madame Adequate]

I wrote about it over at TAC (http://www.theandroidscloset.com/2011/08/yes-yes-we-are-in-fact-mad/). My sentiments are fairly similar to Pike's, but I am MEGA RIPSHIT PISSED about the no-mods thing and I don't even know WHAT THE ACTUAL SMURF

[CimminyCricket]

I am now no longer excited for this game. :\

[Pike]

Yeah, I've let this percolate in my brain most of the day and I've come to the conclusion that the whole "banning mods" crap bothers me the most. The real cash thing still doesn't quite sit well with me for largely personal reasons, but I can live with it. Having to be online-- meh, it's annoying, but I'm always online anyway, so again, I can deal. I really, truly do not understand the mod ban though. Maybe I just have a special place in my heart for mods.

TLDR I pretty much agree with Huxley's blog post.

[Araciel]

Wellll shit.

[TrollHunter]

Pretty much my thoughts

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBrESZJlNvQ)

[Loony BoB]

Well, there goes what interest I still had in this game. But then, for me, Diablo III is a bit like Starcraft II. They had a great game, they spent ages working on the next one and by the time it comes out most people will have forgotten it was being made and have moved on to other things. Subsequently, it will be "just another game" as opposed to the "eagerly anticipated follow-up" it could have been.

[Madame Adequate]

Erm, I don't know what exactly you've been paying attention to Towns, but SCII was an absolutely massive seller and has become the competitive gaming game of choice (alongside New Thread and other DOtA clones) for the entire planet.

Also as someone pointed out on our blog, the no mods thing is a direct consequence of the RMT AH. They have to try and keep everything 'legit' and if that means less fun for the players, then fuck the players.

[Araciel]

Yes, fuck the players... cause there will be plenty of other people to play the game :P

Seriously though I will still play the hell outta' this game - there's no need for me to spend money on it to enjoy it, and the no mods thing, while disappointing, doesn't mean I won't enjoy it.

[Pike]

Yeah, as Hux said, SCII has a GIGANTIC fanbase. I see it discussed essentially 24/7 on 4chan, Twitter, Facebook, and pretty much anywhere I go online.

I'll tell you something interesting I've noticed, though: A lot of SC players do not play SCII, and a lot of SCII players did not play the orignal SC. For a while I was shocked at how many SCII players I'd talk to on Twitter or whatnot had never played the original, and assumed that was the exception, but no, that's actually the norm.

I think there was a massive changing of the guard in terms of the playerbase of Blizz games, and I think that WoW was sort of the enabler here. Back in the days of Starcraft, Diablo 2, and Warcraft 2/3, Blizzard was... well, I'm not going to say niche, but they weren't exactly mainstream either. It was still considered pretty geeky to be into their games. Fast forward to a couple of years into WoW and suddenly everyone in the gaming world knows who Blizzard is, and that brought a lot of new blood into first WoW and then into SC2 and I think that's going to be the case with Diablo 3.

D3 isn't going to attract most of the old players. It will attract the SC2 and WoW people.

[Araciel]

Just like the new version of Dungeons & Dragons - they marketed or designed it toward that 10million+ base of players.

Good idea.

[Slothy]

Also as someone pointed out on our blog, the no mods thing is a direct consequence of the RMT AH. They have to try and keep everything 'legit' and if that means less fun for the players, then fuck the players.

I'm not totally buying that. They could have easily had an offline only single player mode which could be freely modded while not allowing any mods in online play, requiring separate characters for each mode, to maintain drop rate integrity. I'm not saying that would be the ideal solution, but it would be a hell of a lot better than the big old middle finger that mod and single player fans got.

I'll also add that even though I had no plans on buying this game (never played Diablo 2, and don't usually care for this style of game anyway), it pisses me off that it requires a constant online connection. I hate developers who do this. It's stupid, and ignores the large chunk of the world that doesn't have decent internet available or consistent access to a decent connection. I don't even have this problem and it pisses me off, and I wouldn't buy any game that requires it. Ever.

With regards to your mentioning that this isn't the same Blizzard we used to know Milf, I think it's safe to say that the merger with Activision is when they started acting stupid. I probably should have guessed that Activision stink would eventually rub off on them.

I also want to post this little editorial because I found it interesting, and agree with just about everything in it: Gamasutra - News - Opinion: Diablo 3 And Keeping Players At Bay (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36292/Opinion_Diablo_3_And_Keeping_Players_At_Bay.php)

Blizzard used to at least seem to care about their fans and the communities that built up around their games. Now they seem to want to control every aspect of everything their fans do with an iron fist.

[KentaRawr!]

What's Diablo?

[VeloZer0]

For a while I was shocked at how many SCII players I'd talk to on Twitter or whatnot had never played the original...
To be fair a large chunk of current gamers probably weren't even of age when the original Starcraft came out. Ditto for D2.

[DMKA]

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8929/bobbykotickmoneybags.jpg

[Iceglow]

I don't agree with micro-transactions like the proposed ones for D3, sorry not my bag. Used to love D2 and yet D3 is going on the "not even going to..." list which is a real shame.

I've got no real beef with the whole play online, play offline deal though frankly it's annoying yes but if a games company wants me to truly play their product and buy the ridiculously over-priced expansions or dlc packs for it then they need to give me the option of playing them offline too. Dawn of War 2 and Starcraft 2 both piss me off with this.

[Pike]

For a while I was shocked at how many SCII players I'd talk to on Twitter or whatnot had never played the original...
To be fair a large chunk of current gamers probably weren't even of age when the original Starcraft came out. Ditto for D2.

It's a side effect of getting old, I guess. I forget that people who are that young exist. :x

[Pheesh]

I absolutely loved Diablo 2, it was definitely one of the games I spent the majority of my childhood playing, and more so than all the changes they're making to it I think the biggest problem is that they just took too long to make it. When the first trailer came out for it I was amped (and also like 16 or 17 :/ ) and then by the time I remember hearing anything else on it I think I'd forgotten it was still in development. Now I'm finding it hard to get myself excited about it to the extent that I was. I'll probably still buy it, more so if some of the old friends I used to play with buy it as well, but it's all a little disheartening.

[Peegee]

Will the cost per item be controlled by the market or artificially set by blizzard?

In either case, it could be conceivably possible to play the game 'for free' by selling enough junk to maintain subscription fees. I'd never be able to make enough money to quit my job (I wouldn't want to), but if I could play D3 for free, WHY NOT?

[Slothy]

Will the cost per item be controlled by the market or artificially set by blizzard?

In either case, it could be conceivably possible to play the game 'for free' by selling enough junk to maintain subscription fees. I'd never be able to make enough money to quit my job (I wouldn't want to), but if I could play D3 for free, WHY NOT?

It's an auction system, so that means prices set by the market by default, though that will mean based on rarity/how powerful an item is, so ultimately I guess Blizzard does have control.

There aren't any subscription fees either, though I believe you could take any money you made and use it towards a WoW subscription. Why anyone would want to grind away in one game to pay for their grinding in another is beyond me though.

[theundeadhero]

All the different things about Diablo 3 I've learned in this thread has convinced me to stay away from it. It's sad too because I grew up in the Warcraft 2, Diablo, Starcraft era.

[Slothy]

Gamasutra - News - Blizzard VP 'Surprised' Over Response To Diablo III Online Requirement (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36402/Blizzard_VP_Surprised_Over_Response_To_Diablo_III_Online_Requirement.php)

Just a little bump to point out that Blizzard is surprised at the backlash they've taken from this stuff. I can only, conclude based on their decision making of late and inability to predict the obvious consequences of their actions, that the guys in charge are either stupid or five years old. I'm not sure which would be worse.

[Skyblade]

Gamasutra - News - Blizzard VP 'Surprised' Over Response To Diablo III Online Requirement (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36402/Blizzard_VP_Surprised_Over_Response_To_Diablo_III_Online_Requirement.php)

Just a little bump to point out that Blizzard is surprised at the backlash they've taken from this stuff. I can only, conclude based on their decision making of late and inability to predict the obvious consequences of their actions, that the guys in charge are either stupid or five years old. I'm not sure which would be worse.

Yeah, I'm forced to agree with this. Lately, Blizzard's decisions seem to be getting more and more off kilter. They've been upsetting their playerbase left and right. SCII was the first point I noticed it, as a lot of players and fans had huge problems with some of the decisions Blizz made with the game (granted, it still has a huge following, but there was still a statistically significant amount of players who hate the game because of some really stupid design decisions). Then Cataclysm came out, and Blizz suffered the first net loss in subscriptions since they released the original WoW. And now we roll around to all the new info on Diablo III, which has had at least three huge design decisions which has their fans upset. They are really losing touch with their playerbase, and I am wondering if it is starting to catch up with them.

As far as I can tell from this point, I'm never going to buy another Blizzard game. I wasn't impressed enough with SCII to keep investing with it, Cataclysm basically killed everything I loved about WoW, and between D3's lack of an offline mode and the new auction system, my interest in that game has suddenly slammed into nonexistence.

And, sure the auction system may be trying to cash in on something that is already taking place, but that "something" is largely hated by fans, and by legitimizing it, Blizz is simply annoying all those people who have been asking (for years) for them to try harder to fight them.

[felfenix]

I don't know what the big deal is. Just don't buy items from the cash AH then. When have you ever "needed" items from other players in Diablo anyway? There will still be a non-cash AH for like-minded players too. If some sucker wants to pay cash for my scrap drops that I get just for playing the game, then so be it. I won't be paying any real money for anything, but to each their own. I fail to see how this makes the game "more grindy" than it would be without the cash AH. If you choose to turn the game into a job, that's your own fault.