If Jay Wilson was less of a yes man and less of an inferior designer then maybe this nonsense would have never happened. Forget the whole not having a proper beta test.
Because if there was a full beta test, everyone would QQ about the whole game being spoiled before release.
It was a very tough choice, but frankly, totally understandable. What they messed up is rebalancing inferno on a much shorter notice.
Just the whole fact that they thought they could have an AH system WITHOUT bind on equip items just blows my mind.
What blows my mind is how those two parts of the sentence have absolutely no relationship with each other.
Having an AH is fine, as long as there is a way to take items out of the economy, which can be accomplished by many other way (and yes, BoE is one of them, but only one).
It's hard to believe that some of you thought trading in D2 was bad. It wasn't. Hell, even if you wanted to buy an item from a 3rd party site it was quick, easy and secure.
And completely illegal, unlike D3. And no, it wasn't secure, there were scams all over the place, with or without third party sites. AH is miles better in comparison, since it is a double-blind system.
Plus trading with other players or banks was a fun and interesting experience.
Yes, but it took time during which you actually didn't play the game. AH is more straightforward, unless you play the AH just to play AH, which is another question entirely.
An entire player driven economy was created on its own with D2 and the game lasted for a decade, and here some of you are upset that they aborted this disaster they call an AH. Some of you are not true Diablo fans. For shame.
Aaannd here comes the true Scotsman fallacy. Congratulations.
They said they were going to bring out more information regarding this entire thing @Blizzcon. If you actually watched the interview with them reasoning about the change.
I watched the interview, and this does not change the fact that they just released a nuclear bomb without building shelters first.
Not only the idea itself is stupid, but it was not timed well in addition to that
Think for a second, if it was a lose-lose situation they would not have done it.
Blizzard is not perfect and they have been known to make mistakes (mostly in WoW).
Josh is a big D2 fan on one hand and a total newbie in running a game with online economy on the other hand, and my guess he simply needs to take off the D2 rose tinted glasses. And since he is currently riding on a high horse as the claimed savior of D3 (as opposed to Jay Wilson) he may have been able to hoodwink the finance guys in Blizz HQ to do that.
Maybe they'll make more money selling expansions than milking the very few people left spending actual money on virtual good like idiots.
Selling boxes is not enough in today's environment. You gotta have a source of recurrent revenue as well. Which means either RMAH or cash shop.
Problem is, while a cash shop with transmogs and cosmetic items will totally take care of the recurrent revenue part, it will not take care of user frustration in trade channels. Unless of course, the plan is to make ROS like the console version where legendaries are raining on you and you can beat the game because you sneezed on the monsters. Which would be even more stupid.
This is the only acceptable middle ground. No one enjoyed the ah, it was not a convenience but a necessity and made people quit the game.
Because getting scammed in trade channels will totally make people stay?
Also, of course it was a necessity, because of how the game was tuned in the first place. In D2, you could play self-found because the game was undertuned. In D3, you have much more difficult modes (e.g. Inferno MP10). Also, in D2, you had ladders to periodically remove items from the economy, which you don't have in D3.
What we need, consequently, is a way to remove items from the economy, not remove the AH.
Problem is everything revolved around the AH - trading and gameplay. You play for selling shit on the AH, to flip, snipe and farm gold so you can gear your char.
And in the same way, D2 revolved around trading channels. Was it better? I don't think so.
And again, the difference between D2 and D3 is not the trading methods, but the sheer undertuning of D2 because it was meant to be playable offline.
Also, the other major economy difference between D2 and D3 is the absence of a way of getting items out of the market, either through character death (for SC) or ladder (for D2). THAT is a fundamental problem.
Only a lunatic would go self found in that environment couse it's not meant for it due to the bad itemization witch takes the AH into account.
And a lot of people played entirely self-found in D2? Especially all those with high-end runewords? Everyone traded (and duped, and hacked).
And again, it is much more possible to play self-found in D2 because of its tuning.
Time spent in game means almost nothing especially till you get to inferno. It means nothing afterwards too if you don't get extremely lucky with a semi-good items... that you realize you need to sell on the AH to get gold to get gear... from the AH. Am blunt here but it's basically just that.
I understand your point, but that means AH needs additional fixes to prevent flipping and sniping. Removing it completely is basically recognizing that you're incompetent in game economy balancing (which Josh apparently is).
I don't follow the news and dunno if they have a different method to facilitate trading, if you take a decision of such magnitude you have a back up plan. Maybe they have something planned?
In this case, their communication was handled extremely poorly and someone should be hanged for that to make an example.
On the point of third party sites - well people should know better but who am i to judge? If they wanna use em let em use em, if they got their info stolen who's to blame? No one but themselfs.
Even with the AH, tp sites still run rampart and blizz does not seem waging legal war against em.
Of course they're not waging legal wars against them, since they're doing the same thing. However, if you remove the AH, they'll probably have to change the EULA accordingly and forbid selling game items and gold (although gold will be much less useful with such a model) for real money. And THEN they'll have to wage legal wars, exactly like they do with WOW gold selling sites.
If third party sites bother you so much then stop using them?
I don't use them. Problem is, a lot of people do. There will be scams in trade and on third-party sites, credit card numbers stolen, in short hell will break loose. Moreover, Blizzard will have to spend (like in the good old days) money on lawsuits against the said sites. From every economical point of view, it's a lose-lose situation.
The worst thing they [blizz] did was embrace their "metod" and sort of - legalize it ingame, now they fix that mistake. With or without BOA there will be third party sites that sell items, you can't fixt that. Even blizzard can't.
Sure, but if you have a secure environment provided, it looks much more attractive compared to some Chinese website.
BoA has no place in a diablo game. It simply destroys any form of trading. It's a lazy solution for a game like wow where your loot is handled in a plate.
So, BOA destroys trading but bartering and 3rd party sites don't? I don't follow your logic.
Bottom line was - the AH fucked up itemization and loot hunt. It was convenient, sure. But that convenience made the game not a rpg but an AH simulator. With the removal of it many core changes should arise witch in turn is what might fix the game entirely. I still can't believe it happening, woah...
And making more stuff (e.g. legendaries) BoA wouldn't be enough? Doubt it, frankly.
*writes a bunch of [censored] stuff, deletes*
Josh Mosquera has just lost 95 points on my respect scale. Pity, he was looking much more promising than Jay Wilson.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
It was a very tough choice, but frankly, totally understandable. What they messed up is rebalancing inferno on a much shorter notice.
What blows my mind is how those two parts of the sentence have absolutely no relationship with each other.
Having an AH is fine, as long as there is a way to take items out of the economy, which can be accomplished by many other way (and yes, BoE is one of them, but only one).
And completely illegal, unlike D3. And no, it wasn't secure, there were scams all over the place, with or without third party sites. AH is miles better in comparison, since it is a double-blind system.
Yes, but it took time during which you actually didn't play the game. AH is more straightforward, unless you play the AH just to play AH, which is another question entirely.
Aaannd here comes the true Scotsman fallacy. Congratulations.
Not only the idea itself is stupid, but it was not timed well in addition to that
Since friend lists are fairly limited in number, you cannot make a huge community out of them, by definition.
Yeah, so that you're done with the game in ~100 hours and then can shelf it? Great plan.
BOA is needed to get items out of the economy. Either that, or ladder (which has other problems).
They're BOA once they're changed by the mystic (at least that's the current plan).
Josh is a big D2 fan on one hand and a total newbie in running a game with online economy on the other hand, and my guess he simply needs to take off the D2 rose tinted glasses. And since he is currently riding on a high horse as the claimed savior of D3 (as opposed to Jay Wilson) he may have been able to hoodwink the finance guys in Blizz HQ to do that.
Selling boxes is not enough in today's environment. You gotta have a source of recurrent revenue as well. Which means either RMAH or cash shop.
Problem is, while a cash shop with transmogs and cosmetic items will totally take care of the recurrent revenue part, it will not take care of user frustration in trade channels. Unless of course, the plan is to make ROS like the console version where legendaries are raining on you and you can beat the game because you sneezed on the monsters. Which would be even more stupid.
Also, of course it was a necessity, because of how the game was tuned in the first place. In D2, you could play self-found because the game was undertuned. In D3, you have much more difficult modes (e.g. Inferno MP10). Also, in D2, you had ladders to periodically remove items from the economy, which you don't have in D3.
What we need, consequently, is a way to remove items from the economy, not remove the AH.
And again, the difference between D2 and D3 is not the trading methods, but the sheer undertuning of D2 because it was meant to be playable offline.
Also, the other major economy difference between D2 and D3 is the absence of a way of getting items out of the market, either through character death (for SC) or ladder (for D2). THAT is a fundamental problem.
And a lot of people played entirely self-found in D2? Especially all those with high-end runewords? Everyone traded (and duped, and hacked).
And again, it is much more possible to play self-found in D2 because of its tuning.
I understand your point, but that means AH needs additional fixes to prevent flipping and sniping. Removing it completely is basically recognizing that you're incompetent in game economy balancing (which Josh apparently is).
In this case, their communication was handled extremely poorly and someone should be hanged for that to make an example.
Because people act totally rationally. Right.
Of course they're not waging legal wars against them, since they're doing the same thing. However, if you remove the AH, they'll probably have to change the EULA accordingly and forbid selling game items and gold (although gold will be much less useful with such a model) for real money. And THEN they'll have to wage legal wars, exactly like they do with WOW gold selling sites.
I don't use them. Problem is, a lot of people do. There will be scams in trade and on third-party sites, credit card numbers stolen, in short hell will break loose. Moreover, Blizzard will have to spend (like in the good old days) money on lawsuits against the said sites. From every economical point of view, it's a lose-lose situation.
Sure, but if you have a secure environment provided, it looks much more attractive compared to some Chinese website.
So, BOA destroys trading but bartering and 3rd party sites don't? I don't follow your logic.
And making more stuff (e.g. legendaries) BoA wouldn't be enough? Doubt it, frankly.
Yes, people bartering with gems and buying their stuff on Chinese third party sites will be soooooo much fun. /sarcasm
Josh Mosquera has just lost 95 points on my respect scale. Pity, he was looking much more promising than Jay Wilson.