DiabloFans

Azrabaine @ Maelstrom: Everyone seems to be worried Blizzard won't give us a currency or that they'll make sure there isn't any trading with BoE/BoP.

What's the problem with the way Diablo II did it? I'm not just saying my opinion, I'm asking the question: what were the problems with Diablo II's player-run economy and what do you want Blizzard to do?

So in my opinion, I like the idea of a player-run system. It seems much more fun to me. Sure, having a set currency like in WoW is simple, but I feel like it sucks the fun out of bartering (which is a reason I loved Diablo II). In WoW you can simply have a lot of gold but in Diablo II you can be your own self-sufficient merchant, peddling your wares across the Diablo world. I remember getting a +1 Summoning Skill Level charm and trading it up to three Ist runes and a Ber. Fun! With a set currency I'm afraid trading isn't going to exist like this and it will merely be a matter of picking the future cow level clean of items and then buying something off of someone

Bashiok: One of the largest issues with a bartering system is that it prevents any ease of entry into the system for players. I have an item and I think it's probably worth something, but I have no idea what its worth and no easy way to find out. You have an item I want, but I have no idea what you may want for it or if I'm going to get a fair trade for it. You may throw a bunch of acronyms at me, get frustrated I don't know what I'm doing, and then leave. That's not going to be a positive experience for either of us, and neither of us get what we want out of it. With a stable economy and currency, there's at least a common language that anyone can understand regardless of their game knowledge.

Cheque @ Dethecus: So, can you speak on whether gold going to be worth something in Diablo 3, or if the developers are planning to continue the item-based currency method?

Bashiok: We want gold to be worth something in Diablo III, yes.

branderic @ USWest: How would you react if D3 had item binding?

Bashiok: Diablo is a trading game, and we have no plans to change that. We don't have any inclination to make items bind to a character, or otherwise remove trading opportunities.

Will there be absolutely no items that will be bound to a character? It isn't possible to say with any certainty at this point, there might be.