On Battle.net, a user asked Bashiok about the undeniable emergence of third party sites that offer trading and their own form of currency to trade with for Diablo III. While I won't mention any particular names, sites like these are heavily used for Diablo II to allow players to trade amongst each other more easily than spamming in rooms and muling tons of items. The user stated how these sites will drive Diablo III's community and control the economy in game.
Bashiok's response to the user was:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Hah. No it won't. All of the issues that exist in Diablo II that essentially force people to use these kinds of sites in order to establish a base economy and help concentrate the playerbase to a centralized trading location will all be completely unnecessary when we achieve our economic and trade goals with Diablo III.
Other users then continued to ask Bashiok how they planned to control the economy rather than letting these other sites control it. They wanted to know what Blizzard had in mind to control item trade.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We've always said we intend to have some type of in-game auction house type feature.
That alone would remove almost all desire to alt+tab and trade outside of the game. People use these sites because they centralize the trading community, and they establish a base currency. If there's no reason for people to leave the game, then they won't. It's as simple as that.
While it has been speculated on the past, here is definitive proof that Diablo III will have some form of auction house in-game for Diablo III. While it is unknown what form this auction house will take, it will make trading items much easier than it is in Diablo II. The great asset that auction's house bring is that you are able to trade items with players without having to have direct contact with that user. The auction house acts as a medium between the buyers and the sellers and conveniently puts it all in one place. More than likely, I see Diablo using an auction house similar to WoW's (yes I said it). The auction house functions very well and allows players to easily sell and buy items at their convenience. People are able to sell items without even having to be in-game at that moment.
Bashiok continued to reply to another question concerning the economy in-game. The question of ladder resets existing in Diablo III was asked. Ladder resets exist to essentially wipe the economy of high end items to reset the economy.
Official Blizzard Quote:
There's no reason for Diablo III to have ladder resets. They're a quick and dirty method of resetting the economy to 0 in Diablo II. It works. For a while. Then the great purging begins again.
And for anyone still worried about the economy in Diablo III, it appears that the team is more than capable of correcting a problem that exists in a game that is over ten years old.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We're designing a stable economy, we have the knowledge and experience to do so. We have people in-house with doctorates and degrees in statistics and economic analysis and all the know how to pull it off. I think we'll be ok.
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I heard somewhere that we are training our children for jobs that don't currently exist, perhaps our children can be given a head start by buying them Diablo 3 and making them masters of the economy. Then when your kids are hired by companies to become statisticians and economic analysts, specialised in video games and become rich, you can retire early.
It doesnt matter what currency will be in game,because those trading sites wont sell money but ready items sets ect.And players will buy it because they want to be uber player in game in short time.Like it does in all mmorpg games.And in diablo 2 aswell.Trading items will always be,and theres nothing developers can do about it.
I think you're referring to actual sites where you pay for items with real money, the original post from my understanding is referring to trading sites where you trade for items with virtual forum gold (aka JSP, there I said it lol). Diablo 3 is going to have features that will make those trading for forum gold websites obsolete. Which is awesome imo, nothing against those websites but if it can all be done ingame to begin with then that's unreal. I can't wait for the d3 trading/economy.
The websites you're talking about where ppl buy with real money are probably going to still be around, but only idiots pay for items with real money to begin with lol so if they want to then let them.
I never managed to realize why people were afraid trading in D3 would be controlled by forums independent of Blizzard. Like Bashiok so brilliantly points out, as long as you give people no reason to leave the game in order to trade, then they won't.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
if gold is the currency i sure hope it doesnt get into big numbers again. i dont like the idea of having to be a high level to get maxed out gold just to buy an expensive items from AH. i can see diablo dropping 50-100g in hell mode. and 10-20 in nightmare quite comfortably. though that means the odd gold coin off the odd zombie should be umcommon as rares. I mean, who carries 10 000g in their pocket, must be pretty heavy. (not that that matters, or that you have to be high levels to get more gold holding capabilities, i didnt really notice the gold in those ways [but that may have been because its worth less]) yay...long
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This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask
Is there a "game" where you can enter an auction hall or is it text based in the chat. We will see...
... text based in the chat ??? in 2010 ? lol
only idiots pay for items with real money
AHAH yes I agree, but I hope Blizzard will counter that.
Quote from manmountain »
i can see diablo dropping 50-100g in hell mode. and 10-20 in nightmare quite comfortably. though that means the odd gold coin off the odd zombie should be umcommon as rares.
Yes I strongly agree !! I hate when the first amount of gold you found is 10. Damn cut the zero on everything...
I heard somewhere that we are training our children for jobs that don't currently exist, perhaps our children can be given a head start by buying them Diablo 3 and making them masters of the economy. Then when your kids are hired by companies to become statisticians and economic analysts, specialised in video games and become rich, you can retire early.
Lol. Yes xD
Quote from "afi44" »
Has gold been the confirmed currency?
It's been a confirmed currency, not the confirmed currency. Item trading will still be an accessible option, so there will probably be multiple other ones created by players as the game gets older, like gems and such, I'd imagine.
well, the nice thing about an auction house is that it does unify the one form of currency in the game, gold. Even if certain items become the desired item of choice, they still have to be bought with gold through the AH (assuming everyone uses it due to its ease and accessibility). So if you have a piece of leet armor but you want the skill rune everyone is dying for, you can't just trade your armor for it. You have to sell your armor for gold and then use that gold to by the skill rune. That is what I love about the idea of an AH in Diablo. No longer do I have to worry about having the "it" item to trade for other items. I can just sell whatever I have and collect gold (the unified currency) and save up to buy something really good.
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It's been a confirmed currency, not the confirmed currency. Item trading will still be an accessible option, so there will probably be multiple other ones created by players as the game gets older, like gems and such, I'd imagine.
I think even gems will have gold currency so we don't need to know what's the value equality of an items when every items are converted in gold when traded...
*shrugs* Of course. I'm just saying that there will be other underground markets. It would be foolish to think that everyone will simply drop everything for gold. There will still be a lot of players faithful to the way things were done in the older games. There will still be many that don't want to trade for a medium currency, but want only items that they can actually use.
for example, in WoW, every player needed bags. Only tailors could make these bags. So for a tailor to buy anything, they did not trade their bags for items. Instead, you go to the AH, sell your bags, take the gold from that and buy a different item.
It is actually how the economy in the world works. We all essentially still live in a bartering system. We each provide services or goods in exchange to get different services and goods. However, rather than worrying about everybody willing to trade for your specific work, we have a unified form of currency in which everything is converted into so we can trade equally between everyone.
Quote from "Seth" »
*shrugs* Of course. I'm just saying that there will be other underground markets. It would be foolish to think that everyone will simply drop everything for gold. There will still be a lot of players faithful to the way things were done in the older games. There will still be many that don't want to trade for a medium currency, but want only items that they can actually use.
I disagree, they trade their items away for a medium currency so they can more easily buy the items they can use. You don't have to worry about the person who has the item you need, needing the item you have to trade. you sell your item, you buy your item. It is quicker, easier, and more accessible. I don't see anyone saying "NO, I am not trading this item for gold, I want this axe for my skill rune." Not using gold as a medium currency only limits the amount of people you can trade with.
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Another nice thing about an AH is that it helps balance out the economy at all stages of the game.
At first, nobody has money so everything on the AH has to have a reasonable price if you expect someone to buy it. As the game gets older and people's gold starts increasing, so do the prices of items. It basically makes the gold in the game to work off of a percentage rather than a set price like merchants have. And percentages are great when dealing with things that can increase exponentially and last for so long.
Another great thing is that prices are community driven. You can't put up an item for 1,000,000,000 gold just because, the price has to be reasonable for people to buy it. And it is the community that decides what is a reasonable price.
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they trade their items away for a medium currency so they can more easily buy the items they can use. You don't have to worry about the person who has the item you need, needing the item you have to trade. you sell your item, you buy your item. It is quicker, easier, and more accessible. I don't see anyone saying "NO, I am not trading this item for gold, I want this axe for my skill rune." Not using gold as a medium currency only limits the amount of people you can trade with.
Thx for explain it more clearly than me !!
Quote from Seth »
It would be foolish to think that everyone will simply drop everything for gold.
Why ? you'll use this gold to buy exactly what you want !!
Quote from Seth »
There will still be a lot of players faithful to the way things were done in the older games. There will still be many that don't want to trade for a medium currency, but want only items that they can actually use.
Why do simple when you can do complicated ?!
"want only items that they can actually use. " So with your gold buy it... I'm sure you'll be able to sort items of your level... I don't know why you absolutly want trade an items for an items without knowing if the trade is fair and have a equal value ?!
we're designing a stable economy, we have the knowledge and experience to do so. We have people in-house with doctorates and degrees in statistics and economic analysis and all the know how to pull it off. I think we'll be ok.[/blizz]
Bashiok's response to the user was:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Hah. No it won't. All of the issues that exist in Diablo II that essentially force people to use these kinds of sites in order to establish a base economy and help concentrate the playerbase to a centralized trading location will all be completely unnecessary when we achieve our economic and trade goals with Diablo III.
Other users then continued to ask Bashiok how they planned to control the economy rather than letting these other sites control it. They wanted to know what Blizzard had in mind to control item trade.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We've always said we intend to have some type of in-game auction house type feature.
That alone would remove almost all desire to alt+tab and trade outside of the game. People use these sites because they centralize the trading community, and they establish a base currency. If there's no reason for people to leave the game, then they won't. It's as simple as that.
Bashiok continued to reply to another question concerning the economy in-game. The question of ladder resets existing in Diablo III was asked. Ladder resets exist to essentially wipe the economy of high end items to reset the economy.
Official Blizzard Quote:
There's no reason for Diablo III to have ladder resets. They're a quick and dirty method of resetting the economy to 0 in Diablo II. It works. For a while. Then the great purging begins again.
And for anyone still worried about the economy in Diablo III, it appears that the team is more than capable of correcting a problem that exists in a game that is over ten years old.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We're designing a stable economy, we have the knowledge and experience to do so. We have people in-house with doctorates and degrees in statistics and economic analysis and all the know how to pull it off. I think we'll be ok.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
I think you're referring to actual sites where you pay for items with real money, the original post from my understanding is referring to trading sites where you trade for items with virtual forum gold (aka JSP, there I said it lol). Diablo 3 is going to have features that will make those trading for forum gold websites obsolete. Which is awesome imo, nothing against those websites but if it can all be done ingame to begin with then that's unreal. I can't wait for the d3 trading/economy.
The websites you're talking about where ppl buy with real money are probably going to still be around, but only idiots pay for items with real money to begin with lol so if they want to then let them.
If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask
... text based in the chat ??? in 2010 ? lol
AHAH yes I agree, but I hope Blizzard will counter that.
Yes I strongly agree !! I hate when the first amount of gold you found is 10. Damn cut the zero on everything...
Lol. Yes xD
It's been a confirmed currency, not the confirmed currency. Item trading will still be an accessible option, so there will probably be multiple other ones created by players as the game gets older, like gems and such, I'd imagine.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
I think even gems will have gold currency so we don't need to know what's the value equality of an items when every items are converted in gold when traded...
for example, in WoW, every player needed bags. Only tailors could make these bags. So for a tailor to buy anything, they did not trade their bags for items. Instead, you go to the AH, sell your bags, take the gold from that and buy a different item.
It is actually how the economy in the world works. We all essentially still live in a bartering system. We each provide services or goods in exchange to get different services and goods. However, rather than worrying about everybody willing to trade for your specific work, we have a unified form of currency in which everything is converted into so we can trade equally between everyone.
I disagree, they trade their items away for a medium currency so they can more easily buy the items they can use. You don't have to worry about the person who has the item you need, needing the item you have to trade. you sell your item, you buy your item. It is quicker, easier, and more accessible. I don't see anyone saying "NO, I am not trading this item for gold, I want this axe for my skill rune." Not using gold as a medium currency only limits the amount of people you can trade with.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
At first, nobody has money so everything on the AH has to have a reasonable price if you expect someone to buy it. As the game gets older and people's gold starts increasing, so do the prices of items. It basically makes the gold in the game to work off of a percentage rather than a set price like merchants have. And percentages are great when dealing with things that can increase exponentially and last for so long.
Another great thing is that prices are community driven. You can't put up an item for 1,000,000,000 gold just because, the price has to be reasonable for people to buy it. And it is the community that decides what is a reasonable price.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
"We have people in-house with doctorates and degrees in statistics and economic analysis and all the know how to pull it off. I think we'll be ok."
Aren't these the same kinds of people who run the actual economy? How are things working out?
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Thx for explain it more clearly than me !!
Why ? you'll use this gold to buy exactly what you want !!
Why do simple when you can do complicated ?!
"want only items that they can actually use. " So with your gold buy it... I'm sure you'll be able to sort items of your level... I don't know why you absolutly want trade an items for an items without knowing if the trade is fair and have a equal value ?!
I personally hate forum gold and shit. What i do like is forum trades. I got a sword, you got a shield, lets trade.
Oh and i have full confident in Blizzard's capability of making a good economy system.