It's kind of like taking sports enhancing drugs illegally to win an event. Sure, you're able to buy them from the black market and whatnot, but if you're caught actually doing it then you'll lose your respect from the rest of the competitors. Introducing the RMAH however will be like the event organizers condoning the use of drugs and selling it for a price similar to that on the black market right next to the track.
No one will look at hardcore in the same way, because any players could be "cheating" and since Blizzard is happy to help you reach that goal without actually playing the game the way its meant to be, then it's just lost its hardcore value.
Since like 90% of the players will play softcore, this game sure will have alot of cheaters!
And how exactly is the game "meant to be played"? Buying from gold-AH or RMAH is all the same, you buy someone elses items, you didnt find it yourself, omg cheating! Regardless of RMAH or not, you have no way of knowing if a player bought all of his items with money or not.
Difference is that when buying from gold HC you cant buy a starting capital, with RMAH you can just put 50 bucks into your ingame account and start buying without having accumulated any of the gold/starting capital your self.
A disturbing tweet has recently come from Jay Wilson‘s account stating that the RMAH may, in fact, come to the hardcore scene. If there was one thing that would ruin the hardcore community, it would be micro-transactions. While it would not be a “9.99 for a resurrection,” it would essentially be just that. While you would be required to re-level to 60 over again, you could just swipe your card to gear out your character without the dedication. In fact, if character selling becomes available, hardcore would simply cease to be hardcore.
Alternate means of monetary transactions are always available for the hardcore community. However, there is deeper significance to the monetization of the hardcore community. Not only would an RMAH diminish hardcore stigma, it would open a Pandora’s box for the legal team. Kids with their father’s credit cards notwithstanding, “I didn’t know” just isn’t a reliable or legally viable excuse for killing off a character with $300 invested in it (or however much you wasted on Bobby Bucks). But who knows. It’s also possible that the demand is just not there, and such qualms would be few and far between.
@Angryrobotics Always wanted a genuinely hard but fun game. I truly think hardcore D3 will bring that. Any chance at RMAH on hardcore?
"If there is a demand for it we’ll consider it."
What is the community’s reaction to this bit of information? It would seem to me, at least, that HC would have become somewhat of a refuge for those that wish to dodge the community of money-spenders in softcore. In short, it would be a community that Blizzard would not have chosen to monetize, and therefore an untapped source of revenue. Surely Bobby would frown at such an oversight on Blizzard’s part.
Yet, with the introduction of the RMAH to the hardcore community, I believe it would effectively alienate them from what the mode really “stands” for – or at least the banner under which the majority of the hardcore community rallies.
As an addendum to this editorial, I see that it would be remiss to not address the benefits of having an RMAH – as some comments have pointed out. As I briefly mentioned before, such transactions would be present no matter what. As such, it would be in Blizzard’s interest not only to capitalize on an untapped revenue stream, but to allow a secure measure for such transactions. It seems, however, that Blizzard’s initial reasoning behind it was that the costs outweigh the benefits.
When talking with Jay and Rob Pardo last July, their reasoning behind the omission of an RMAH was to “save people from themselves.” The RMAH would create certain barriers and legal troubles, as well as a deterrent. Since this tweet directly involves the demand for such an option, it would seem that they are looking at as a viable revenue stream for the option before making it available.
What is the community’s reaction to this bit of information? I think it would be interesting to get a poll on this, seeing how people who actually will be playing hardcore feel about this possibility versus those who do not on playing it.
It will ruin HC if they incorporate that