DiabloFans

So, first they thought going back to town every 3 minutes to sell all your items was uncool, so they added the Cauldron of Jordan. I thought that was a great idea. I'm glad they took all this time to change that system and make it exactly the same as Diablo 2 after all these very important iterations. Now we get mountains of useless items and have to constantly go back to town if we want to sell them. So yeah, now tons of crap will be left on the floor. Mission accomplished? And now, instead of quickly identifying items for free with Cain, we have to spend two seconds staring at each item. What is the point of this? What a waste of time. Oh, but you can TP all you want... big difference from Diablo 2, right? Those TP scrolls were really expensive!

At this point, it's pretty clear they don't know what they're doing. Everything that is not a tried-and-true formula is either iterated til it becomes one, or simply removed (see charms, see Mystic). They're just endlessly iterating and second-guessing themselves, and it's become a rather boring thing to watch. How can anyone even be excited about the game at this point?

This game will not even be close to done when Q1 ends. Expect late 2012, if anything. That much is painfully obvious. Save yourself the grief, just don't even bother having expectations. These guys are determined to crush them.

lol @ "No one will remember if the game is late". Stories about the time it's taking for Blizzard to make this game will be told to our grandchildren, Jay.

I can't believe they decided to go with the Unattended Runes system. It's so bad!

I don't see how this new idea removes cookie cutter builds. It doesn't. In fact, you'll see more people running around with them, since it's free to switch to them, regardless of your previous play style. So that's pretty dumb of them for one.

I appreciate that they're trying to get rid of the problems of D2, but this in the end seems like it will only make the game boring and too easy. Not to mention too short. The replayability value is nonexistent. Get a char to lvl 60 (it's probably going to be very easy) and just freely swap around whatever you want. The end. You have all variations of that class at your disposal, what more do you want? Go play the market until you're old and gray.

They should try to find a balance between the harsh, punishing D2 system and just letting you make every character in one freely. Respeccing should have a cost. That way, you balance replayability, difficulty, rewarding actions, and fun.

Plus, this doesn't even make sense if you consider runes. Runes right now are a somewhat punishing system. So why keep those and remove skill points?

Of course it will affect those who don't use it. Are you even serious? The real money market affects everything, including the gold market. What, you expect people to just not trade?

Quote from Shades_X

Blind faith? Are you kidding me? Blizzard has not made a game that I don't like, they make the best games, thats why their fans have faith because they make the best games, Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo have all won gaming awards. There is nothing wrong with having faith in a company that truly is the best at what they do. I personally have enjoyed playing all of Blizzards games and Diablo 3 will be NO different, Mark my words... Diablo 3 WILL win game of the year.

Second please list these problems cause I bet you don't know jack S*&T no one will until the game comes out. AND we don't know how much this will make blizzard as jay wilson said they "think" they won't lose money... with an attitude like that how can it be a so called "Money-printing machine/cash cow"

F&*^

/rage off

Oh well if it wins game of the year, you'll have been proven right of course...

By raging at me like a fanboy you're proving me right. I'm saying blind faith because they're doing something that has never really been done before. I, for one, despise World of Warcraft, and as a Starcraft II player, I haven't loved the direction they've taken the game in lately. So maybe that's why I'm able to be a little more critical instead of just worshiping their every move. Of course you're right though, we all know that if they win awards, you have to stop thinking for yourself.

If you had actually taken the time to read my post, you'd have seen one of the first things I did was say that I don't know for sure how it will turn out. I personally believe they're biting off more than they can chew, but that's just what I think. I don't think I'm forcing my opinion on you.

Let me give you a more detailed explanation. So, if you want to use the real money trading service extensively, you'll have to pay a fee. By putting up the auction, they're charging you again. If the item sells, they charge you again. And after that, they charge you for translating your profit into real money. That's 3 times they charge you, assuming you only used the free auctions you're allowed to make --and I'm really interested to see just how "free" they're going to be. No-one even said how many they're going to give you.

Sites like D2JSP made mountains of cash by offering a service only a fraction of the player base used. Blizzard is legalizing it, and doing it on a massive scale. So after making the game and just letting things drop, they're making money every time someone sells something. Besides the costs of maintenance, which are independent from the auction house, they're effectively making a money printing machine. The money comes directly out of your pocket, and they just have to sit back and watch you buy and sell like a monkey. It's a really genius move, business wise. Once they set everything up, the cash will be flowing.

Quote from Ferret

What moral or ethic aspects? The game will work exactly like D2 did:
- Players trading ingame items for ingame items or currency. "O PGems N HR" should ring a bell here.
- Players trading ingame items for out of game currency. 40 PGems for 20fg, look at jsp trade forums to see this stuff.
- Players spending cash to get out of game currency or ingame items.
In the context of D3, replace out of game currency with B.Net e-cash. So where exactly is the difference? The PvP statement, while I understand the message you are making, is irrelevant. The design for D3 has been PvE > PvP right from the getgo, and with that in mind, how did you imagine PvP would work when the team won't rebalance skills for the sake of PvP anyway?

The same moral or ethic aspects that go with games like World of Warcraft. Of course it's not their fault, at least not entirely, but I don't have to tell you the kind of repercussions this game can have when it's advertised as "play and make money!". Some people are talking about making a living out of this.

And it's been said before that the same thing happened in Diablo 2... however, like PhrozenDragon said, this time they're making an official implementation. This will surely make it much, much more prominent than in Diablo 2. Exactly what the full effects of that are, I can not say for sure. We'll have to wait and see.

About PvP... I don't care for it. Never played it, never will. However, you have to admit that the Auction House made it far less relevant than it could have been. I know some people were hoping for a decent system, whereas now it's probably going to be a not even respectable one. Regardless of the effects of the RMAH, they don't even have the support of Jay Wilson.

Quote from Ferret

Since D2 worked with the model it had (unfortunately near none, 3rd party sites added the rest), this should work fine. There are no guarantees in life except death, but it is unfeasable to forsee a fault given that D2 has worked for ten years with a system, that while illegal and unsupported by Blizzard, was a pre-evolution to the one for D3.

Death AND taxes I'm not even sure sites like D2JSP are fully going away. What about offering transactions without the fees that Blizzard is going to put up? Surely that will sound good to at least some.

Quote from Ferret

Would you not agree that D2 was a cash cow as well for 3rd part sites? The only cut Blizz got from that was CD-Keys being bought when accounts were closed. To what degree is it unfair or extortion that Blizzard gets to profit from their own game, when money has been poured into this exact market model for years? And while I do agree that this system could go to a global format for these type of games, it is debatable if it is a bad one (we will have to wait and see). While real cash is involved, it is not like those games where you can only play to a certain point before you have to shell out cash. You get to see and own everything a paying player gets to, although you will have to take a different approach.

Yes, I would agree. However, I never called their system unfair or extortion, so that's besides the point.

As far as I'm concerned, they're doing nothing that I could call "unfair". If I were them, I would be very unhappy with 3rd party sites making money out of my work. I won't argue with that. However, to think that the RMAH is implemented out of the goodness of their hearts or to protect us from ourselves is to delude yourself. This is, in the end, a business decision.

Just how much those of us who opt not to use the RMAH are in for, that's debatable. I would expect that you're going to be missing out on most, if not all of the best end-game gear. Unless you choose to partake in their little auction game. That, of course, doesn't technically require you to invest a single cent into the game. In theory, at least.

Quote from Ferret

The faith thing is a matter of opinion, as I understand there are two sides to this, and both have good points (some more valid than others). The corporate greed is of course also true, but it is not extortion. Blizzard is offering a feature that players can choose to use. Think of it this way... if Blizzard didn't implement this system, 3rd party sites would start up tomorrow to get prepared. The money is also not an issue; where do you think all the Enigmas and Infinities came from 2 weeks into ladder, even if you traded something ingame to get them?

Like I said before, I understand what you're trying to say, and I recognize that the 3rd party sites are a big issue that needs to be dealt with. However, I'm not sure they're going away, and I never did call what they're doing extortion.

You clearly understand the basics (and more) of how the market works and what it means to play it, and I understand we can't really predict with exactitude how it will pan out in the end, but let me ask you this: how do you feel gold farming will affect this market?

On an unrelated note, you're one of the most civil people I've seen on here. Props to you for being so eloquent and actually backing up your arguments.

I'm not even going to go into the moral/ethic aspects of the Auction House, or how it totally puts a different spin on the game, or how PvP is non-existent, I'm just going to say... Damn, some of you people are naive!

Regarding making a better game, this could work... or it could also blow up in their faces. I don't actually know how it will go for them, but I do think it is far too complex a task for Blizzard to successfully undertake. Some people thought they could pull off their 9 gazillion builds, and look where they are with that now.

Bottom line, like it was said before, this is a money-printing machine for them. That's the bottom line. This is going to be a massive cash cow for them. The need to balance it and deal with the plethora of problems it (and its users) will have... that's a secondary priority for them. One that they'll be taking care of just to protect their cash cow. If they pull this off, expect to see this feature in every conceivable game possible.

I think some people here have far too much blind faith in Blizzard. Others, it seems, have never heard of corporate greed. And I am most amused by the ones that think they could actually make significant money out of playing this game (let alone make a living!) All due respect to them, but who do you think you're dealing with?

Great article though