Diablo 3 - Updated Auction House FAQ

[Couchpotato]

Blizzard has updated the Auction House FAQ on Battle.net to answer more questions anyone might have, and to remind players of the date when it will be shutdown.

We've updated our Diablo III Auction House Update FAQ with new information about the upcoming shutdown of the gold, and real-money auction houses on March 18. Please read below for these additionals details.

More information.

 

[Brumbek]

Goodbye Auction House, you blight on Diablo 3! It is bittersweet I suppose…afterall, I did manage to make $80 by selling my very first Legendary drop to some crazy person.

Ah yes, let me recount the tale, at the start of Hell difficulty, around level 51 a Burrowing Leaper in the Fields of Misery jumped at my face…and then I Disintegrated him real good…and lo, a legendary Justice Lantern Ring exploded from his body!

At that moment my life changed…it was a nice ring with a great 10% Attack Speed boost! Sure, I could have equipped it and enjoyed it personally, but why play the game when I could MAKE CASHMONEY!! I went to the AH and searched…this ring was listed from $80-150. MIND BLOWN.

After doing 30 minutes of research, I settle on a $95 listing price because my ring wasn't the top roll plus I wanted to get my cash; PRICE TO SELL! I listed it…an hour later, SOLD.

Oh…did I mention Blizzard had already announced an Attack Speed nerf coming out in a week or so? It would drop all AS boosts by half; so my 10% AS ring would become 5%. Hence why I sold that thing quick.

Thank you children for listening to my story. So $80 profit later…I still despise the AH because it makes/made D3 about economics and profit rather than fun. Die Auction House, DIE.

 

[DArtagnan]

Now you can enjoy a short-term Diablo instead. Making Legendaries bind on acquire is even more stupid than shutting down the AH.

 

[Brumbek]

Now you can enjoy a short-term Diablo instead. Making Legendaries bind on acquire is even more stupid than shutting down the AH.

The problem IMO is D3 doesn't have the strong itemization system required to accommodate a robust item economy. I think most people agree D3's fundamental Primary Stat system is shallow by design. Hence, D3 was designed to be more of a fun arcade/combat RPG.

Path of Exile, on the other hand, has the most robust item system ever, better than Diablo 2 (level 90 Duelist here). So in a way, it is nice to have D3X going more arcade with a focus on fun gameplay. This creates a nice contrast with PoE, which is clearly the uber-hardcore 5,000 hour players' dream come true.

So I understand some players loved trading, but I still maintain that the majority of players just want to have fun and find their own items in D3. But I haven't played the expansion, so I can't say if it is good or not.

I admit I just don't understand why people love trading so much…to me it is a big headache to price your gear, find people, ensure you aren't being ripped off, trying to get "good" deals…it is way too much like using Craigslist IMO. The AH "solved" all that...but nobody I knew enjoyed the AH...except in the sense of real money profit enjoyment.

 

[DArtagnan]

The problem IMO is D3 doesn't have the strong itemization system required to accommodate a robust item economy. I think most people agree D3's fundamental Primary Stat system is shallow by design. Hence, D3 was designed to be more of a fun arcade/combat RPG.

Have you checked out the loot 2.0 changes?

While I agree it's still far from ideal - they've made a lot of strong changes to legendaries and set items, to make them stand apart and be highly desirable.

D3 was designed by someone who's resigned from the job, so it's not really the same game anymore.

It was never intended to be purely short-term, though, they just didn't really understand the genre.

Path of Exile, on the other hand, has the most robust item system ever, better than Diablo 2 (level 90 Duelist here). So in a way, it is nice to have D3X going more arcade with a focus on fun gameplay. This creates a nice contrast with PoE, which is clearly the uber-hardcore 5,000 hour players' dream come true.

Well, the issue with PoE is that combat isn't exciting enough and especially the SEVERE lack of asset variation makes for a game that's excessively samey in terms of the overall experience.

Oh, the passive skill tree is great - even if it's deceptively strategic. It's the opposite of streamlined design. It's deliberately obscure and the challenge easily becomes the actual decoding of the tree - even if you know exactly what you want.

I'm not convinced that was such a great idea.

If you make a direct comparison between Diablo 3 and PoE - and you look at combat and active skills, PoE doesn't stand a chance.

But PoE does have a much more interesting character system and the skill gems are wonderful. It's just really sad that the areas look and feel so similar, and that combat can't really go beyond the limited animations they've created. They need at least 2-3 more acts to spice things up.

Diablo 3 with a high-level character feels so, SO good - and the amount of asset variation is on another level entirely. That's why a long-term feature like the RMAH would fit so well with it.

So I understand some players loved trading, but I still maintain that the majority of players just want to have fun and find their own items in D3. But I haven't played the expansion, so I can't say if it is good or not.

Well, everyone wants a fun game to last for as long as possible. I don't think anyone wants the fun to end sooner rather than later.

Trading with other people is part of the social dynamic.

To me, the social dynamic makes the game feel more relevant and your actions more far-reaching.

I can't really enjoy games like this without some kind of social interaction - as the meaninglessness of the eternal loot hunt becomes obvious too soon.

I admit I just don't understand why people love trading so much…to me it is a big headache to price your gear, find people, ensure you aren't being ripped off, trying to get "good" deals…it is way too much like using Craigslist IMO. The AH "solved" all that…but nobody I knew enjoyed the AH…except in the sense of real money profit enjoyment.

That's fair enough, though I'm surprised it's so hard to understand.

It's an added feature that gives the game long-term perspective, especially with the RMAH - where you could potentially make a decent profit from selling items.

That made the loot hunt much more entertaining, because even if your character couldn't use what you found - you could still sell it.

The original problem was how they balanced it and how awful the itemization was - not the auction house itself.

 

[Brumbek]

Have you checked out the loot 2.0 changes?

Yeah. Plus I've played the PS3 version since October, which has most the 2.0 changes. I actually greatly prefer the console version because the combat feels so good on the controller. Plus the console version is even more generous than loot 2.0 regarding drops and gem crafting and key drops and so on.

Well, the issue with PoE is that combat isn't exciting enough…

Agreed. The first 30 hours of PoE is pretty dismal, combat wise. Although I did have great fun in the end-game with my Leapslam/Dualstrike/9 Attacks per second character with a self-found Soul-Taker (mana not required for melee skills).

Oh, the passive skill tree is great - even if it's deceptively strategic. It's the opposite of streamlined design. It's deliberately obscure and the challenge easily becomes the actual decoding of the tree - even if you know exactly what you want.

I did enjoy spending countless hours theorycrafting and doing spreadsheets on how to perfect my build. I usually don't go for this level of analysis, but I loved it in PoE. I realize I'm the minority in that regard, since I kind of am contradicting my "most players just want to have fun and not get bogged down with the details" idea.

I can't really enjoy games like this without some kind of social interaction - as the meaninglessness of the eternal loot hunt becomes obvious too soon.

Interesting! I'm sort of the opposite, a sort of video-game loner. I've never minded playing by myself for hundreds of hours. I guess this explains our fundamental disagreement. And fair enough, I respect your social needs.

The original problem was how they balanced it and how awful the itemization was - not the auction house itself.

Won't argue with that! Still, I do say the AH is bad design. It makes it too easy to "cheat" and buy your way to the top. The AH didn't account for rational human behavior (take the easiest route).

Anyway, thanks for your good thoughts. I enjoyed reading your post.

PS: I do feel bad for prior D3 players who are forced to go along with Blizzard's changes…another downside of the brave new always online world.