Today is a Diablo 3 special news posts for obvious reasons (see the news below). For a complete coverage of the Diablo 3 Press Tour and more information on the upcoming beta, check out Diablofans.com


Diablo 3 Auction House Announced - Spend and Earn Real Life Money!
The Diablo 3 Auction House was announced during last week's press tour and I'm sure that news will be very interesting for most of the readers of this site, because most of us wonder if it will have any effect on the evolution of WoW in the long run.


Diablo 3's Auction House will feature two currencies, the first one will be in-game gold and the 2nd one will be real life money. Yep, you read it right, Diablo 3 will let you buy items with either gold or real life money! It's also worth noting that you will also be able to sell loot for money, and transfer that money outside the game. I guess gold farming just got interesting.

See the screenshots and official FAQ below for more information.


Auction House Bidding - Dollars

Auction House Bidding - Gold

Auction Log - Gold

Auction House Search - Dollars

Auction House Sell - Dollars

Auction House Sell - Gold
 
Auction House Selling - Dollars
 


Diablo 3 Auction House - Overview
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
We’re introducing a powerful auction house system that will provide a safe, fun, and easy-to-use way for players to buy and sell the loot they obtain in the game. Items can be sold and purchased using real-world money or in-game gold.

An Easier Way To Trade
Sure, slaying monsters, demons, and cultists is a surefire way to obtain a ton of random new loot in Diablo III, but with the new auction house feature, it’ll be easier than ever to gear up your character with the exact items you’re looking for. You can also post the items you don’t need for players who are desperately searching for what you’ve got!

Don’t Need It? Put It Up For Auction!
Nearly everything found in the game, including gold, can be exchanged with other players directly or through the auction house system. So say you’re a witch doctor and you’ve just found an incredibly rare, incredibly powerful axe that only barbarians can use. In the previous Diablo games your best option might have been to sell the axe to an in-game vendor, but in Diablo III, you now have the ability to list that axe in the auction house for your fellow barbarian players to bid on. And you know another player will probably appreciate the true value of that axe more than some heartless vendor who’ll likely just melt it down for scrap….

Amazing Search Functionality
The auction house’s "smart search" functionality can automatically sort items in the auction house based on which upgrades would be most beneficial to your character. Also, searching for the best gear for multiple characters on the same Battle.net account can be done all from the same interface without having to log out.

The Choice Is Yours
Use of either the real-money or gold-based auction house is completely optional -- that decision can be made on a per-item basis, and both versions of the auction house are functionally the same. In addition, players have the option to simply sell the items they obtain to in-game vendors for gold. They can also trade items to other players through a direct character-to-character trading system in the game in exchange for gold, other items, or just an overwhelming sense of goodwill.

Players Only
Blizzard does not plan to post items for sale in the auction house. The driving purpose of the auction house is to provide players with a fun additional in-game option for what they do with the items they obtain in the game. Items sold in the auction house will be posted by players and purchased by players.

Safe and Sanctified
The real-money auction house provides players with an easy-to-use, Blizzard-sanctioned way to collect money for items they obtain while playing Diablo III. It also helps protect players from the scams and theft often associated with questionable third-party sites by providing a secure, completely in-game method for purchasing and obtaining the items they want for their characters.

Faster Than A Seven-Sided Strike
Sellers can post items for auction from any of the Diablo III characters on their Battle.net account, or from their shared stash (extra inventory space accessible with any of the characters on their account), without logging out. And after a buyer has won an auction, the item will become immediately available to be equipped and put to good use in the ongoing struggle against the forces of the Burning Hells.

Diablo 3 Auction House - FAQ
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
What is the Diablo III auction house system?
Acquiring epic new gear for your characters has always been a big part of the Diablo experience. Because of this, players have found a number of different ways to trade and otherwise obtain items both within and outside of the game. Many of these methods were inconvenient and either tedious (for example, repeatedly advertising for a desired trade in Battle.net chat channels and waiting for responses) or unsafe (e.g., giving credit card information to third-party trading sites). With Diablo III, we’re introducing a powerful auction house system that will provide a safe, fun, and easy-to-use way for players to buy and sell the loot they find in the game, such as weapons, armor, and runestones. Two different versions of the auction house will be available in Diablo III: one based on in-game gold, which players acquire through their adventures, and one based on real-world currency.

What’s the difference between the gold-based auction house and the currency-based auction house?
The gold-based auction house uses in-game gold for purchases and sales. With the currency-based auction house, players will be able to conduct these transactions using actual currency from an authorized payment method or from funds that have been added to their Battle.net account. Players can choose to participate in whichever version of the auction house they prefer, on a per-transaction basis.

How does the auction house system work?
Players can open the auction house interface from anywhere in the game to make purchases or list items for sale. Items can be sold from the shared stash (storage shared among all the characters on your Battle.net account) or from any individual character’s inventory. When posting the item, the seller picks whether it will be sold in the gold-based auction house or the currency-based auction house. The item is then held by the auction house system until the listing expires or a purchase is made. Items that are not sold are returned to the seller’s shared stash, and items that are sold are delivered to the winning bidder’s shared stash. In either case, the auction house system will deduct a nominal fixed transaction fee from the seller, the amount of which is determined by whether or not the item was sold (see below). For the currency-based auction house, players will have a few different options for how to pay for item purchases and receive funds for item sales, as discussed elsewhere in this FAQ. There may be differences in how this system will work in different regions of the world. We’ll provide further details at a later date.

How is the transaction fee determined?
A nominal fixed transaction fee will be deducted from the seller for each item listed in the auction house. This fee consists of a fixed charge to list the item, which is assessed whether or not the item is successfully sold, and an additional fixed charge that is assessed only if the item is sold. Because the listing portion of the fee is charged even if the item doesn’t sell, it will be in the seller’s interest to list items he or she believes other players will be interested in, and to do so at a competitive price. Specific details related to the transaction fee for the currency-based auction house will vary by region and will be announced at a later date.

Please note that we plan to waive the listing portion of the fee for a limited number of transactions per account. In other words, for these transactions, the seller will only pay a transaction fee if the item is successfully sold, and that fee will not include the listing charge. We’ll have further details on this as well at a later date.

Why are you creating a currency-based version of the auction house?
Our goal with all of our games is to ensure players have a highly enjoyable, rewarding, and secure experience. Acquiring items has always been an important part of the Diablo series, but the previous games have not had a robust, centralized system for facilitating trades, and as a result players have turned to inconvenient and potentially unsafe alternatives, such as third-party real-money-trading organizations. Many of the transactions between players and these organizations led to a poor player experience and countless customer-service issues involving scams and item/account theft, to name a few. To that end, we wanted to create a convenient, powerful, and fully integrated tool to meet the demand of players who wished to purchase or sell items for real-world currency, and who would likely have turned to a less-secure third-party service for this convenience.

How will the currency-based auction house work?
Players will be able to make purchases in the currency-based auction house using a registered form of payment attached to their Battle.net account. As with other popular online-purchase services, players will also have the option to charge up their Battle.net account with a balance of funds that can be drawn from for purchases of any digital product available through Battle.net -- this includes not only auction house items but also things like World of Warcraft subscription time and paid services, to name a few examples. On the flipside, when players sell an item in the currency-based auction house, the proceeds of the sale are deposited into their Battle.net account and can then be used as described above. Note that this process might be different for certain regions; we’ll provide further region-specific details as we get closer to launch.

Can players choose to get cash from currency-based auction house sales, instead of having the proceeds deposited into their Battle.net account?
Yes, as an advanced feature, players will have the option of attaching an account with an approved third-party payment service to their Battle.net account. Once this has been completed, proceeds from the sale of items in the currency-based auction house can be deposited into their third-party payment service account. “Cashing out” would then be handled through the third-party payment service. Note that this process will be subject to applicable fees charged by Blizzard and the third-party payment service. Also, any proceeds from the sale of items in the currency-based auction house that have been deposited into the Battle.net account will not be transferrable to the third-party payment service account. Not all regions will support this advanced feature at launch. Region-specific details, as well as details regarding which third-party payment services will be supported and the fee that Blizzard will charge for the cash-out process, will all be provided at a later date.

Is the currency-based version of the auction house optional?
Yes, the currency-based auction house is available as an option for players who wish to purchase or sell Diablo III items for real money. Players are also able to buy and sell items through the gold-based auction house, and they can trade items with each other as well through direct character-to-character in-game trading.

Why would I want to pay real money to buy or sell in-game items?
Acquiring items has always been a core part of the Diablo series' appeal. With the previous Diablo games, many players have shown a great interest in buying, selling, or exchanging items for their characters using real-world currency, turning to potentially unsafe avenues to accomplish this goal. The currency-based version of the auction house provides players with an easy-to-use, Blizzard-sanctioned way to collect money for items obtained while playing Diablo III. In addition, it helps protect players from scams and disreputable third-party sites by providing a secure, in-game method to search for and purchase items posted by other players that are a perfect fit for their character and play style.

The currency-based auction house is completely optional. Players who aren't interested in paying real money for items will still be able to rely on items they acquire through their own adventures, and they'll also be able to trade with friends and use the full-featured gold-based auction house.

Can I play on a server without a currency-based version of the auction house?
We want to provide a secure, fun environment for our players to purchase and sell in-game items using gold or real money and have no plans to divide the community. Players are free to participate in the gold-based auction house or the currency-based auction house, or to opt out of using any of the auction houses at all, progressing through Diablo III using only the items they obtain through their own adventures or direct trade with other players.

Does Blizzard plan to post weapons, armor, and other such items for sale in the currency-based version of the auction house?
The currency-based auction house is a place for players to purchase or sell items they’ve obtained within the game. Blizzard does not plan to post items that affect gameplay, such as gear or character-enhancing runestones, for sale in the auction house.

Will Blizzard sell anything directly through the auction house?
We don't have any plans at this time to post items for sale in the auction house.

Does the currency-based auction house signify a shift in Blizzard’s business and revenue model?
We’ve always tailored our business models to match what we’ve felt would be most appropriate and effective for each game and in each region, and that’s the case with Diablo III as well. The item-based nature of Diablo gameplay has always lent itself to an active trade-based ecosystem, and a significant part of this trade has been conducted through unsecure third-party organizations. This has led to numerous customer-service and game-experience issues that we’ve needed to account for. Our primary goal with the Diablo III auction house system is for it to serve as the foundation for a player-driven economy that’s safe, fun, and accessible for everyone.

What’s Blizzard’s cut?
As with other online auction sites and real-world auction houses, our fee structure will vary by region. However, we plan to collect a nominal fixed transaction fee for each item listed in the auction house. This fee consists of a fixed charge to list the item, which is assessed whether or not the item is successfully sold, and an additional fixed charge that is assessed only if the item is sold. The listing portion of the fee, which helps encourage sensible listing prices and discourage the mass posting of items that are very low quality or would be of little interest to other players, will be waived for a limited number of transactions per account. For players who opt to have the proceeds of their auction house sales go to their third-party payment service account instead of to their Battle.net account, Blizzard will collect a separate “cash-out” fee. Specific details regarding these fees will be announced at a later date.

Why would I even want to use the gold-based auction house?
We recognize that not all players would prefer or have the means to participate in the currency-based auction house, and it was important to us to provide these players with a full-featured alternative.

Can we buy gold from the currency-based auction house?
Players will be able to buy and sell gold through the currency-based auction house at whatever the current market price is, as established by the player community.

If I no longer need an item I bought in the auction house, can I relist it in the auction house?
Yes. Once you've purchased an item you can do anything with it that you could if you had acquired it through your own adventures, whether that be using it yourself, or, after a cool-down period, trading it to another character or relisting it on either the gold-based or currency-based auction house. In fact, you can generally do any combination of these things -- for example, you can purchase an item in the auction house, use it for a while, and then relist it or trade it to another character. Aside from certain quest items, there will be very few (if any) items that will be “soulbound” to your character and therefore untradable. Please note that the duration of the cool-down period mentioned above will be discussed at a later date.


AUCTION HOUSE FUNCTIONALITY

What items can be traded in Diablo III?
Nearly everything that drops on the ground, including gold, can be traded with other players directly or through the auction house system. Aside from certain quest items, there will be very few (if any) items that will be “soulbound” to your character and therefore untradable. We are also planning to allow players to buy and sell characters in the auction house at some point in the future and will have more details to share on that at a later date.

What is "smart searching"?
When players launch the auction house interface, they’ll be able to select any Diablo III character associated with their Battle.net account. The "smart search" feature will assess which item slots have available upgrades and will sort items available in the auction house based on which upgrades would be most beneficial to the character. You can also search for specific stats to match the requirements of a particular character build.

How does bidding work?
Players will be able to place a current bid as well as a maximum bid if they wish to engage in automatic bidding. In addition, they’ll be able to check the status of their bids on the "Currently Winning" page and the "Outbid" page in the auction house interface.

Can I buyout items that I want to purchase immediately?
Yes, the Diablo III auction houses will support a buyout feature as well as standard bids.

How do I pay for items?
For the gold-based auction house, purchases will be made using in-game gold. For the currency-based auction house, players can make purchases using a registered form of payment attached to their Battle.net account. As with other popular online-purchase services, players will also have the option to charge up their Battle.net account with a balance of funds that can be drawn from for purchasing items in the currency-based auction house. Note that this process might be different for certain regions; we’ll provide further region-specific details as we get closer to launch.

How do I receive the items I’ve won?
After winning an auction, the item will be available to pick up through the built-in auction house interface in the Diablo III client. Players will then be able to immediately send that item to their shared stash (storage shared among all the characters on a Battle.net account) or repost the item in the auction house after a cool-down period. The duration of the cool-down period will be discussed at a later date.

How do I sell items?
From the auction house interface, players will be able to select items from their shared stash or from a specific character's inventory. They will then be able to post items for sale by listing a starting bid and buyout price.

How do I cash out from the currency-based auction house?
As an advanced feature, players will have the option of attaching an account with an approved third-party payment service to their Battle.net account. Once this has been completed, proceeds from the sale of items in the currency-based auction house can be deposited into their third-party payment service account. “Cashing out” would then be handled through the third-party payment service. Note that this process will be subject to applicable fees charged by Blizzard and the third-party payment service. Also, any proceeds from the sale of items in the currency-based auction house that have been deposited into the Battle.net account will not be transferrable to the third-party payment service account. Not all regions will support this advanced feature at launch. Region-specific details, as well as details regarding which third-party payment services will be supported and the fee that Blizzard will charge for the cash-out process, will all be provided at a later date.

Will buying or selling items in the auction house reveal my identity?
No. All player transactions in the gold-based and currency-based auction houses will be anonymous, and neither your real name nor your character name will be revealed to other players.

Will there be a mobile or Web-based auction house?
We're always on the lookout for opportunities to enhance the game experience and keep our community connected to our games through the Web or mobile devices. However, we do not have any plans to share along those lines at this time.

When will this be available for testing?
We'll share more information on our auction house testing plans as we get closer to launch.


REGIONAL AUCTION HOUSE DETAILS

Which regions will have currency-based auction house support?
We plan to roll out the currency-based version of the auction house in as many regions as possible with the launch of Diablo III. In regions where the currency-based auction house will not be available, players will still have access to a gold-based auction house. We'll share more details in the future.

Will there be separate auction houses in each region? Will I be allowed to bid on items from players outside my own region?
Due to various factors, including technology, language, and currency, there will be multiple separate auction houses serving different player communities around the world. We’ll share specific details on how the auction houses will work for each region as we get closer to launch.

If I live in Australia/New Zealand/Southeast Asia, what server will I play Diablo III on?
As with StarCraft II, players who purchase the Australia/New Zealand/Southeast Asia version of Diablo III will have their own regional servers, offering lower latency and more action during peak hours. While we encourage players to play on these servers, we recognize that many have longstanding friendships with North American players and would like to continue playing with them. Because of this, we're again giving Australia/New Zealand/ Southeast Asia gamers access to both regions' servers so they can choose where they'd prefer to play.

How does this impact the items I have purchased in the auction house?
Auction house purchases are bound to the servers in the region in which they're bought. Any items acquired on the Australia/New Zealand/Southeast Asia servers, in-game or otherwise, are bound to those servers and are not transferrable to the North American servers (and vice versa). Please keep this in mind when making purchases in the auction house.

What currencies will be available? What currency will items in the auction house be viewed in? Can players purchase items using local credit cards or bank accounts?
Our goal is to make the auction house experience in each region as seamless as possible for players, and we are currently exploring various currency and payment options to help achieve that goal. We’ll provide further details as we get closer to launch.


AUCTION HOUSE GAMEPLAY ISSUES

Will I be able to use third-party mods to track auction prices?
For a variety of gameplay and security reasons, we will not be supporting bots or mods in Diablo III, and they’ll be expressly prohibited by our terms of use for the game.

Can Hardcore-mode characters use the currency-based auction house?
No. Hardcore characters will only have the option to buy and sell items together with other Hardcore characters via a separate "Hardcore-only" gold-based auction house; they will not be able to use the currency-based auction house. Hardcore mode is designed as an optional experience for players who enjoy the sense of constant peril that comes with the possibility of permanent death for a character. All of a Hardcore character’s items are forever lost upon that character’s death, so to avoid the risk of a player spending real money on items that could then be permanently lost when the character dies, we decided restrict the use of the currency-based auction house in Hardcore mode.

If my character dies in Hardcore mode, will I lose the items that I purchased in the "Hardcore-only" gold-based auction house for that character?
Yes. Again, Hardcore-mode characters will only have access to a "Hardcore-only" gold-based auction house, not the currency-based auction house, and will not be able to trade with non-Hardcore characters. Hardcore is an optional mode designed for players who enjoy playing with the risk of permanently losing their character if the character dies, and that includes the items they acquired with that character.

Can I just buy the most powerful items and breeze through the game?
Items will be level-restricted, meaning your character won't be able to use an item until he or she is at the appropriate level for that item.


AUCTION HOUSE CUSTOMER SUPPORT

What happens if a player does not receive a purchased item?
The auction process is automated, but if a player purchases an item and for some reason does not receive it, he or she will be able to contact our customer service team to look into the issue.

What happens if there is a patch and the item I purchased is altered?
It's important for us to ensure that Diablo III remains balanced and fun for years after launch. To that end, it may be necessary to change stats or alter abilities of items from time to time. It’s very important to note that Blizzard will not be providing refunds or making other accommodations if a purchased item is later altered in a patch. Given this, it's up to players to determine whether they're comfortable purchasing items in the currency-based auction house.

Someone bought an item on my account without my permission. Can I get a refund?
Please note that account sharing will be forbidden in Diablo III's Terms of Use. In cases of compromise, our customer service team will look into the situation and determine the appropriate course of action.

I accidentally lost or dropped an item I just purchased -- can I get a refund?
No. After a purchase is made, players will be responsible for what they do with the item.

How will you address bots or cheaters?
We take cheating very seriously, and we've designed Diablo III and Battle.net to include measures to detect and prevent unfair play. In addition, we will have anti-cheating policies in place and will take action to address any issues as they arise.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Diablo 3 Auction House Announced - Spend and Earn Real Life Money! started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 1869 Comments
  1. Sting's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ShiroRX View Post
    Based on the reaction thus far, you might not see much of anyone. The reaction isn't just majority negative in this thread, the net currently cries out with outrage.

    All they need to do is remove their cut, and the outrage will disappear. People don't give a shit about fleecing each other, it's Blizzard's hand in their pocket for an item they spent their time acquiring. The finder is entitled to 100% of the profit, not a bit less.
    Ofcourse the net cries with outrage, most people who disagree will vehemently try to stop this while the majority of people who don't care or agree with it will just "get along" with it.
    As for your second point, I think multiple people including myself already brought this up. First of all, there is no subscription fee, so the AH fee will provide them with a way to keep their servers running / handle all the traffic etc. Secondly, they are providing a service where you can potentially make money. It would be incredibly stupid to not charge a small middle man fee, after all without them there wouldn't be any profit whatsoever.
  1. Williamgood's Avatar
    WoW where I cant make money vs Diablo 3 where I can make money... Guess where i'm going guys trollolol
  1. lilbuddhaman's Avatar
    Here's another thing to consider: You spend $200 real life money in the AH for a nice phat set of Magic Find gear (i'm assuming magic find will exist in D3?), then look, you get a quantum leap over legit players for finding more stuff, which means you'll find more, quicker, to put up on the AH. Sounds cool doesn't it? Replace "you" with "a gold/item farming company", and welcome yourself to reality. And if every other MMO, currency-tied, or Micro transaction game is a measure, blizzard will never be able to control gold farmers from farming/hacking/exploiting/spamming to make a profit. They have, and they will continue to.
  1. mmocfd8dce4bf2's Avatar
    Wow, I was really excited for Diablo 3 up until this point. Good thing it's monday so I can cancel the pre-order.
  1. ShiroRX's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sting View Post
    Ofcourse the net cries with outrage, most people who disagree will vehemently try to stop this while the majority of people who don't care or agree with it will just "get along" with it.
    As for your second point, I think multiple people including myself already brought this up. First of all, there is no subscription fee, so the AH fee will provide them with a way to keep their servers running / handle all the traffic etc. Secondly, they are providing a service where you can potentially make money. It would be incredibly stupid to not charge a small middle man fee, after all without them there wouldn't be any profit whatsoever.
    The guaranteed $60 they're making on every single person who buys a copy of the game, whether or not they use this AH, seems sufficient. The fee to them will disappear, even if it has to become an amount that goes into oblivion just to prevent constant re-listing. Fan outrage will see to that.
  1. Ares42's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Side View Post
    If you're pissed about the new RL money-Auction House and you're:
    - poor
    - underage
    - unemployed
    - all of the above
    Consider this:
    1. Farm gold/items.
    2. Sell gold/items at AH for $$$ !!!
    3. HOLY #@!*!!! YOU NOW HAVE $$$ in your account!
    4. Use $$$ to buy the stuff you want.

    You don't even have to invest anything if you can't/don't want to.
    Case closed.
    Except for the fact that because of the tax you will always go in the negative. "cool, I found an awesome axe, I'm gonna sell it for 20$", "aww, Blizzard took 2$ from the transaction, so I can only buy a 18$ staff". It's like a casino, the game is rigged and no matter how much you try Blizzard is the one that ends up with cash. Ofc there will be some winners here and there, but they will be heavily out-numbered by the losers, and again the cash-flow is constantly being drained so the total sum for all participants will always be at a net loss.
  1. Catalept's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sting View Post
    No they won't, you obviously haven't read the whole article. Stuff isn't soulbound, so after you get an even better item you're free to sell your old gear on the AH. Admittedly, there is a cooldown period, but the exact specifics on that aren't known yet. In fact, the exact specifics on this whole fee thing isn't even known yet, only some general guidelines.
    ... this assumes that supply and demand for any given item is constant over time, which is clearly nonsense in the case of D3, particularly for the first few months. Unless D3 has no level cap (which would be very, very cool... but probably won't be happening), there will be such a thing as best-in-slot, and such a thing as end-game gear. Anyone who finds such an item early after D3's release will essentially be incurring a daily opportunity cost for using it. That's a hell of a buzzkill.
  1. Pr1me's Avatar
    No competitive environment in online game = NEXT!
  1. mmocf06effc4be's Avatar
    ACTIVISION: BLIZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!
    BLIZZARD: Yes, Overlord Kotick? How may we serve you?
    ACTIVISION: THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, ME WANT MAOR, MAOR I TELL YOU!
    BLIZZARD: Certainly, mylord, it will be done!
  1. Sting's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ShiroRX View Post
    The guaranteed $60 they're making on every single person who buys a copy of the game, whether or not they use this AH, seems sufficient. The fee to them will disappear, even if it has to become an amount that goes into oblivion just to prevent constant re-listing. Fan outrage will see to that.
    You seem to forget the game also took years to develop, the cash you spend on the game itself isn't pure profit for Blizzard, it's also paying for salaries and whatnot.
  1. nobodysbaby's Avatar
    You actually think you can easily earn money with this system? The ones who will hurt by this is probably regular players who plays for fun, for the content, those who don't bot or farm?
  1. mmoc89de6cd180's Avatar
    $_$

    10chars
  1. Baron01's Avatar
    I find this interesting and daring concept. Im looking forward to play D3 mostly as single-player or cooperative story mode, therefore, this will not impact me in the slightest. I would only see possible issue if real-money AH is not separated from competitive play such as PvP tournamets or leagues. However, i expect that most of competitive play will be happening on pre-made characters on isolated servers where real-money AH will not be available.

    In relation to WoW, this will not come to WoW unless significant changes are made to the game itself. There is huge difference between WoW and Diablo series in item ownership. WoW has introduced bind-on-equip items which is not the case in Diablo. Where you can spend real money on D3 item and resell it later for the same price, effectively costing player 0$, you cant do the same in WoW. There is also non-existent separation of competitive play from AH trading, hence real money would play a role in PvP or PvE races. Blizzard cant afford such thing to happen before WoW is deemed dead horse.

    Furthermore, while this will yield certain proceeds to Blizzard, I dare to say the fees will have to be very small to stimulate the trading. Nobody would like to see 10-15% cut off their real dollars/euros. Hence, there wont be any pressure to introduce this to already live products as it would cause development costs that might be too high to cover by proceeds.
  1. ShiroRX's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sting View Post
    You seem to forget the game also took years to develop, the cash you spend on the game itself isn't pure profit for Blizzard, it's also paying for salaries and whatnot.
    So what are they paying SC2 employees with besides the title's retail value? Promises and IOUs?
  1. Sting's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Catalept View Post
    ... this assumes that supply and demand for any given item is constant over time, which is clearly nonsense in the case of D3, particularly for the first few months. Unless D3 has no level cap (which would be very, very cool... but probably won't be happening), there will be such a thing as best-in-slot, and such a thing as end-game gear. Anyone who finds such an item early after D3's release will essentially be incurring a daily opportunity cost for using it. That's a hell of a buzzkill.
    Yea, I considered that myself actually. I think it's quite a valid point, it all comes down to what you personally want to do: enjoy the game or make money.
  1. mmoc692c13f729's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sting View Post
    Ofcourse the net cries with outrage, most people who disagree will vehemently try to stop this while the majority of people who don't care or agree with it will just "get along" with it.
    As for your second point, I think multiple people including myself already brought this up. First of all, there is no subscription fee, so the AH fee will provide them with a way to keep their servers running / handle all the traffic etc. Secondly, they are providing a service where you can potentially make money. It would be incredibly stupid to not charge a small middle man fee, after all without them there wouldn't be any profit whatsoever.
    Bandwidth is not what it was 10 years ago, Box sales in most AAA quality games such as Rift, Aion etc are enough to keep servers running for up to 100 years, google it if u dont believe me.

    We pay sub fee for wow with the promise of fairly regurlar updates, and development being put into the game.

    Let me quote this
    As more MMOs came into the market, two things changed. First, players now had a choice about which game they would play, and as a result their expectations for polish, content quantity, and service increased substantially. Second, and perhaps more telling for the future of the industry, it became clear that the subscription model forced players to choose a single game, rather than playing many different games.Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true - you know it, and they know it. Gamers may buy the argument that your MMO requires a subscription fee, if you can tell them what they are getting for their money.
  1. Pumps's Avatar
    This is sick, the wrong kind of sick. "in game gold" yeah right, as if anybody is going to do that, everybody and his uncle are going to throw everything up on the AH hoping to make money. Plus when many countries hear about that they'll want to tax whatever people may earn from that, and if they can't - they'll ban the sale of Diablo 3 instead. Good move there blizzard.
  1. Ultramonkey's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ShiroRX View Post
    So what are they paying SC2 employees with besides the title's retail value? Promises and IOUs?
    Don't get sucked in!..He will defend this to death. People don't seem to realise games used to be all about the initial price, they are now used to the nickel and diming done by Activision.
  1. Sting's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ShiroRX View Post
    So what are they paying SC2 employees with besides the title's retail value? Promises and IOUs?
    Excuse me, but, how the fuck should I know. It would be easy to say that they can just pay the salaries etc. with all the cash they rake in from WoW, but I feel that we should look at each game individually to truely get a good view at it's market potential and how that affects the game. I'm sure SC2 gets a load of money from all the tournaments that are around, for example.
  1. mmoce7d5856052's Avatar
    Step one; buy Diablo 3.Step two; sell items to cover cost of said Diablo.Step three; KEEP GOING.Step four; Profit. Literally.

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