Blizzard closes down Diablo 3 Auction House on March 18, 2014
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we've mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we've decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.

We feel that this move along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls™ will result in a much more rewarding game experience for our players.

We're working out the details of how the auction house system will be shut down, but we wanted to share the news as soon as we made the decision in order to give everyone as much advance notice as possible. Please note that the shutdown will occur on March 18, 2014. We will keep everyone informed as we work through this process.

Josh Mosqueira and I wanted to provide everyone with a little more information behind this decision, so please have a look at the video, and stay tuned to this site for further updates in the months ahead.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Blizzard closes down Diablo 3 Auction House started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 376 Comments
  1. Jerycho's Avatar
    I'm actually surprised to see such a drastic approval from the forums for this. I'm just used to seeing so much QQ. Anyway, I think it's the right decision although my gf is currently fuming over it. She buys all her gear which I feel goes against the entire point of the game. I personally haven't been able to access the AH or been able to trade items due to some technical errors on Blizzard's end that they can't figure out so I'm not attached to it in anyway. Game stays the same for me. Grind gear for myself or have nothing at all
  1. Yuuki Asuna's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Venant View Post
    This is extremely stupid, the AH is incredibly useful for anyone that wants to play the game for more than 15 minutes a week. I don't get why people opposed the AH, except for the idiotic notion that without an AH they could make the drop rate on good items much higher. So now if you want to be competitive you will have to use 3rd party sites/forums for trading?
    Orrrr just do it the old fashioned way and get loot from drops? Why do people seriously like Pay 2 Win with gold or real world money? I understand competition, but it ruins the uniqueness of item drops. Soooo happy for this update as well as Loot 2.0!
  1. Netherspark's Avatar
    If it weren't for the AH, I wouldn't have bothered going past (or even into) Nightmare mode.

    Somehow the endless and repetitive grinding just to get enough gear to repeat the entire game again just seems... unattractive.
  1. finchna's Avatar
    Too bad that they don't just close the real money part of it and leave the gold part like WoW.

    I sure hope that they start giving gear drops as you play that can actually improve your character vs. the 8 - 10 levels below that drops now. While my highest level character could (when lucky) help gear my lower level characters none of them ever got drops at level that they could use or that improved their gear -- that is bad design and necessitated using the auction house to get at level gear that improved a character.
  1. Keosen's Avatar
    Great decision time to play again
    The AH and especially the RMAH was a stupid move after all.
  1. levitate's Avatar
    Fantastic news!

    Took them long enough to realise what most gamers have understood ever since Diablo 3 was released.
  1. Seefer's Avatar
    I think the players said that from the beginning that the idea sucked, but Blizzard yet again didn't want to listen.
  1. Locruid's Avatar
    So since the DRM was there BECAUSE of the Auction House, are you gonna uncouple ONLINE MANDATORY to play a single player aspect part of it?

    I quit playing cause out in the boondocks I dont exactly keep a pristine connection here and got tired of having my SINGLE PLAYER gameplay interrupted cause of a silly hiccup
  1. Arbs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vegas82 View Post
    OK, I'm going to re-install D3 now.
    Well it doesn't close until March 18th, so you got time.
  1. Nero Duskwind's Avatar
    <3 <3 <3 new Lead Designer Josh Mosqueira. It's become abundantly apparent that he cares about the players and is actively listening to their feedback. Just about everything leading up to Reaper of Souls is undoing considerable chunks of bad decisions and design made under the tenure of Jay Wilson and his brazenly petulant ego.
  1. Mongoose19's Avatar
    Too little too late, but atleast they try. Not enough for me though.
  1. Jtbrig7390's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Palmolive View Post
    RMAH did ruin the game a bit, I can agree that. HOWEVER.

    Auction house helped people to get an honest price on items, .
    A shitty skorn costing 20 million is not a honest price.

    The loot system on the console is way more improved then the current PC version so with this happening we will finally get loot worth having.
  1. A Chozo's Avatar
    HOLY COW.

    Awesome.
  1. Peacemoon's Avatar
    Gameplay before money, seems Blizzard is gradually steering away from mindless consumerism.
  1. ImpTaimer's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Asuna-San View Post
    Why do people seriously like Pay 2 Win with gold or real world money? I understand competition, but it ruins the uniqueness of item drops. Soooo happy for this update as well as Loot 2.0!
    P2W ruins the game for everyone else, and it's this intent that certain players indulge in it.

    Hawken is a recent game that suffered from this. It's new update shaved down some of the P2W factor, but it's still there enough that unless you have a max level, fully unlocked mech you are gonna struggle to have fun pubbing matches.
  1. Santti's Avatar
    This is awesome news indeed. I hope the AH is removed at the same time or before the expansion comes out, as that's when I start to play again.
  1. mmocc79ad49ed2's Avatar
    Thank you! see you in the xpack.
  1. Kelimbror's Avatar
    Wow...I didn't see this coming. I knew it needed it and their design has been allowing for it to happen, but I didn't think they'd be so bold to announce this so early. Also, begin speculation that Loot 2.0 won't drop until March of next year, which likely means RoS in May-ish. I also assume that the gear from RoS will have to be so much better than what we have now so that it makes everyone's bought power from the AH pointless.
  1. Therec's Avatar
    Woot D2JSP will be back!!!
  1. mmoc586e3b8dfe's Avatar
    Best news ever read.
    Early Christmas \o/

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