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Diablo 3: Auction House 'Really Hurt the Game' Says Wilson

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Comments

  • PurutzilPurutzil Member UncommonPosts: 3,048
    Glad he came to the realization long AFTER the game is out and its to late. It was there to cash in on players extra and it failed extroidinary. Even without it, it still would of hurt the game, theres plenty of flaws to Diablo 3 that drag it down, though the AH is probably one of the biggest negatives dragging the game down.
  • Xstatic912Xstatic912 Member Posts: 365
    There damn loot logic, that's the problem.. Grinding 2 hr + and not find crap for yourself to use BUT found crap the others will use.. Ahh the nerve of such system.
    So what end up happening is I would post it on the RMAH to try and make a small buck, I didn't care if blizz got a cut but when you got a messed up loot logic and a free (no restriction) RMAH of course i'm going to want to sell it for real cash because I've spent 2hrs + grinding with hope of finding something for me.

    Of a different note the AH help me alot in game (because of there silly loot logic). I never did like asking players around for X items to begin with. That too much headache and tedious.

    Anyone here ever played borderlands 2? No while it isn't a arpg, that game loot logic is very well done..

    I also think because of the different difficulties the loot is spread too wide.. If I were them I would just make normal and inferno mode, then balance it around that. Hardcore mode would just be a side mode for person who like that playstyle..
  • KareliaKarelia Member Posts: 668
    i really dont care about either AH or RMAH. i stopped playing cause i dont want to grind the same places just for a loot. Hell, there is almost a year passed after launch and no new content to play, nothing at all. I guess it will come with a 40-50$ expansion, right? nty blizz :)
  • DalekThayDalekThay Member Posts: 52

    AH only hurt the game because people abused the crap out of it and ruined the game for themselves. Not that Blizzard isn't to blame; their loot tables at launch were horrendous, and even to this day need some work. Tightening them up a bit would remove probably 80-85% of the complaints. 

    I mean come on, an iLevel 63 item should always roll better stats than an ilevel 58 item of equal rarity! Common sense Blizz!

  • DalekThayDalekThay Member Posts: 52
    Originally posted by Manolios
    i really dont care about either AH or RMAH. i stopped playing cause i dont want to grind the same places just for a loot. Hell, there is almost a year passed after launch and no new content to play, nothing at all. I guess it will come with a 40-50$ expansion, right? nty blizz :)

    Yes, exactly like the previous Diablo games. You run areas & bosses for loot, that's the 'endgame'. Same as its always been. Complaining that an ARPG (which is NOT an MMO) doesn't release new content without paid expansions is just silly.

  • SenadinaSenadina Member UncommonPosts: 896
    This is a sudden revelation to Jay Wilson? Nobody thought this was a bad idea beforehand? Did they think that we wouldn't notice or understand that the obvious outcome of a real money auction house would be reduced drop rates? Another case of underestimating the intelligence/maturity/knowledge of the audience for the game devs.

    image
  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by SBFord

    He acknowledged that shutting down the auction houses was not as simple as it sounded, saying they did not know how many people actually enjoyed using them, and the company did not want to shut down a feature where players would be unhappy if it went away. He said Blizzard is working on a solution, but didn't elaborate.

    maybe do what SOE did when they launched Station Exchange years ago for EQ2  (very similar to RMAH)

    launch some new D3 servers and dont allow RMAH on them

  • ZekiahZekiah Member UncommonPosts: 2,483

    "Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky

  • jacktorsjacktors Member UncommonPosts: 180

    It is a little too late for many of us who have given up on Diablo 3.  I played Diablo 2 for many years, including the expansion (s).  I will not purchase any Diablo 3 expansions. I played until Nightmare mode, and I hit a roadblock of death.  The only way I was able to continue playing was if I either farmed gold for weeks, which is not the reason I decided to purchase this game, or spend my money in the RMAH.  

    Blizzard purposely made sure the rare/unique loot drops were very low.  This forced many of their loyal customers to have to turn to the RMAH, which was supposed to be strictly optional, or quit unhappily. Well, many of us Loyal Customers are casual gamers, who don't have hours and hours each day to farm gold, nor do we want to.  

    Blizzard can throw all the monster nerfs, content updates, expansions and apologies they want at me, but nothing will make me come back to that game. The Diablo 3 game developers tried to play their loyal costomers for fools with their low drop rates, coupled with extremely difficult content, thinking they could force us to spend even more money on their cash-grab RMAH.  I lost alot of respect for Blizzard.   

  • slicknslim88slicknslim88 Member Posts: 394
    I've been saying that the auction house, both of them, was the worst thing that Blizz could do to D3 ever since they announced it.  If they permanently shut down both auction houses, I may consider picking up the game.
  • UnrealRpgUnrealRpg Member UncommonPosts: 138
    Said every one ever when they announced it would be in the game. People said it was for money and they said no at the time but turns out the customer is always right.
  • MardukkMardukk Member RarePosts: 2,222
    Originally posted by Stizzled
    Wait, you mean that having not one, but two auction houses in a game that's entirely about killing monsters to find loot was a bad idea? Shocker.

    Lol pretty much sums this up perfectly.  I skipped D3 as I played beta and it sucked.  This type of game is boring even when it's done right let alone fundamentaly screwing over the only reason to play the game (loot finding).

  • Teh_AxiTeh_Axi Member UncommonPosts: 380
    No, making D3 an item lottery is what hurt the game.
  • ShadowVlicanShadowVlican Member UncommonPosts: 158

    auction house is the soul of D3

    i know countless people who wouldn't play it otherwise

    $$$$$$$$$$$

  • ThumbtackJThumbtackJ Member UncommonPosts: 669

    I'm curious then, what is the solution? Can there be some sort of compromise now?

     

    As the article said, there are players that do like the (RM)AH and removing it would just hurt that part of the playerbase. Do you start a server system where some don't have it? I'm not sure I personally have a fix, at least not one that would be feasible, and satisfy everyone.

     

    People say that the RMAH is just Blizzard being greedy, and maybe that is a part of it, I don't know, I'm not a mind reader, so I don't have that kind of information. What I DO know however is that, from my experience of playing D2 for a decade, third-party item selling was a MAJOR issue. There were SO MANY people who would go to third-party sites, sometimes less than reputable sites, thinking they'd get better prices only to get their accounts and/or credit card information stolen. 

    Now EVERYONE (Blizzard, you, me, my grandma, etc.) knew Diablo 3 was going to sell like hotcakes. So, if third-party item selling was used by a significant part of the D2 playerbase, and we know that D3 was going to have a MASSIVE playerbase, it would seem reasonable to make the assumption that you'd have a large number of people using third-party sites to buy items in D3, resulting in inevitable loss of accounts as well as stolen credit card info, etc. 

    So, how do you attempt to stop people from going to third party sites, and save yourself the trouble of dealing with thousands of support tickets consisting of, "I bought 'x' item from 'y' and now I've been haxxored! Halp!"? Obviously, Blizzard thought the solution was the RMAH. The players make some money, Blizzard makes some money, and no one has to deal with third-party sites. Seems like a win for everyone. Right?

     

    I personally can't comment on the problems with the drop rates and such, as I haven't played it nearly enough to feel qualified to comment on. All I'm pointing out is that there IS a legitimate reason for the RMAH beyond, "Blizz just wants moar money tey is teh greedy lolololol!!11!!" Was the in game RMAH the best solution? I don't know and it's certainly a tough situation. 

  • PsychowPsychow Member Posts: 1,784
    Originally posted by Teh_Axi
    No, making D3 an item lottery is what hurt the game.

     

    But...I thought that was what the genre was...

     

    OMG...so the entire basis of the Diablo series is what hurt the game? Incredible!!!!!

  • crazynannycrazynanny Member Posts: 173

    Blizz failerd with shallow system design, and lack of bind on equip items. AH is merely symptome of it not the cause. Every D3 player that actually plays it knows it. Jay Wilson never know what he was saying and doing and remains as such.

     

    As for RMAH, that's hardly a new thing. GW2 has it, EVE has it, DDO will have it and probably more that I'm not even aware of. Truth be told Blizz is least greedy of those as player at least gets a cut and deal is quite straighfroward - 10$ for XYZ gold(aka what item is worth), without some in game currence or even in DDO case two to hide as much real money value. Other companies takes it all, house always win.

  • akiira69akiira69 Member UncommonPosts: 615
    Originally posted by Diemos
    No way.... first SWTOR admits they failed now this. Next Blizzard aemits they have had a true sub base of about 4 million and they are looking at a different business model. :)

    even at 4 mill active subscribers that is still at the most 4 times larger than most Active MMO Subs out right now. Do us all a favor Chicken Little and dont start crying the sky is falling untill Blizzard starts announcing server merges. Untill then crawl back under that rock you crawled out from.

    "Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"

  • Teh_AxiTeh_Axi Member UncommonPosts: 380
    Originally posted by Psychow

     But...I thought that was what the genre was...

     OMG...so the entire basis of the Diablo series is what hurt the game? Incredible!!!!!

    Not really, in most ARPGs you can hunt for items in a more systematic way. Kill certain bosses, types of mobs, farm certain areas of the game, craft items etc. Other ARPGs tend to have far more unique items (ie no randomness) being the BIS items compared too D3, even after all the set item/legendary buffs.

    Blizz themselves have mentioned wanting to add more of these things and move away from the item lottery Jay Wilson created. Trying to blame the AH is just an excuse.

  • TheDarkrayneTheDarkrayne Member EpicPosts: 5,297
    Originally posted by akiira69
    Originally posted by Diemos
    No way.... first SWTOR admits they failed now this. Next Blizzard aemits they have had a true sub base of about 4 million and they are looking at a different business model. :)

    even at 4 mill active subscribers that is still at the most 4 times larger than most Active MMO Subs out right now. Do us all a favor Chicken Little and dont start crying the sky is falling untill Blizzard starts announcing server merges. Untill then crawl back under that rock you crawled out from.

    Erm.. you know Blizzard never actually said that don't you..? Diemos was making a joke.

    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
  • Dexter2010Dexter2010 Member UncommonPosts: 244
    deleted
  • TheDarkrayneTheDarkrayne Member EpicPosts: 5,297
    Originally posted by Dexter2010
    You are even charged for unsuccessful auctions via (*1) and (*2).

    Wrong.

    ..and what monthly premium? Don't know what you are talking about. It's not bloody eBay.

    There are only successful transaction fees. You can try to sell 1000000000000 items and won't pay anything if none of them sell.

    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
  • TalonsinTalonsin Member EpicPosts: 3,619
    Personally, during the development of the game I can honestly see the finance and senior design people all in a meeting and thinking a RMAH would be a good idea.  It makes third party sales of gold and items less valuable and it generates a bit of additional revenue for the company.  I dont think they counted on the greed of some people and how there are people out there in third world countries who could make more money from the game than anything they could do in their local area.
    "Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game."  - SEANMCAD

  • Dexter2010Dexter2010 Member UncommonPosts: 244
    deleted
  • meadmoonmeadmoon Member UncommonPosts: 1,344
    Originally posted by Livnthedream
    Originally posted by Lobotomist

    Thought Wilson has left Diablo ?

     

    He has, but he was also the lead designer and has overseen it for the majority of its lifecyle. Those are exactly they people you want covering the "post mortem".

    What? Angry, bitter ex-employees? Now there's a group who will give you accurate information. image

     

    Have we learned nothing from glassdoor.com?

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