06-01-2012, 05:24 AM
(06-01-2012, 01:38 AM)Frag Wrote:(05-31-2012, 06:25 PM)Ashock Wrote: It is a game that hits a brick wall at a certain point and is tailored for the AH to be a necessary part of it. D1 and D2 were made to be great games and that's what made Blizzard money.
D3 was just made to make them money through any means.
Would you explain how the decision to leave the RMAH out of Hardcore supports your assertion that they are out to make money at any means, please?
Probably a legal technicality more than a moral one? When your HC character dies, you lose all your gear. Now imagine you paid money for that gear. Now imagine you lost it due to server disconnect, or lag, or whatever. Imagine the lawsuits.
No, Blizzard didn't leave off the RMAH for Hardcore because they're good citizens. They did it because the legal risk is far too great compared to the monetary reward. They fought tooth and nail to make the RMAH legal - period. They're not going to leave that open to future legal challenges just to make a couple extra bucks short term.
That's really all there is to it. You want more proof? Consider how skill runes were going to be random drops, like gems - five flavors, 8 (or 16, I forget which) different Tiers, AND it would have to spawn with YOUR classes' skill on it. I.e. your level 10 Demon Hunter might find a grade 1 White Rune for the Barbarian's Bash skill - which does you absolutely no good. Thus, you can sell it on the RMAH! Yes, this was ACTUALLY the way the game was designed before the devs finally got through that it wasn't going to work, and they took it out about 2 months before the Beta ended.
Don't tell me they're not willing to monetize Diablo at virtually any cost, because it's simply untrue. At any and all cost? No, as evidence by the changes for the RMAH to make it legal (and keeping it out of HC). But at almost any cost? Any tolerable cost, for them and the masses? Absolutely.
Roland *The Gunslinger*