The Auction House III: Evil is Back

[Frag]

Probably a legal technicality more than a moral one?

No, try reading the disclaimer and EULA section on hardcore, they're not liable for jack.

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.

So 'probably' three sentences before becomes fact now? How convenient.

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.

If they left the skill runes in, it would be a pretty valid argument for monetization. Also, the stated timeframe of the change is incorrect and seems somewhat telling. Changes like that take hundreds of man hours at my development level, and in Blizzard's case, thousand+.

Cheers.

P.S. Ashock, D3 is more disappointing than... AoC, BM3, DA2 or APB? You jest, surely. The bar was set so low from D2, this only had to be a mediocre game to be it's equal.