07-05-2012, 04:46 PM
Note for whatever it's worth that I never said Blizzard HAS defended drops with "use the AH", just that they could throw that line out because everyone has the option, as opposed to say D2 where you could technically (whether or not it would be a good idea) purchase and play the game without ever having internet access. Remember how badly single player drops were screwed in 1.07-08? Runewords weren't working on top of that. The game as it is, if there were a true single player option and people without internet played the game, you could brick wall in Hell easily, and Hell-worthy gear barely drops in Hell, much less NM. Being fair, I don't think you could brick wall in the early part of A1 so with enough patience you could theoretically farm past any such walls, and once you can make it to A3 Hell you can technically farm anything you might need for Inferno (although obviously unpatched this would take quite some time.)
So I won't say that the game could have been released impossible to complete if they had true single player, but it could be incredibly inconvenient if the AH weren't an option for some people. I could bet most anything it was easier to balance gear availability when everyone has access to the AH then if they had to worry about complaints from offline players. I'm not saying that balance was made so that people are forced to use the AH, but that it was balanced with the knowledge that everyone had access to the AH so that any complaints about one pass full clear or similar playing styles left them the outs of both "use the AH" or "farm moar" if they ever chose to use either line.
So I won't say that the game could have been released impossible to complete if they had true single player, but it could be incredibly inconvenient if the AH weren't an option for some people. I could bet most anything it was easier to balance gear availability when everyone has access to the AH then if they had to worry about complaints from offline players. I'm not saying that balance was made so that people are forced to use the AH, but that it was balanced with the knowledge that everyone had access to the AH so that any complaints about one pass full clear or similar playing styles left them the outs of both "use the AH" or "farm moar" if they ever chose to use either line.