A disservice?

[Kevin]

This has been a motif that has been expressed by several Lurkers, and I have to say that I disagree. I think that this revulsion for the Auction House comes from the bad experiences with Diablo I and II with dupers, where you couldn't determine if an item you're trading for was a fake or legitimate item. But that's not the case for the moment in Diablo 3. All items up for bid on the auction house are legitimate items found by players during their adventures.

While this is true it's not what makes me hesitant to use the AH. I didn't even twink much in D2, even with an easy way to mule stuff of. If my barb found something that would be good for my little amazon, I rarely bothered to pass it on. I liked to only use what was generated in the games my character was playing in. Same with D1 and I didn't even really reset Gris/Wirt/Adria all that often.

Part of this was to add extra challenge to games that were relatively easy. Part of it was reward for effort just not being that for me. Sure getting that perfect item is a big reward but I got no reward from the time spent walking to wirt or resetting or muling or whatever when I could be getting reward from killing a mob right now. In real life I'm fine and often strive for delayed gratification. If I'm playing a game I'm generally looking for instant gratification. This is where the whole "MMO's are work" thing comes in for many people. At a point the instant reward isn't enough even if you know a HUGE reward might be at the end. Or at least I think that is a clearer definition of what most people just call burn out.

In D3 many of the tedium barriers are lowered. I enjoy the act of crafting in it's own right even if I don't get anything and turning that around to get some gold back on the AH is something I've done from time to time. I haven't purchased anything yet though even when I've been feeling a little behind the curve. I also haven't farmed much either as I've tended to end up content progressing most play sessions.

Another worry I have is that if I do buy something on the AH, the time between crafted or drop upgrades is going to get even longer. While the frustration of that will be mitigated by the fact that I'm likely not feeling underpowered in the game, I know that was a killer for me in WoW and was part of the reason I rarely targeted gear and just went with what I got. My skill was generally enough that I was still better in groups that most other folks so I didn't feel I was impacting others. In D3 if I feel my gear is too weak for those I play with I'll go farm.

The final reason I'm not buying on it at the moment is because I want the additional challenge of "beating" the game the first time through without much "extra assistance" I debated imposing Ironman type rules on myself for a first go through just to see how far I could get like that cold but didn't want to just play solo that much or try and find other folks to do that. So I made some compromises. Once I get to 60 or beat Hell (I consider Inferno 'bonus') then my chances of use the AH will go up.

Really to me I see the AH more as a way to twink my biggest character than anything else and that was something, as mentioned I rarely did. Some characters I would others, they didn't get any twinked gear. I realize I might be losing out on some of the potential in the game by limiting myself but again it's a personal choice.

Just some more thoughts on the subject.