09-25-2012, 04:28 PM
(09-25-2012, 12:15 AM)mistique Wrote: It's still just another form of paying for items, there are some "safe" gold sellers.... relatively, and if it was just because of the risk of account fraud e then Blizzard could have facilitated that too, but then what "cut" can you get from a gold seller?
I mean really, the RMAH is just letting you buy stuff without the step of needing gold to do it.
Honestly I don't think Blizzard is that greedy with the RMAH. For one thing, the gold AH works just fine. In patch 1.03 very skilled players could beat the game with less than 5M, in some cases much less. That might sound like a lot, but you make 1M just playing a character to 60. Patch 1.04 made it easier - I could beat the game with that amount. The coming patch will make it even easier. People really aren't forced to use to spend money to progress.
Blizzard does get a cut of the RMAH, and I'm sure it's a nice income stream for them. However their terms seem pretty generous. There's no listing fee and they only take a $1 cut. So most of the money goes to the players selling. The way these things work is that most people don't buy anything, but a few people make several really expensive purchases. Say someone decides to buy their way into the best gear, and spend between $10 - $200 on each slot. Blizzard only makes $13 from this.
Other pay to win games will have exclusive items, and directly take $10 or more from the purchases. Instead Blizzard has a much more player driven economy.