Blizzard vs. Real Money Trading (RMT)

[Roland]

I hope you're not planning on buying Torchlight 2 if this offends you!

Heh. You know, I shouldn't, but the prospect of playing a MP RPG with good friends here at the Lounge (and probably the Basin) is a little too tempting, I think. I suppose it depends on the pricing. If they keep it reasonable like they did Torchlight, I could see myself buying it. It's a fine line between disagreeing with someone's viewpoint, and disavowing the products they make, and I don't have enough personal beef with anyone to boycott either Diablo III or Torchlight, much as I may disagree with some of the developer's stances. I'd like to think they've learned a thing or two in their time, but even if they haven't it's not like I can prove they're still a bunch of arrogant know-it-alls. Besides, for $5 or $10 (whatever I payed) Torchlight was an enjoyable experience, and they've seemed keen enough to listen to what their playerbase wants that I think that issue is more an issue of the past. Perhaps it was more a Blizzard-centric theme, than a Max Schaefer one? I don't know.

Regardless, short of truly trashing their customers or putting out an absoltuely abysmal game, I'm willing to forgive some things in exchange for a positive gaming experience. I don't have to forget the sins of the past in order to forgive them, and if I end up getting burned because I took a chance it's no one's fault but my own. As I said, I have reservations about Diablo III (and the team behind it), but I'm willing to take a stab at it, and if it doesn't suit my tastes then so be it. I've wasted far more money on games that didn't deliver than I care to admit. At least with Diablo III I have an idea of what to expect, and as I said I'm looking forward to some of the changes. Besides, it's not like I hate Blizzard. I just don't feel they're taking the best course(s) of action with this game. Idle speculation won't answer any of that, though, so either you buy the game and try to enjoy it, or you pass. I decided to try it, others have decided to pass. To each their own. All I'm hoping for at this point is to get enjoyment from the game for more than a single playthrough. If it can deliver that, I'll have gotten my money's worth. If not... well, as I said, I've spent money on worse games.

[Bolty]

I think comparing Blizzard of the Diablo I days to Blizzard of the Diablo III days is like comparing Dell when it was run out of Michael Dell's dorm room compared to the Dell of today.

For starters, Diablo was mostly a small group of guys at Condor Entertainment that got bought up by Blizzard. Just about all those guys, if not 100%, are long gone and that shop no longer exists. Diablo III has nothing to do with Diablo except for the inherited storylines and lore. The game will be ten times bigger, with more polish and commercialism. This is both good and bad, for various reasons.

In some ways, Diablo is like this website. It was small compared to the behemoth gaming franchises of today, just as this website is small compared to the massive gaming websites that exist now. Back when this site was at its height, gaming still wasn't mainstream like it is now, and 35,000 hits a day was considered incredible. Sites like Curse.com and their gaming network probably get that many hits a minute nowadays.

So you have a bunch of old fuddy-duddies like me talking about this giant crazy thing called Diablo III. We hearken back to them good ol' days when a networked game meant peer-to-peer, a game having 10,000 players was a big deal, and we all gathered around campfires (aka small websites like this) to discuss neat tricks we learned about the game.

Nostalgia tells us it was better back then. In some ways, okay, but in others, it's much better now. Diablo III will hopefully have more of the good and less of the bad. We'll see. But I suppose it's why I keep looking at games like Torchlight II, which seem more like the spiritual successor to the Diablo games than Diablo III does.

[vor_lord]

At what point did I say Blizzard worked for free? It's fine that you don't understand my position, but please don't try to insinuate things that aren't there.

It probably sounded like I'm picking on you specifically but I was more responding to a long standing curiosity. I've been here at the lounge since 1999, and there has never been a time when people weren't complaining about how Blizzard has abandoned the principles that made them great. I just want to know what those are.

I believe a lot of people have idealized something that never really was, and have set their expectations inappropriately based on that idealization. Bolty's post is very much how I feel about it. I am hardly a fanboy, I'm more of a pragmatist.

Thanks for at least attempting to explain your objections to me.

[Roland]

It probably sounded like I'm picking on you specifically but I was more responding to a long standing curiosity. I've been here at the lounge since 1999, and there has never been a time when people weren't complaining about how Blizzard has abandoned the principles that made them great. I just want to know what those are.

I believe a lot of people have idealized something that never really was, and have set their expectations inappropriately based on that idealization. Bolty's post is very much how I feel about it. I am hardly a fanboy, I'm more of a pragmatist.

Thanks for at least attempting to explain your objections to me.

Bolty touched upon part of it, and very nicely. For me, though, it's much more than just nostalgia and unrealistic expectations. It's the subtler (or, perhaps, not so subtler) things. Take the decision to combine D2 Classic with Lord of Destruction. I can only criticize them for this so much, because as a previous modder I understand how difficult it is to maintain two separate entities, but it kind of flew in the face of the original direction they led us to believe they were moving in (correct me if I'm wrong Bolty? I seem to recall them originally stating they were going to keep the two separate). The graphical changes to Firewall and Blaze that were implemented (hard-coded, mind you, so modders couldn't even change it) for the sake of performance on legacy computers, when Diablo II had been out for well over 5 years (rough guess) - it completely ruined the very mechanics of the skills, Blaze especially. How about the changes to monster resists that culminated in triple- and quad-immunes, that were far easier for some classes to overcome than others?

Or, to stay current with the upcoming game in question, the decision to remove weapon switching because they felt the playerbase found it too "confusing" in Diablo II (as I recall this was a much vaunted feature of D2; it garnered great praise at the time!). The removal of skillpoints and attribute points because in the past people didn't handle them the way the designers ultimately wanted them to (maybe because the system was poorly set up from the beginning? Honestly, modders were able to fix this system better than it was originally, so you can't tell me it was "too difficult"). There are numerous other small changes along those lines I could name (removal of potions, for one), but either I can't think of them, or they're too minor to really gripe about. Besides, it's not always about the change, but about the why behind the change.

I agree with everyone that Blizzard as a company has evolved drastically from where it started, and that's OK. I understand the game, too, has evolved immensely, and that's OK too. What I gripe about is the glimpses behind the scenes as to why they did this, or didn't do this. Some of the changes, though I may initially react with shock and dismay, may end up better in the end. Some may not. Such is life, and we'll either accept them or we won't. What gets me, though, is that sometimes it just feels like they either a) had a poor structure for designing the game (not enough discipline and long-term planning), or b) simply didn't put enough effort into finding ways to implement what they wanted. The skill system is a great example. Torchlight adopted the Diablo II style of skill trees, but made it so that almost all of them (and even this could be enhanced further to be truly all) were viable throughout the game. It's not an impossible feat, and yet they talk as if it is. That doesn't invoke feelings of confidence in their design nor their goals, regardless of whether or not the end result is positive. If the changes all work out for the better then great! I'll be happy, and I'll gladly salute them on a job well done. It's just not very comforting to hear them talk about the decisions behind the game when they express so much uncertainty and doubt - and that's something that's seemingly been getting worse with time, not better.

I'm not trying to condemn the product without even playing, nor am I trying to condemn the company without having seen first hand what they've produced. I'm not even saying that what I want is D2 with prettier graphics. Some of the changes I'm greatly looking forward to (Rune system, most notably), while others I'm apprehensive about, but at least open-minded towards (Skills, Attributes). It's not about nostalgia for me. It's about doing what Blizzard has always said they do: building the best game they can. All their talk about "what the masses want", in an age where every game within any given genre is virtually the same, just makes me apprehensive, and I worry that they'll have sacrificed the heart of what made Diablo fun in the name of "pleasing the masses" - a.k.a. gross profits.

Sorry if I've come across as overly defensive. I just don't want people to get the wrong idea about my stance.

[Taem]

I found this link highly amusing.

http://daeity.blogspot.com/2011/08/blizzard-v-rmt.html

I'm still not "sold" on Diablo III, personally. I know many of you are excited for it, but I find myself leaning towards games like Guild Wars II and Torchlight II more. The whole Auction House fiasco turns me off, even though I understand Blizzard's actions from a corporate perspective.

I agree with you that Torchlihght 2 and Path of Exile will be taking my time away and I probably wont play D3 until a year or more after release, however the theory as to why Blizzard did the Auction House is sound:

1) By far the largest contributer to cheating was the monetary gain - this all but ensured bots would come out in D2 for item shops,
1B) Game goes fully online (nix cheating),
1C) Items are all handled through Blizzards Auction house (nix cheating, big sellers will pay taxes, Blizzard is no longer liable)

2) They [auction-houses] have proven to be very popular in WoW from what I understand
2B) People want what they don't have, so this is just another power-grab to keep peoples appetites wet (or addicted might be more appropriate)
2C) The average Joe can now have a safe place to trade other than D2JSP (Bliz takes another piece of the $pie$)

Every reason they have chosen to do this is clear as day.

[Taem]

It probably sounded like I'm picking on you specifically but I was more responding to a long standing curiosity. I've been here at the lounge since 1999, and there has never been a time when people weren't complaining about how Blizzard has abandoned the principles that made them great. I just want to know what those are.

I believe a lot of people have idealized something that never really was, and have set their expectations inappropriately based on that idealization. Bolty's post is very much how I feel about it. I am hardly a fanboy, I'm more of a pragmatist.

Thanks for at least attempting to explain your objections to me.

[text]

What it comes down to is Blizzard was once a small company who put a lot of thought into not only their game-play (which is always excellent ~ that is not in dispute), but their story and atmosphere, which really is 50% of a great game! As Roland pointed out, they made some executive decisions that, on the surface look bad for the game-play this time around in D3, but what I can't get over is the cartoonie graphics and similarity to the Gauntlet series. Did Activision make Gauntlet? Seriously, very disappointed with many aspects of D3, so much so that I doubt I'll even pick it up until I get tired of TL2 and PoE. Anyways, the game seems to be pretty far atmospherically and game-play wise from D2 and so far removed from D1 as to be called a separate series, but with the Diablo label. From what I've seen, I'd call it more of a WoW/Gauntlet hybrid with a purely action premise (minus the gothic entity that made the Diablo series so good). The Auction houses are really the only thing that interests me in D3, which is ironic in that it is also the thing that is driving many people away from D3.

[Frag]

I'm going to catch fire for this, but as someone who has now watched the beta in person (Damn you Sether, you're so damn lucky!!), I'm requesting you acknowledge that screenshots =/= atmosphere.

Atmosphere is revealed in not only the picture you're staring at and judging, but also the music, the background sounds, the voiceovers, the movement, the UI, the setting and the story/quest you're on. As Sir Doyle pointed out, a pastoral and calm looking rural farmland can be more threatening and gloomy than the darkest places of London, depending on your perspective.

The opening certainly felt gothic to me.

[Bolty]

Daeity runs a blog that delves pretty heavily into Blizzard economy and politics. He's a very cynical guy when it comes to Blizzard, but many of his writings are spot-on. I'll let you decide what to think of this one:

Yes, the cash auction house is optional. But it's not a very good option.

Rob Pardo's Diablo 3 presentation during the Activision Blizzard Analyst Day event shared some insight into their philosophy surrounding the Real Money Auction House.

Here's what he said (jump to the 2h 15min mark) during his presentation:

"We really thought carefully about how we were going to design this."

"..the reason we're doing a listing fee in the first place is because we don't want every item possible to end up on the Auction House."

"..there's going to be lots and lots of items in the game that players aren't just going to find or going to be valuable enough to spend real world money on. We really feel that it's important that the (Cash) Auction House is the place you go for valuable items."

"The things up on the (Cash) Auction house are the things players should be willing to spend money on. We feel that the listing fee really achieves that."

Earlier in his presentation, he also talked about how the Real Money Auction House is a trading game where players can obtain really hard to get items. He said that there's a difference between World of Warcraft (an "Achiever Economy" where all bosses drop the same items and can be obtained by any player) and Diablo 3 (where it's instead "Merchant Item" based and no amount of skill or time can give you the random rolls you want.) So in contrast to WoW, the really hard to get items will only be available on the Auction House.

And then they have the free listings per week. They want players to use the Cash Auction House, and Rob said that the free listing is a great way to get players interested in the real money service. Paraphrased: "They're unsure about using it.. then BOOM, you get a really powerful item. I know this is a valuable item, so I'll try and put it on the (cash) auction house for the first time. If that item sells, it's a great way to get people introduced to the (cash) auction house." You can hear his exact example at the approximate 2:15:51 mark.

Both Gold and Cash is shared amongst all of your characters. That's right; your shared stash isn't needed to share Gold, all of the Gold you're carrying is automatically shared with all of your characters. Their intention is clear when it comes to trading and item sales.

Basically;

* Blizzard really wants you to use the Cash Auction House. There are incentives in place to get you using it regularly.
* There are so many items out there and random drops from bosses, that the items you want will be practically impossible to get on your own. You HAVE to rely on the Cash Auction House to obtain it.
* The Cash Auction House is where you go for valuable items. The Garbage.. I mean, Gold Auction House is where you go for everything else.
* You have to use Real Money to get the really powerful Diablo 3 items. (That's the plan.)

If you're happy with the minimum, then you'll be very be very pleased using the Gold Auction House. But if you want valuable items and the best gear, then you'll have to use the Cash Auction House.

The game is all about character development and improving upon yourself, and human nature drives us to create uber powerful characters and compete. So, this system is practically forcing players into the Cash Auction House. It's the only way to advance.

I don't feel one way or another about this system, I just think it will be interesting to see how players will react to it when it's live.. but I just don't want you surprised when you find out the items you need to advance will only be available for real money.

The stance he's been taking for a while is that Diablo III is actually a gigantic gambling mechanism, Activision/Blizzard is the "house," and the game is an overlay for what basically amounts to pulling a slot machine. That Blizzard's sole reason to create Diablo III is to implement (and make money from) this RMT auction house. Your goal as a player is to be talked into using this auction house, and eventually get addicted to it, in a game that's all about the items you wear and a system that prevents you from getting all the best items without purchasing them from the AH.

Time will prove or disprove his theory; there's no way to tell this for sure one way or the other until the game's been out for a while and we can see what direction it takes. It's a bit scary if he's right, though.

[LochnarITB]

I go back to what I said in my initial post here when I read about the $AH. I wish they would allow those of us that don't want to sell items for real gold to flag our items as gAH only. Now, if I do happen on something really nice, that I have no foreseen use for, I won't be able to put it up on the gAH for fear someone will nab it to place on the $AH rather than having someone get it that would actually use it. I don't want anyone making money off my game play. In WoW, I generally don't buy gear off the AH, but I do put stuff up. I generally put stuff up undercutting any of the same by enough that someone thinking of buying and using it can afford to, but not by so much that an AH player grabs it to mark it up and repost. I feel the $AH takes away my option to share goodies in that manner.

[Frag]

Maybe my ideology is getting in the way, but given that we have a few (maybe more than a few) players, including myself, who are still farming specific areas in D1 to try to find perfect items from time to time, makes me think the $AH isn't going to cause us much problems. I'm an anti-twinking, semi-pure Diablo player, and I know I'm not the only one here that fits that description. Due to the issues with battle.net and D2's cloning hacks, I never traded outside the Basin or with real life friends, and feel I'll be doing the same here. If I find the ZOMG BEST WITCH DOCTOR WEAPON, it's going to someone I know, not on the $AH or gAH. I'm far more likely to disenchant something I can't use or to give it a friend, than I am to AH something and if you're reading this, I'm betting you are too.

[Wiccan]

Hi,

I don't like RMT because, as Bolty said, it conflicts with the suspension of disbelief and the immersion that makes gaming fun for me. However, I don't think the real problem with game economies in general is RMT or the lack of an AH. The real problem with game economies is saturation. Once a character has a certain level of gear, he no longer wants anything at a lower level. Once the level of gear has maxed, there is no desire or need to replace it. In WoW, the big items in the AH were twinking gear, vanity items (white kittens, etc.), and consumables (or the materials for them). I don't think any game will have a good economy unless it incorporates durability reduction and eventual destruction of gear.

In addition to the poor economy, the lack of gear destruction will inevitably lead to cookie cutter builds. So far, I've seen no indication that D III will address this issue. So, I too will probably be looking for something else.

--Pete

i totally agree with you both, they shouldnt have it, since we all know that gold buyers and sellers will try to exploit this some how and make it easier for them to make profit in d3, i just keep thinking how its going to happen with bots doing the same ting they do now in d2. {got back into it playing necromancer. yes i am going to be awitch doctor and wizard, demon hunter} but every time i see this i keep thinking that accounts will get hacked more and more, now that your rmt will be linked to you account and they just announced that paypal will be the people that will help with selling for item for cash.

i can only think of the nightmares that this will cause

[Concillian]

i totally agree with you both, they shouldnt have it, since we all know that gold buyers and sellers will try to exploit this some how and make it easier for them to make profit in d3, i just keep thinking how its going to happen with bots doing the same ting they do now in d2.

Well, I'm sure online only has a lot to do with the $AH. It eliminates an entire avenue of bot exploitation by allowing them to keep certain portions of the game code OFF local computers and locked away where nobody can touch it, which will make it difficult to exploit with bots.

While you still can, the security will be more like WoW, where the main avenue of gold seller gold is by taking over user accounts.

However, the WoW AH is pretty locked down. User accounts are stripped down and vendored and banks pillaged, but Blizzard has made it very difficult for them to use the AH as a source of gold without actually playing the game. They are stuck with vendor prices and pillaging guild banks and such.

WoW has been their testing ground for this. The third party WoW gold sellers certainly have not been leaving tactics in their back pocket and they are not able to use the AH like they used to be able to. The addition of the Paypal tie in (which requires a tie to a real financial institution account of some form or another) adds yet another layer of security.

I'm sure we'll see some cases, but I think they'll be few and far between. They have a decent handle on how to keep them from using the WoW AH for profit. So accounts can still be compromised the way they gain access to WoW accounts now. However, if they can't use the $AH, what are they going to do with your D3 account? Vendor stuff for gold? I'm sure there will be a market for outside sources of gold, but with the $AH in place, that market should be really small.

I think that's the main advantage of the $AH. It demonstrates their confidence that they can maintain a significantly lower percentage of cheat issues than the first two games, which had rather massive issues.

As far as immersion and suspension of disbelief, it might make that even easier, as you won't be likely to end up in a group with a cheating smacktard when you decide to try out a public game. This was certainly the case in Diablo II, I didn't play Diablo online, but I get the impression it was the case in Diablo as well. I was always more concerned with the people I was playing with due to questions of whether they were using hacks. If this ends up significantly less likely, then I will be able to let myself be more immersed.

As Frag said, the $AH will exist, but most of the people posting here will give great items to people they know, just like we did in Diablo II instead of putting them on eBay or whatever.

[Frag]

Just thought of something that email will make a huge deal to the gAH/$AH. Are equipped items character/account bound?

[RTM]

Just thought of something that email will make a huge deal to the gAH/$AH. Are equipped items character/account bound?

Pretty sure they're not. It's just like D2, where an item can be passed around and traded freely even after using it.

[Wiccan]

i totally agree with you both, they shouldnt have it, since we all know that gold buyers and sellers will try to exploit this some how and make it easier for them to make profit in d3, i just keep thinking how its going to happen with bots doing the same ting they do now in d2.

Well, I'm sure online only has a lot to do with the $AH. It eliminates an entire avenue of bot exploitation by allowing them to keep certain portions of the game code OFF local computers and locked away where nobody can touch it, which will make it difficult to exploit with bots.

While you still can, the security will be more like WoW, where the main avenue of gold seller gold is by taking over user accounts.

However, the WoW AH is pretty locked down. User accounts are stripped down and vendored and banks pillaged, but Blizzard has made it very difficult for them to use the AH as a source of gold without actually playing the game. They are stuck with vendor prices and pillaging guild banks and such.

WoW has been their testing ground for this. The third party WoW gold sellers certainly have not been leaving tactics in their back pocket and they are not able to use the AH like they used to be able to. The addition of the Paypal tie in (which requires a tie to a real financial institution account of some form or another) adds yet another layer of security.

I'm sure we'll see some cases, but I think they'll be few and far between. They have a decent handle on how to keep them from using the WoW AH for profit. So accounts can still be compromised the way they gain access to WoW accounts now. However, if they can't use the $AH, what are they going to do with your D3 account? Vendor stuff for gold? I'm sure there will be a market for outside sources of gold, but with the $AH in place, that market should be really small.

I think that's the main advantage of the $AH. It demonstrates their confidence that they can maintain a significantly lower percentage of cheat issues than the first two games, which had rather massive issues.

As far as immersion and suspension of disbelief, it might make that even easier, as you won't be likely to end up in a group with a cheating smacktard when you decide to try out a public game. This was certainly the case in Diablo II, I didn't play Diablo online, but I get the impression it was the case in Diablo as well. I was always more concerned with the people I was playing with due to questions of whether they were using hacks. If this ends up significantly less likely, then I will be able to let myself be more immersed.

As Frag said, the $AH will exist, but most of the people posting here will give great items to people they know, just like we did in Diablo II instead of putting them on eBay or whatever.

very good post and i can understand what you mean, but you also have to remember they can also hack your paypal account{ its doable if you do the real money items thing}, also many gold sellers may NOT USE PAYPAL I.E Certain countries have there own ways of doing things and such.

but the thing i am worried is about the level of which they say that all game information is on there side all we have is { if like steam} that you're able install the game so you can access the data and get the files from their servers and such, with the confines of not having so much data to control they can limit the hacking duping and what not.

i am more worried about the hacking of ah items, wow doesn't have that issue with hacking the ah but they did have hackers trying to make it easier for them to get around and what not, since they said we will be able to craft stuff this is what make me wonder how are they going control the ah pricing with super rare items, we all know that wow economy was the worse during holidays when gold buyers and sellers would jack up there prices for items to make there ends meet with there buyers..

but now what will happen with the rmt ah will begin to make me wonder if they are able to control the pricing for said items and what are the limits that they can put up items for how much they want, and i don't mean the cool down on the item they didn't sell to control the sellers. but the pricing may have to be re-looked at.

{ i am sorry if i dont make any sense in this post i apologize in advance if anyone of mods that can edit for me to make it understandable please do you have my permission to since we all know i have problems making post understandable, i post like i speaking to you face to face}

[Concillian]

but now what will happen with the rmt ah will begin to make me wonder if they are able to control the pricing for said items and what are the limits that they can put up items for how much they want, and i don't mean the cool down on the item they didn't sell to control the sellers. but the pricing may have to be re-looked at.

By "they" do you mean 3rd parties?

They certainly can try, but anyone can try. It's pretty well known that you're going to see greater participation on weekends and holidays. You see that with the WoW AH every week. Prices of "farmable" items like herbs and such go down on the weekends and up during the week. Prices of "twinkable" items go down during the week and up on the weekends.

That will CERTAINLY happen on the $AH to some extent as well, but people may pay more attention to what they list for with real money involved.

The listing fee should keep it from being too micromanaged though. You need to have a profit of at least whatever it costs to list it plus enough to make it worth your time. I suppose it's possible you will see companies trying to "price fix" but if they don't, I'm sure you'll see a fair number of players trying to do that too. That will happen from the community all on it's own, even without 3rd party involvement.

[Concillian]

More info on RMAH....

You can't "cash out" your balance.
At the time of sale you decide if the proceeds will go through paypal to your real money account or if it will go to whatever blizzard calls their currency.

You can transfer real money into Blizzard currency, but not the other way around unless it's done indirectly --> buy item on AH for blizz-bucks, sell on AH through paypal, incurring multiple middle-man cuts and increasing the risk involved.

This certainly puts an interesting spin on things, and not being able to directly cash out may help some with the 'suspension of reality' issues.

[RTM]

More info on RMAH....

You can't "cash out" your balance.
At the time of sale you decide if the proceeds will go through paypal to your real money account or if it will go to whatever blizzard calls their currency.

You can transfer real money into Blizzard currency, but not the other way around unless it's done indirectly --> buy item on AH for blizz-bucks, sell on AH through paypal, incurring multiple middle-man cuts and increasing the risk involved.

This certainly puts an interesting spin on things, and not being able to directly cash out may help some with the 'suspension of reality' issues.

I wonder if you'll be able to use Blizz-bucks for things like WoW subscriptions or other Blizzard games, or if you'll just be able to use it for other RMAH items?

[Wiccan]

More info on RMAH....

You can't "cash out" your balance.
At the time of sale you decide if the proceeds will go through paypal to your real money account or if it will go to whatever blizzard calls their currency.

You can transfer real money into Blizzard currency, but not the other way around unless it's done indirectly --> buy item on AH for blizz-bucks, sell on AH through paypal, incurring multiple middle-man cuts and increasing the risk involved.

This certainly puts an interesting spin on things, and not being able to directly cash out may help some with the 'suspension of reality' issues.

oh wow that will be good to see happen with" item sellers" that think they can cash out as fast as they get the money once they get a buyer, i can see this being as way to stop rmt operators from trying to jack up prices and not getting what they wanted for the item and being forced to keep it as blizzard currency not totally real money this will be interesting to see how many farmers there will be in diablo 3.

[Grayson Carlyle]

I wonder if you'll be able to use Blizz-bucks for things like WoW subscriptions or other Blizzard games, or if you'll just be able to use it for other RMAH items?

Yes, that's exactly what you'll use your account balance for. And it won't be in a "Blizzard currency". Where did anyone even get that idea? Did people actually read the RMAH info back in August?

Money you get from the RMAH that you don't cash out goes to your battle.net account balance which can be used at the Blizzard store or for a WoW subscription. Possibly gifted to other accounts for purchases, though this wasn't guaranteed.