Do we have to play on the ladder?

[Dagni]

Is Blizzard saying, with all these 'ladder only' extras "If you want to play legit, you must play on the ladder?"

All these 'ladder only' extras? This is the only extra that has been specifically given. And in this specific instance, even extending this recipe to include all the other rune upgrades that will likely exist, I don't see this as being all that big a deal. I mean, even if you collect and cube every single rune that ever drops, you will, on average, cube your way to about 1.17 Zods for every Zod you find normally. Indeed, for any particular rune, if you are willing to sacrifice every rune of lower level, you will about double your chances of getting that rune.

Indeed, given how uber the realm economy already is, prohibiting the realms could be a good thing. Blizzard certainly doesn't want Zods to become the next SoJs. And if you really need that Ohm, and really have saved all those lower runes, couldn't you just trade for it? Well, I wouldn't do that, I find trading to generally be more hassle than it's worth, but for those that do trades on a regular basis, I would guess that two or three of the just lower rune would often be worth more than the next higher.

So, in short, a ladder-only character will likely be given an advantage or two, but just as you don't have to party to gain experience, you don't have to make ladder characters. Now, if Blizzard follows through on their promise to make some new uniques ladder-only, then, depending on the uniques, my viewpoint might change. But until there is anything that can only be gotten by ladder/open characters (anybody can get a Cham), I say, who cares?

- Dagni