08-02-2011, 05:06 PM
A real-money AH of sorts was already happening in Diablo II via D2JSP forum gold. Serious players participated on the d2jsp forums and there was a currency that was accepted as valid exchange for items, and you could even buy forum gold with real $ if you wanted to. Of course it was a 3rd party service and as such was open to scamming. I can see the benefits of Blizzard taking this process out of the hands of 3rd parties and integrating it into the game.
From what I've read, you are able to participate on the real$ AH without having to ever spend real$. There is nothing preventing you from posting items, building up $ on your Blizzard account, then spending that money on an item. The problem I personally am going to have is, every time I get an item, I am going to think about it in terms of real world $: "This unique would be a huge upgrade for my Barb but I can get $10 for it on the AH...", etc. It's probably something I'll get over but that initial hump is going to take some time.
I had/have a great deal of fun playing the AH in WoW, so the very fact that there is an AH of any sort in Diablo III is good news to me. I also like the fact that there will be a currency that is not based on extremely rare items like high runes or SoJ's, or on a shady 3rd party website. I am going to chuckle (or cry, depending on my involvement level) the first time a dupe hack comes along and crashes the entire economy, though.
They've done a pretty good job preventing that in WoW, so I do have SOME hope.
As for the Chinese farming thing, there will apparently be eBay-like fees to list items, and additional fees when an item sells. Hopefully that will discourage mass farming and botting, since they will be doing nothing but driving prices down.
From what I've read, you are able to participate on the real$ AH without having to ever spend real$. There is nothing preventing you from posting items, building up $ on your Blizzard account, then spending that money on an item. The problem I personally am going to have is, every time I get an item, I am going to think about it in terms of real world $: "This unique would be a huge upgrade for my Barb but I can get $10 for it on the AH...", etc. It's probably something I'll get over but that initial hump is going to take some time.
I had/have a great deal of fun playing the AH in WoW, so the very fact that there is an AH of any sort in Diablo III is good news to me. I also like the fact that there will be a currency that is not based on extremely rare items like high runes or SoJ's, or on a shady 3rd party website. I am going to chuckle (or cry, depending on my involvement level) the first time a dupe hack comes along and crashes the entire economy, though.
They've done a pretty good job preventing that in WoW, so I do have SOME hope. As for the Chinese farming thing, there will apparently be eBay-like fees to list items, and additional fees when an item sells. Hopefully that will discourage mass farming and botting, since they will be doing nothing but driving prices down.