Apparently the Diablo 3 auction house was a bad idea

Shalafi

Shalafi

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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/10974978/

And they are shutting it down!

I was against it from the very beginning when I first heard about it because I thought it was a way for Blizzard to treat the loot system as a cash cow for Blizzard, but to be fair, it did give players a way to make money too.

But ultimately, the Auction House system made it so that no matter how much you played the game, getting actual good loot that you would use yourself was by and large more miss than hit. Also one thing that really sucked about it was that you could not sell your items you didn't want for a lot of gold to vendors, and doing that would really help you ingame to cover repair costs as well as give you gold to use on the gold only auction house.

But anyways, I thought that the auction house would be too easily abused, and that it would NOT prevent duping (which was Blizzard's original reason for wanting the auction house). Turns out I was right about the duping, and as far as abused goes, it's just a matter of perspective. It does seem like far more people used the auction house to get their gear than actually killing monsters themselves and loot their own gear.

Ultimately the Diablo series has always been about going into the dungeons and killing monsters and having fun getting better loot for yourself. While Diablo 2 had a trading system that was very effective for what it was, there was still plenty of loot to be had from killing monsters in the dungeons and doing "Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal runs".

I think Diablo III kind of took all that way when you can just buy the items you need off the auction house.

If I were to compare it to something, I would compare it to the World of Warcraft auction houses. You could buy plenty of good gear off the WoW auction house, but there were STILL items you could not buy that were dungeon only items, and you actually had a reason to go out there and get into the dungeons to get the items you wanted. Whereas on Diablo III, that incentive was removed and you could just straight up buy whatever items you wanted and you wouldn't have to go to the dungeon to loot the most powerful items in the game.

So all in all, I think the Diablo III auction house system was destined to fail because it turned a lot of fans off, and not without good reason.

I think that pay to win schemes do not last very long in the gaming industry, they start to run out of steam when enough of the core playerbase gets tired of "Keeping up with the Jones" so they can stay competitive.
 
This makes me quite happy. I'll play it again & when the expansion arrives, I'll enjoy it even more thanks to the Loot 2.0 system.
 
Boo.... we have to wait until March 2014?! Lame. Take it out NOW!

They could just increase the drop rates of good stuff now and completely disable the auction house. Of course the void would fill with 3rd party D3 item websites, but at least it would bring in some of the "thrill" of finding a good item.

That's why I haven't played it since 2 months after launch. It's just a grind and I'm so mad that I threw away money on that POS game.
 
I loved Diablo 1 and 2. Diablo 3 auction house killed the game for me.
 
Just wondering, does anyone play Diablo 3 anymore? Maybe there's not enough traffic to support the servers?
 
I played Diablo 3 for a good 2-3 weeks after the launch before quitting in frustration over the crap setup. Getting rid of the AHs might...MIGHT...get me to install it again.
 
The loot system was pretty much the only reason I stopped playing D3. This is great news and I'll give it another go when the expansion is out and AH is gone.
 
mr_zen256 said:
The loot system was pretty much the only reason I stopped playing D3. This is great news and I'll give it another go when the expansion is out and AH is gone.
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eh.... I don't think that I'm willing to give them more money. They won't get any more from me until they remove the AH and make Loot 2.0 for the base game WITHOUT having to buy the expansion.

Fool me once, shame on you.
 
whats the point of removing it in March 2014 when you can play Diablo 3 as it was really intended on consoles right now. I'm just glad I got in on the refund for the PC version when I still had the chance, a text book example of how corporate greed can kill a beloved franchise, Blizzard can go suck it for all I care.
 
Well that's a welcome change. Agree on the point that the delay is too long, I understand not making the change immediate, but a couple months would be plenty --- no need for 6. Wonder if there is going to be the equivalent of a clearance sale before the cut-off, as everybody tries to clear inventory. Would be more interesting now given there is a delay before higher level expansion gear becomes available.

They should look to Borderlands 2 as a loot model, both in terms of diversity (including the awesome variants like pistols that shoot delayed action flechets instead of bullets...etc) and drop frequency. Drop frequency is high enough that even if you don't go all full grind style, you're going to get some epic stuff, but there is enough variance that if you want to grind there is still that chance for perfect rolled loot.

Ultimately I think that to much of the D3 team came at it from an MMO viewpoint, taking things like relentless grind for granted. Really too bad, since at it's core the combat in D3 was solid.

Now maybe if they bring back custom skill point allocation they'll really have something.
 
The problem with Diablo 3 is the graphics period....and gameplay it's cool but not really.
 
I might actually play it once that crap system is removed. It never sounded like a good idea or anything I'd find entertaining as it is now.
 
Loot system in Diablo 3 sucked massively and it probably still sucks. I remember killing bosses, repeatedly and not even getting a good blue item let alone something significant. After 3 weeks of play and still crap gear for my level, I uninstalled the stupid thing. Whoever worked on Diablo 3, killed the Diablo series for good IMO.

Oh and you think they are fixing the loot system for the current Diablo 3 owners who has full rights to a proper loot system? Not at all, they don't give a crap but they do know without changing the loot system the expansion will sell about 10 copies world wide. They are fixing it, so they can sell the expansion, which is why it is tied to the expansion.

Blizzard makes good games usually but the decision makers in that company are all destined to Hell with mocking up the same Warcraft story in to space environment, calling it starcraft, tying features like Blizzard based DOTA and auction house fixes for Diablo to expansion packs and never releasing them, still trying to charge people $15 per month for WOW and like $30 for a starcraft one battle chest stupidity....
 
J Macker said:
eh.... I don't think that I'm willing to give them more money. They won't get any more from me until they remove the AH and make Loot 2.0 for the base game WITHOUT having to buy the expansion.

Fool me once, shame on you.
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A cynical part of me is wondering if Blizzard is making this move to drum up support for the expansion. They have the statistics on how much the D3 playerbase has declined and I am sure this has occurred to them as their way of saying,"See guys, we do listen to feedback!"

What puzzles me is the disconnect in how Blizzard used the AH in Diablo 3 compared to World of Warcraft because they did a good job of ensuring that you couldnt just buy the bet items in the game but they have no real mechanism for doing that with Diablo 3 because of the difference in the loot system of D3 and WoW.
 
Amazing... this is a big change for Blizz. I like the fact they are owning up to this travesty.
 
I'm going to be the odd man out here....
The RMAH was a crap the idea. The AH was not.
LOOT was(is still) garbage, forcing people onto the AH for upgrades (and the RMAH for those with deep pockets and less patience).

Loot 2.0 will fix drops, OK I get it. But trading will still be part of the game, and I would personally prefer to deal with an auction house vs spending hours in trade chat with a chance of getting scammed.
 
J Macker said:
eh.... I don't think that I'm willing to give them more money. They won't get any more from me until they remove the AH and make Loot 2.0 for the base game WITHOUT having to buy the expansion.

Fool me once, shame on you.
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As far as I know, Loot 2.0 will be implemented with a patch for the vanilla game shortly before the expansion is launched. Loot 2.0 for the vanilla game will have the same changes (New loot system, loot runs, etc) as Reaper of Souls, but minus all the expansion-related content.
 
So does this mean Diablo III will be worth playing again?
 
Dan_D said:
I might actually play it once that crap system is removed. It never sounded like a good idea or anything I'd find entertaining as it is now.
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I'll think about buying it and playing once the current AH system is gone. The regular gold AH is fine, RMAH can go suck it.

Also I want to hear what they say about the loot 2.0 set up, is it just a slightly better drop rate or are they doing something else unique.

Either way, not in any rush to support this POS.
 
Dan_D said:
I might actually play it once that crap system is removed. It never sounded like a good idea or anything I'd find entertaining as it is now.
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+1. But, I'd also still need the always online removed too. That, I'm sure, will be soon to follow.
 
Trimlock said:
I'll think about buying it and playing once the current AH system is gone. The regular gold AH is fine, RMAH can go suck it.

Also I want to hear what they say about the loot 2.0 set up, is it just a slightly better drop rate or are they doing something else unique.

Either way, not in any rush to support this POS.
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Loot 2.0 is said to completely change the current loot system. One of the many changes will be that every legendary should be able to drop at any level. You can have for example a level 20 Manticore and later on find a level 70 one, with the latter having much higher and better stats. This should greatly increase the amount of legendaries the game can pick from when one is about to be dropped, and add much more variety.

Rare items will drop quite a bit less, but will roll better stats. The game will also use smart drops, once in awhile dropping items more tailored to your character's current stats.

Here is a short summary of what Loot 2.0 is about:

http://www.diablowiki.net/Loot_2.0
 
I should probably just learn to get over myself, but no. I still harbor some bitter resentment towards Blizzard for this fiasco, and I'm a bit jealous that console owners got the game that I was so hyped and ready to (and did) pay $120 for two copies.

18 months later they figure it out? Another 6 months or so until they change it? Naw, these decisions are not being based on customer feedback and design choices; if they were, it would have changed within a month or two of release. These are business decisions designed to generate revenue.

AFAIK, no one from Blizzard has ever flat out denied that they were using the RMAH to sell items to players for absurd horse-armor-fiasco-crushing prices. Then, they get a cut of every transaction on top of that. I'm guessing billions in income up to this point, but now that the player base has shrunk, and they have released the game D3 should have been to consoles, they are ready to dial it back and sit on their pile of money. Announcing the AH shut down 6 months ahead of time insures that there will be a significant run on the auction house in the last few weeks, giving Blizzard one more 'hurrah' of 6-8 figure income before they throw the switch.

I'm guessing within a year or two we will see a single player offline compatibility patch, because "Blizzard listens to their customers". :rolleyes:
 
I heard they updated the loot system in the console versions significantly, was that not implemented into the PC version yet? when will it be?

Frankly i wouldnt be against loot 2.0 AND a RMAH. if better loot drops great you can farm it, but it also allows players who simply dont have the time to farm (like me) to get good enough loot to play in the harder difficulties.

As for above comments...what company doesnt make decisions about profit? If your seriously blind enough to think companies operate strictly on customer pleasure your full of it
 
Of course profit margins are a consideration in business decisions. Apparently so is blatant dishonesty and manipulation, like the companies themselves claiming that their change in direction was caused by listening carefully to the concerns of their customers.

I'm not expecting them to be saints, but when those business decisions degrade the very product they are selling, and when the ensuing customer complaints fall on deaf ears until they find another manipulative way to suck a bit more out the community they claim to serve, somebody is going to talk smack on that sort of behavior.

I guess all I'm really trying to say is it's possible to make a profit without being a dick about it.

Regardless of the company itself, and my reluctance to dive back into D3, I hope the changes bring the game back around to what it should have been.
 
If you want to talk about business decisions, I see the RMAH in the same context as Bobby Kotick over saturating the video games market with Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero games. Both of those franchises folded because they were franchises that over saturated the market for short term gain instead of taking the long view and making it last.

I see the business logic behind the RMAH in the same light, short term gain that sacrifices the long term. But here Blizzard has managed to turn off a significant portion of the player base that plays Diablo, and possibly a smaller subgroup that may be turned off by Blizzard entirely.

Just reading some of the above comments, it seems easy to see that. We have a bunch of Diablo players in here who are saying the RMAH and by extension, some of Blizzards business decisions turned them off.

Profit is why any business exists, but it's better to have long term profits.
 
this will end in utter failure... you cant take something like this away once its already in place.
 
I quit playing the game not too long after release (a month or 2?) because the item system was dumbed down, boring, and the RMAH killed the game.

With that said, the fact that they removed it from the game is stunning and shows they might actually care about the game after all. I might even give it another shot when they get rid of it. My only problem is the damage has been done by the RMAH and I doubt they plan on resetting everything.
 
I hope they start a new league/ladder once RMAH and AH are removed.
 
wow, blizzard just not realized this?

i quit this game the day the rmah came out and this was shut a slap to the face that i wont be going back even now.

and anyone who wants a good laugh, head over to the diablo3 forums.
the rage is awesome.
 
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Players had been dropping like flies for the game. Unlike Diablo 2 which to this day even had sales revenue, the auction house was a very expensive way for Blizzard to substitute volumes in AC over actual product sales. Well deserved. I really hope this is a lesson for the industry and also micro transactions die. I would also love the banks for these developers to jack up pricing for these micro transactions so they get ass raped.
 
wow, about time. I might even consider buy the game after they do this.
 
I'm probably in the minority, but I don't think it was the AH that killed the game. It was what Blizzard did to the game to force you to use the AH. I'm not in favor of the RMAH, but I don't see why they couldn't keep the gold AH and just fix all the rest of the problems. If you want to use the AH, so what, and if you don't, fine?

Sure, the console has fixed a lot of the issues with the game, but cheaters are rampant. I'd rather have them just buy the best gear in the game than what's going on with people with 100k+ in every stat along with weapons that do 10k+ dps and 400% critical damage (and they duel wield two).

But as has been stated above, there probably was a financial/business reason to remove them (guess they're not making enough money to support the system), and Blizzard is using the whole "We're listening to our customers" bs, which most likely isn't true.
 
I haven't touched D3 since about a month after release. The game felt short, very short. I beat it through 4 times, got bored, and never launched it again.

RMAH didn't help either.
 
Wow. RMAH was bullshit from the get go. Doesn't take a super intelligent person to figure out that they purposely gimped the drops to funnel players over to the the RMAH. There have been times over the years that I've felt cheated, betrayed, etc. But nothing like what I felt when I saw what blizzard did to this franchise with D3. Diablo 1 and 2 will always have a special place in my heart, but blizzard really just took a shit on us all with d3. The fact that console gets the superior version is just icing on the cake. Fuck blizzard.
 
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I made over $3000 in a little under 4 months. I think it was the greatest idea ever. It did however make me HATE HATE HATE the game after about week 4...
 
I never really cared about the AH. What got me and a lot of others bored was the lack of skill points and stat points. The only thing you have is character dress up in D3. I really liked the customization of D2 and recreating a character to create a new build. Now, there is no point in creating a new character of the same class since the builds never change. Runes,skills,stats, cool equipment effects, etc... all added so much variety and made a character pretty unique. I also don't like the game mechanic of tying all damage to the weapon which is what D3 did.

BNET also seemed to be livelier befor. It was also awesome having the chat channels with the characters avatars in them. BNET 2.0 starting from SC2 kind of killed that off since it was gimped when it first came out. Blizz had a great thing going but they decided not to listen to the community for many things. I still play D3 every so often but it never got me hooked the way D2 did.
 
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TheCommander said:
I never really cared about the AH. What got me and a lot of others bored was the lack of skill points and stat points. The only thing you have is character dress up in D3. I really liked the customization of D2 and recreating a character to create a new build. Now, there is no point in creating a new character of the same class since the builds never change. Runes,skills,stats, cool equipment effects, etc... all added so much variety and made a character pretty unique. I also don't like the game mechanic of tying all damage to the weapon which is what D3 did.

BNET also seemed to be livelier befor. It was also awesome having the chat channels with the characters avatars in them. BNET 2.0 starting from SC2 kind of killed that off since it was gimped when it first came out. Blizz had a great thing going but they decided not to listen to the community for many things. I still play D3 every so often but it never got me hooked the way D2 did.
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I got that same impression vis a vis customer feedback. I don't think Blizzard listened much, if at all through the whole process, it always seemed like they were pushing their choices on gamers, for better or worse.

It sounds like it bit them in the ass, and rightfully so. I think the game lost a good chunk of its playerbase within 3 months of launch as D3 just does not have any staying power.
 
This can't come soon enough. Now we need a 'patch' for offline play and non battlenet group play.
 
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