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Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

arstechnica.com

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Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#11

Post by craigyk »

EpicEng wrote: post #4

Finally. This was the absolute worst aspect of DIII. It completely ruined the gearing up aspect of the game. Loot drops were tuned down because of it, so how did everyone get gear? They bought it. Lame. The new direction of this game looks really good. These kind of changes make me want to play the xpac. I had previously sworn off the game entirely.

ditto. I even asked for (and received) a refund as I was quite irate that the game mechanics had obviously been tuned with something other than fun as the top priority. This makes me think of giving it another go. I was hoping stuff like this would start happening after they broke away from their parent.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#12

Post by pekk »

programminggeek wrote: post #7

Wow, this is a surprising reversal of trends as far as user generated content and micro-transaction based economies go, but the auction house really did change the core mechanics of Diablo 3. As a player I really did kind of like the auction system during the initial grind from level 1 to 60, but when there was no more level progression and the only progression was item progression, it just stopped being fun because…

> the only purpose of playing was to kill things for the best drops

which is not different from what people were doing on Diablo II for ages.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#13

Post by cheald »

programminggeek wrote: post #7

Wow, this is a surprising reversal of trends as far as user generated content and micro-transaction based economies go, but the auction house really did change the core mechanics of Diablo 3. As a player I really did kind of like the auction system during the initial grind from level 1 to 60, but when there was no more level progression and the only progression was item progression, it just stopped being fun because…

Well, it's also worth noting that the presence of the auction house necessitated that drop rates for good stuff be depressed, as well, since the increased ease of trade means that the effective supply is higher. The effect of this, of course, is that the average player never sees the really good gear in the course of play - if you want good gear, you have to go buy it. Not only is the treasure hunting mechanic short-circuited, it's actually retarded by the presence of the AH -- most folks I know (myself included) quit playing D3 when they figured this out.

The other factor exacerbating this was the gear design in D3 - they drastically boiled down the potential combinations of gear by reducing the number of potential stats on items and baking everything relevant to the character's viability into the gear (rather than using a character progression path independent of gearing), so that while in other loot grinders a piece of loot may be useful but not perfect, in D3, there's basically "has everything I need" and "not useful at all". When you combine this binary gear usefulness with deflated drop rates, you end up with a situation in which most players feel that actually trying to play the game as a treasure hunt is an exercise in futility.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#14

Post by stormbrew »

josh2600 wrote: post #8

So, I have a bit of a personal episode here I'd like to share. I played a lot of Diablo 2, more than I care to admit, and so the launch of Diablo 3 was a really big deal to me. I pre-ordered it on day 1, I pre-installed the game weeks before launch and I read every piece of information about the game. When the game came out, I initially loved it; just an absolute pleasure to play. It was great, until I found the auct…

For me it wasn't the auction house that made me loathe to replay the game, it was the lack of character customization. Item choice is purely about HPS and damage reduction, with all other attributes more or less useless, and the ability to customize your skill loadout at will made it so you never invested in a consistent character. Why would you ever roll another character of a class if it's just going to be the exact same thing in the end?

No I may be unusual in this, I played a lot of D2, but never at a very high level. I would come back to it every few months or after a year of not playing it and roll a new character with some different skill tree choices and have a somewhat different experience each time. I never made it to nightmare, never had a level 99 character, but I found the game a lot of fun. D3 is just too much about the end-game for me, there's no journey.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#15

Post by FedRegister »

tieTYT wrote: post #6
debacle wrote: post #5

This is a good and smart move, but it's only one step towards fixing the nature of the game.

I'm curious as someone who has never played the game: What else do they need to fix? I've only heard complaints about the auction house

The game is always-online, even for single player or local LAN. Which means you can get lag-killed in single player, or the server is full (which happened at launch) so you can't play your single player game. The game also kicks you out if you lose your connection while you're playing.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#16

Post by rholdy »

I was among the many D2 fans that felt let down by Diablo 3. I never went so far as to grab a pitchfork like some other people, but the auction house really sucked the fun out of the game.

Honestly, I'm very proud of Blizzard for making this decision. I never expected them to do something this drastic, but ultimately, it is what is best for the game.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#17

Post by cheald »

pekk wrote: post #12
programminggeek wrote: post #7

Wow, this is a surprising reversal of trends as far as user generated content and micro-transaction based economies go, but the auction house really did change the core mechanics of Diablo 3. As a player I really did kind of like the auction system during the initial grind from level 1 to 60, but when there was no more level progression and the only progression was item progression, it just stopped being fun because…

> the only purpose of playing was to kill things for the best drops which is not different from what people were doing on Diablo II for ages.

You truncated what he said. He qualified it with "that you could sell on the auction house", which is exceptionally important.

Grinding bosses for drops to build the character that you want offers great direct feedback - you kill the boss 84 times, and he finally drops the thing you've been looking for. The reward is tangible and exciting. Compare to the AH structure, where it's basically "well, I'll grind for things that might sell, and then hope they sell well enough that I can save up for that thing I need which I know will never actually drop for me". The direct feedback and chance for excitement is practically gone, because the things that you are actually excited for come from the auction house rather than the gameplay.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#18

Post by fooqux »

pdenya wrote: post #9
josh2600 wrote: post #8

So, I have a bit of a personal episode here I'd like to share. I played a lot of Diablo 2, more than I care to admit, and so the launch of Diablo 3 was a really big deal to me. I pre-ordered it on day 1, I pre-installed the game weeks before launch and I read every piece of information about the game. When the game came out, I initially loved it; just an absolute pleasure to play. It was great, until I found the auct…

I agree with you 100% and I'm coming from a similar situation. The question is, are you going to play again once it's removed? I almost definitely won't give it another shot. Still play D2 on occasion though.

I'm sort of done of D2, but I've found Torchlight 2 to be an excellent replacement for Diablo. No auction house, and it fixes the most annoying parts (IMHO) of D3 and D2: weak, boring bosses and weak skills, respectively.

I played a ton of D2, but I always was disappointed that, with the exception of gimmick builds which could barely make it to Nightmare, you were limited to one or two viable builds for each character. Put more than one point into Firebolt? Too bad for you.

As for D3, I almost finished my first playthrough without drinking a single health potion. Not exactly the nail-biting, walking the razor's edge gameplay I had come to expect from Diablo.

Re: Diablo 3 to permanently remove its auction houses in March 2014

#19

Post by jamesaguilar »

This is the right thing to do, from my perspective. The AHs killed the fun of finding items for me, because there was always something way better you could buy for just a tiny amount of money. This could restore the game to the feeling it is meant to have.
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