Hello.

I would like to start off by saying this is a very objective opinion coming from my side, but since I decided to post it here, your opinions whether they comply with mine or not, are always welcomed.
While we head towards a new chapter, a new generation, one must reflect on what has been told and what has been done in the past.


We all know that trading was a big part of Diablo II. And it still is. We all remember the sleepless nights of trading, talking, advising with different people, keeping up to date with the value of different items, the joy one felt upon receiving a good item. However, at a certain point the meticulous skills of trading were engulfed by certain groups, probably, with the intention of making the trading experience easier for all of us.

As the years past, many good players managed to gain wealth and fame and "money" on these forums to which they could use to trade to themselves good gear. There was gossip. There was talk. There was competition - and foremost there was pride. Believe me, I was there.

Yet, as a new chapter begins, as the schematics are upgraded, graphics improved, new characters arrive and a brand new Blizzard work of art is being slowly conjured, all of us inspiring after newest piece of information which we can dissect to its foremost ground - the shadow of the item-trade system is closely getting ready to map the underway game.

Through the help of people's wealth in Diablo II, the odds of what is supposed to be a new start are on thin ice. With this, I am refering to the fact that Diablo III item-trade will be strongly affected by the third-party sites that govern the underground item-world.

In a nutshell (skipping the poetic elements): People with insane amounts of money on item-trading sites will have the upper hand when the game comes out, item-wise, which will not give all players the opportunity to evolve equally on neutral grounds.


Take into consideration that I'm not judging nor am I jealous, as much as I am curious if I was the only one thinking of that, and what does the future hold in store. Please tell me (us) your point of view.

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Q u o t e:
With this, I am refering to the fact that Diablo III item-trade will be strongly affected by the third-party sites that govern the underground item-world.

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Hah. No it won't.

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Q u o t e:
In a nutshell (skipping the poetic elements): People with insane amounts of money on item-trading sites will have the upper hand when the game comes out, item-wise, which will not give all players the opportunity to evolve equally on neutral grounds.

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All of the issues that exist in Diablo II that essentially force people to use these kinds of sites in order to establish a base economy and help concentrate the playerbase to a centralized trading location will all be completely unnecessary when we achieve our economic and trade goals with Diablo III.

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Q u o t e:
So.. Tell us about the magic Bashiok

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We've always said we intend to have some type of in-game auction house feature.

That alone would remove almost all desire to alt+tab and trade outside of the game. People use these sites because they centralize the trading community, and they establish a base currency. If there's no reason for people to leave the game, then they won't. It's as simple as that.

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Q u o t e:
And since most people who play Diablo2 are using for trading and have aquired vast amounts of FG, it will be one heck of a beast to take down.

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Some arbitrary currency on some forum that no one buying Diablo III will have heard of except a small number of hardcore Diablo II players does not 'a heck of a beast' make.

Can you give me numbers for how many actual people are playing Diablo II and using that site? Because I can guarantee you they will be outnumbered 100 to 1 (at least) when the game releases. So if they can each convince 100+ people to alt+tab and use a weird forum system to trade instead of what's right there and available to them in-game, then sure. But good luck.

There will always be fringe RMT sites, and there will always be a tiny number of people looking for game-to-game trades, but to say that something like this will have a hold on the entire economy for game with a stable currency and auction house-type system is highly illogical.

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Q u o t e:
I feel I should point out most of what I am saying are merely attempts at Bashiok to point out information on this new system or help ease peoples worrys for Diablo3.

I don't really believe any of it.

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I know you're playing devil's advocate. No worries.

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Q u o t e:
Again, what assurances are there that the in-game currency will be stable?

Ladder resets completely destabilize the economy. Is that feature not transferring?

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There's no reason for Diablo III to have ladder resets. They're a quick and dirty method of resetting the economy to 0 in Diablo II. It works. For a while. Then the great purging begins again.

We're designing a stable economy, we have the knowledge and experience to do so. We have people in-house with doctorates and degrees in statistics and economic analysis and all the know how to pull it off. I think we'll be ok.

Removing references to specific sites and locking. Any further references I'll consider advertisement which would warrant a suspension, so don't do that.