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Blizzard is shutting down the auction house in March 2014.
I did'nt think they'd go that far. But great move IMO.
So, it did not generate enough profit for Blizzard to keep it?
Why did people get their panties in a twist over this in the FIRST place that this is "HUGE news!!!!!"?
I don't really think you can have huge news about a game that twelve people still play, but maybe I'm wrong...
I don't really think you can have huge news about a game that twelve people still play, but maybe I'm wrong...
Huh... I am still playing Diablo III on PC, casually.
And I also enjoy the game on Xbox 360 with my son.
That whole auction house debacle was what made me decide not to buy it in the first place. I didn't want to support that kind of a business model.
I'll probably wait a while to see what happens in the wake of the removal, but if this is a sign that Blizzard is taking customer response more seriously, I think I'll finally buy it.
I'm not seeing what was so bad about the business model.
"Here are random drops. We let you sell these random drops to other people. If you don't want to wait and hope the drop system cooperates."
Sounds good to me.
No, auction house as that was A-OK. But getting in the option of paying with real money, of which Blizzard got a cut? Right. That was so cool.
I REALLY don't see the issue.
It didn't affect anyone but the people buying/selling things for real money. Who cares if Blizzard gets 1% or whatever?
I don't see anybody complaining about the Steam Market, which basically does the same thing on a wider scale.
I just started playing this on Xbox; it seems to really honor what came before.
I don't believe this for a second
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I'm not seeing what was so bad about the business model.
"Here are random drops. We let you sell these random drops to other people. If you don't want to wait and hope the drop system cooperates."
The issue was you can go onto the auction house and find just the item with the perfect stats for you (often for really cheap, especially if you're not max level), right now. Or you can play the game and kill things and take their stuff to get so-so okay loot.
At the end of the day, for a game where the gameplay evolves around gear acquisition, the AH essentially removed that part of the game. The problem, however, wasn't really the AH. The problem was that the loot system was so randomized that the vast majority of loot drops were completely useless. That "wow, cool!" moment that's supposed to be the driving force behind these types of games pretty much never happened.
I don't know if they've fixed the random loot since I last played seriously, but just removing the AH doesn't solve the problem by itself.
The issue was you can go onto the auction house and find just the item with the perfect stats for you (often for really cheap, especially if you're not max level), right now. Or you can play the game and kill things and take their stuff to get so-so okay loot.
At the end of the day, for a game where the gameplay evolves around gear acquisition, the AH essentially removed that part of the game. The problem, however, wasn't really the AH. The problem was that the loot system was so randomized that the vast majority of loot drops were completely useless. That "wow, cool!" moment that's supposed to be the driving force behind these types of games pretty much never happened.
I don't know if they've fixed the random loot since I last played seriously, but just removing the AH doesn't solve the problem by itself.
To quote a wise man "Random is random".
You don't b#%~% and moan in Borderlands if you can't find a Pearlescent with exactly the right combination of parts you want. Well, you can, but it doesn't make you in the right.
And just because somebody can find one and Dupe you theirs doesn't mean the game is poorly designed.
This is just that, but with money exchanging hands.
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But in Borderlands and its sequel,everything that drops you can use, no matter what class you are. You may have to be a certain level but you can use it. In D3 on pc 90% of the loot dropped by monsters my class couldn't use. When they are make it so you had to use the AH, then it is poorly designed.
It is a big deal. The auction house, while capitalistically brilliant, ties being able to play the game the most successfully from being willing and able to spend the most money (to play well, you must have certain item combos, and to have certain item combos, the easiest way is to buy them from players----and you can make MASSIVE amounts of money selling in-game items for real money, some people create WoW and similar accounts just to collect items and sell them as a form of basically under the table income).
Interestingly, IIRC, one of the reasons Blizzard-Activision said Diablo III "had" to be always-online was because of the auction house. If they are disabling it... maybe there will be news of offline single player next. If so, I might actually buy the game.
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Interestingly, IIRC, one of the reasons Blizzard-Activision said Diablo III "had" to be always-online was because of the auction house. If they are disabling it... maybe there will be news of offline single player next. If so, I might actually buy the game.
Not sure if you've got a PS3 or 360, but the console version doesn't need to always be online. They also got much better reviews than the PC version.
Interestingly, IIRC, one of the reasons Blizzard-Activision said Diablo III "had" to be always-online was because of the auction house. If they are disabling it... maybe there will be news of offline single player next. If so, I might actually buy the game.Not sure if you've got a PS3 or 360, but the console version doesn't need to always be online. They also got much better reviews than the PC version.
Sadly I don't--when I'm not playing on the PC I go completely simplified and play on my Nintendo DS. :) Good to know though. I've considered getting a PS3 if they drop in price on the eve of the release of the PS4.
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Not sure if you've got a PS3 or 360, but the console version doesn't need to always be online. They also got much better reviews than the PC version.
Indeed. So much so that the PS3/360 version is considered to be the definitive version of Diablo III. Offline, no auction house, better/more loot drops, and up to 4-player couch co-op.
My wife and I will be playing the hell out of this in co-op.
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But in Borderlands and its sequel,everything that drops you can use, no matter what class you are. You may have to be a certain level but you can use it. In D3 on pc 90% of the loot dropped by monsters my class couldn't use. When they are make it so you had to use the AH, then it is poorly designed.
Pretty much this. Good loot is so rare in the pc version of Diablo 3 that you pretty much needed to use the auction house in order to be effective at the highest difficulty level. The ripping out of stats and character design in Diablo 3 also bothered me quite a bit.
From the sounds of the releases, in the xbox / ps3 version loot is at a more reasonable level. I also like the multiple people on the same console approach as well. I will most likely pick up the console version of D3, after my buddies and I finish the awesomeness that is Borderlands 2.
To quote a wise man "Random is random".
To quote an even wiser man: "There is no random in computing."
All you can do is build systems to simulate randomness, and other Diablo-style games (including, I might add, Diablo 3 for the PS3) does this much better than Diablo 3. Or did. They might have fixed this already, or plan on using the PS3 system for the other platforms once they disable the AH.
Does this mean the always online requirement will be gone?
Because if not, this is entirely meaningless to me.
The instruction manual for xbox stinks. Anyone know if im playing multiplayer at home (Just people living at home not internet) and i shut game off and turn it back on how do i get the other players to come back with their stuff?
for example i have my gamer profile and it loads up my character with her equipment. When i go to load up a profile for my friend it loads up a duplicate of that same girl wizard even though he was playing the barbarian?
I have to say, I get enough good 'drops' for my characters to feel satisfied, playing on the Xbox.
I think they changed up things better than Diablo 2, just as that game added more variety than the first Diablo offered. That said, I do feel that some areas dragged a bit--
Sad bit: They killed farming, which is what made the real-money AH the problem that it was. Then, once all the damage was already done, they've decided to kill THE ENTIRE AUCTION HOUSE, with the intention to "bring back farming" even though they've killed it. This is also going to make gold pointless, since you'll never be able to spend the gold you make on anything.
Pointless game is pointless.
Also the lore for the expansion pack is ignoring their own lore, so I'm doubly not interested. THe biggest draw for me was the lore, and they're killing it.
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
If it stops moving, subsidize it.
Oh dear... the auction house was mandatory for high level play to get tier gear and stop dying all the time... This would make high level play impossibly difficult and make it impossible to balance PvP if they ever finish that. Welcome back to D2's mule accounts and unsafe third party trading houses. Unless they DRASTICALLY alter the way they hand out loot then this is horrible news indeed.
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I just picked it up friday. My girlfriend and I have been pretty much doing nothing else.
I didn't play the PC version so I don't have much of a basis for comparison, but I have *really* enjoyed the console version so far.
The storyline is gripping and definitely evocative of the earlier games. The graphics are very pretty, the scenery has a ton of detail and interesting things to look at.
And it's *fun*.
Mobbing around with three friends while you all sit on the couch and talk and laugh is exactly what the older games were lacking. I've really missed good multiplayer local co-op games.
I'd give it two thumbs up, but I'd have to put down the controller.
The graphics are very pretty, the scenery has a ton of detail and interesting things to look at.That's the problem. The graphics weren't supposed to be "pretty" they were supposed to be dark, brooding, Gothic and terrifying. Not this cartoony wow-ish crap.
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:rolleyes:The graphics are very pretty, the scenery has a ton of detail and interesting things to look at.That's the problem. The graphics weren't supposed to be "pretty" they were supposed to be dark, brooding, Gothic and terrifying. Not this cartoony wow-ish crap.
Well, the game has a problem when another game which is not Diablo 3 is a better Diablo 3 then the original. Seriously. The only reason D3 is worth playing is for the lore stuff.
*Shrugs*
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Well, the game has a problem when another game which is not Diablo 3 is a better Diablo 3 then the original. Seriously. The only reason D3 is worth playing is for the lore stuff.:rolleyes:The graphics are very pretty, the scenery has a ton of detail and interesting things to look at.That's the problem. The graphics weren't supposed to be "pretty" they were supposed to be dark, brooding, Gothic and terrifying. Not this cartoony wow-ish crap.
Ah, I wanted to try that.
No less I like D3 once i'm past the online requirement. I think it's fun and and the atmosphere is about right.
Also I like that you don't have to commit your character to a certain set of abilities only to find out later that they don't play nearly as well as you thought, or work differently than expected and having to start over from the beginning.
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Well, the game has a problem when another game which is not Diablo 3 is a better Diablo 3 then the original. Seriously. The only reason D3 is worth playing is for the lore stuff.:rolleyes:The graphics are very pretty, the scenery has a ton of detail and interesting things to look at.That's the problem. The graphics weren't supposed to be "pretty" they were supposed to be dark, brooding, Gothic and terrifying. Not this cartoony wow-ish crap.
I'm surprised that link wasn't to Torchlight or Torchlight II.
Which has a somewhat cartoonish art style, but still manages to be a better Diablo that the Diablo series ever managed.
I loved the Torchlight series too. In fact ive been playing TL2 recently.
The Diablo clones are numerous lately, there is also marvel heroes, although I found that one to be sub par compared to any of the above (D3 included).
Although once they release Squirrel Girl I'm probably going to throw money at and play it anyway.
The Diablo clones are numerous lately, there is also marvel heroes, although I found that one to be sub par compared to any of the above (D3 included).
While Marvel Heroes may not be the best diablo clone ever made (and the "MMO" format is a really odd choice), I've been enjoying the game a lot. It is significantly better than the 58 metascore (o.O) would lead you to believe.
I can't say i didn't enjoy it either, I just think the alternatives are all at least slightly better. But metascore is meaningless anyway, because different critics rate completely differently. Some call 50% (or 5/10, or 2 1/2 stars) a bad game and apparently have a much larger rating spectrum for bad games than for good ones as a result, while others (those that make sense, in my humblest of opinions) call 50% a perfectly average game with as much rating spectrum for good games as for bad games. And put on top of that the different expectations and rating priorities that each critic puts into a game and you have a nice mix of no useful information at all.
I couldn't care less about the "hardcore" culture or competitiveness of these kinds of games. I never enjoyed that aspect of D2, and found most of the people who were obsessed with the ladder matches and competition seasons to be giant pains-in-the-ass.
The thing I love most about D3 so far is the couch co-op. Without that, I would probably lose interest. Single player action RPGs are a dime a dozen, and quickly boring. That's why I stopped playing Torchlight. These kinds of games are meant to be played with friends, and not via the pseudo-social interaction of the internet. Given the choice between playing a game in the same room as all my friends and playing with random people over Battle.net, I know what I'll choose every time.
I'd like to play Path of Exile next, but that isn't going to stop me from enjoying D3. I haven't found any of it cartoony. The art style is colorful, but still very dark. It reminds me of the Conan comic books, and that's awesome. The beginning and end of Act 1 in particular felt very much like D1. I had definite nostalgia flashbacks.
Well, the game has a problem when another game which is not Diablo 3 is a better Diablo 3 then the original. Seriously. The only reason D3 is worth playing is for the lore stuff.
Sorry to throw into the D3 rant, but have to agree that Path of Exile continues to be quite well developed, even with it's Diablo-esque pedigree. I don't have the hate-on with D3, but then I play it casually and for the lore side, which I found was one of the better storylines. Unfortunately, that seems to have taken a back-seat in the long run.
As for POE, I enjoy:
1) A non-gold system. You can build or buy from the existing materials. Equipment is fairly randomized, but you can improve your chances with certain gear. No auction house - lots of bartering.
2) The league system/season layout. Specialized events for points that are more akin to new races than straight PVP matches so you don't necessarily have to "max" out your gear for a match.
Still too cartoonish to be a true Diablo heir. But awesome games in on themselves.If you are talking about the Torchlight games, IMO they are true Diablo heirs. They were made by the people that made Diablo 2 then left Blizzard.
I think he was mostly talking about thematic content rather than mechanics.