this makes me wants to break out titan quest and get my fix.

10/25/2010 1:07:23 PM

So still no hints at release date on this yet?

10/26/2010 9:49:54 AM

lol@release date from Blizzard.

10/26/2010 11:10:20 AM

When it gets done Stu, god damn, lay off.

- love blizzard

10/26/2010 11:19:14 AM

I tried the demon hunter out once at Blizzcon, seemed alright. I didn't really get into all the abilities. It is always super rushed when you finally get a computer. No time to check your gear or play around with what abilities you have.

Anyways, at the closing ceremony, one of the Blizzard execs says something like "I have 3 words for you......... FREE BETA KEYS!!!!!!!!!!"

and the crowd erupts.... and he continues

"..... yes, 1000 of you will get beta keys"

and the crowd immediately switches to BOOOOOOOOOO

I would love a D3 key so much, and to only give it to 1000 of the like 25k+ in attendance is retarded.

10/26/2010 11:45:08 AM

yeah the closing ceremony pre-D was pretty fail.

10/26/2010 11:57:33 AM

Quote :

"When it gets done Stu, god damn, lay off. - love blizzard"

hehehe, that was my sentiment on laughing at asking for a release date from those guys.

10/26/2010 1:28:42 PM

speak of devil, its on steam sale:

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/402/

titan quest, both games, for 5$.

10/27/2010 8:32:02 AM

Quote :

"Anyways, at the closing ceremony, one of the Blizzard execs says something like "I have 3 words for you......... FREE BETA KEYS FOUR MORE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!""

10/27/2010 8:53:25 AM

damn i must have missed the steam sale on Titan Quest. Its listed at $$14 now.

10/27/2010 6:50:56 PM

TTT, B.

7/25/2011 10:28:40 PM

7/25/2011 10:29:37 PM

wat is that

7/25/2011 10:30:36 PM

beta is supposedly supposed to start 3rd quarter of this year. Make sure your battle.net accounts are current

7/26/2011 7:36:24 AM

Updating bet status right now. I might reinstalled Windows 64 bit as well.

7/26/2011 7:58:40 AM

Prepare to get scammed, plebeians.

7/26/2011 8:24:26 AM

There will be a real money in-game auction house.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/diablo3/video/6326089?hd=1

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/diablo3/news/6326112/diablo-iii-hands-on-preview-real-money-in-a-virtual-world?sid=6326112&mode=previews&page=2

8/1/2011 7:43:23 AM

will be interesting to see how it plays out.

If you sell items, you can "cash out" - i.e make money. I hope the fees aren't retarded.

8/1/2011 3:59:04 PM

So they're requiring a persistent internet connection... for single player, and they're banning mods, even for single player/LAN/non B.net hosted games. Sigh.

8/1/2011 4:14:02 PM

I hope you're not boned out of the posting fee if your item doesn't sell. That'd suck

8/1/2011 4:14:05 PM

why wouldn't you be? That's how they make money and stop you from posting a million items. They said you're allowed a certain number of posts before the posting fee happens.

8/1/2011 5:06:48 PM

its probably gonna mimic ebay, but you only will be charged money if you sell your loot for real money. In-game currency auctions won't have real money listing fee's. It's interesting to have the auction house be supported out of the game, but not surprising. Wonder if you can list an item for either money or in-game currency at the same time.

I'm not super excited for d3 since its basically very late to come out IMHO. Specially when a number of other A+ titles are coming out later this year that I have my eye on.

8/1/2011 6:16:04 PM

8/1/2011 8:31:11 PM

You guys know how niggardly Blizzard is about release dates/schedules.

8/1/2011 11:29:37 PM

ive been reading that this announcement has pissed people off. I don't get why it would bother anyone. Any of you have a legitimate reason why its no good?

8/2/2011 1:48:43 PM

i don't particularly care, but consider this point of view:

it's a fucking game.....I play games to relax and enjoy them, not stress. Personally, I will have trouble not selling an item for real money if it is worth any more than 5 or 6 bucks.

I think the logical side of me knows I'm getting money for free (barring time spent). Contrast with the fun of finding a rare drop and having a cool character...which is fun. Now I will always force myself to sell anything decent becuase it would be ridiculous not too.

tl;dr....by NOT selling your items for real money you are paying for virtual content

8/2/2011 2:03:42 PM

You could go as far as saying playing video games instead of doing anything that doesn't directly make you money means you are paying for virtual content.

[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 2:13 PM. Reason : *]

I get what youre saying though. Relaxation goes down if you know you could have gotten 50 bucks instead of 10k gold or whatever

[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 2:13 PM. Reason : *]

8/2/2011 2:12:38 PM

Honestly I don't see why people are so bent out of shape over this. It's almost like they think this sort of thing hasn't already been happening in the Diablo franchise for over a decade. Truth be told, whether or not Blizzard had a real money auction house, in game items would be sold for money. The only difference is that you can now sell these items in a much safer environment to a much more broad segment of players.

As far as relaxation goes -- I can definitely see your point, but I am exactly the opposite. I look at it as, "I can play a video game for a couple of hours, thoroughly enjoy myself, and potentially end up making some extra money on the side". I'll keep any item that is a substantial boost to my character, regardless of what it could be sold for, and sell all of the other "epic/rare" drops that my class/character couldn't use. Odds are, most "godly" items that would actually be worth selling will not be usable by your specific class anyways... at least if your luck is anything like mine. I'll be running around as a monk and I can guarantee you I will see very few Monk usable items, but I'll undoubtedly get tons of Barbarian gear that I cannot wear, etc. Now these items that would be useless to me are potentially going to make me a few $$ here and there.

8/2/2011 2:34:26 PM

Quote :

"I'll keep any item that is a substantial boost to my character, regardless of what it could be sold for"

i guess this is my point....i don't think i could be as firm in my decision. I've never bought Diablo2/WoW/whatever items for money and i don't think i want to be brought into that world and be forced to make decisions in a leisure time activity that are tied to cash flow.

for example: if i saw a guy with some epic sword he legitametely found but is going for ~$100, I think i'd regard him as a fool for keeping it rather than respecting his progress or character.

but on all other points, i agree with you....i think I am just too OCD and slightly more cynical of the entire setup to view it with a positive attitude

Also, will people be rolling for items in this game like in WoW? I can see some fucking insane argument over virtual property if real money is involved

8/2/2011 3:10:26 PM

From what I've read/seen, it sounds like each character will only see his/her loot on the ground. No need to worry about someone else snatching that rare drop that just hit the ground in front of you or anything. That was easily one of my biggest pet peeves in D2 -- if you weren't the fastest clicker, you weren't getting anything worth while.

And I guess I should clarify, if I saw an item drop worth $100 that I could use, I'd sell it in a heartbeat. Then I'd cash out, go to the bar, and relax in style. If anything, knowing I just made $100 from a virtual item would go pretty far towards relieving stress.

[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 3:20 PM. Reason : .]

8/2/2011 3:19:52 PM

Quote :

"ive been reading that this announcement has pissed people off. I don't get why it would bother anyone. Any of you have a legitimate reason why its no good?"

Which thing? They've had several terrible announcements.

1) The marketplace. So now you'll just get blizzard shills posing as users to sell the latest equipment for $10. Probably won't even be something that can drop - you gotta pay. And if they had two versions of Battle.Net, one that allowed marketplace items and one that didn't, I'd rather play on the one that didn't. It just seems like the marketplace creates an environment where you have to pay extra just to compete. It's just a money grab by blizzard.

Sure there was a market for that before, but they just make any problems a black market created the new norm. Plus it just reeks of another way to nickle and dime people for a game. Can't stand DLC nickle and diming, don't like this idea.

2) Persistent connection to the net, even for single player. More DRM is a good thing? No thanks. The arguments are tired and old, what if the network goes down, what if you take a laptop on vacation, what if they decide to pull the plug on people when something else they want you to buy comes out, etc. How long before they start charging a monthly fee to play single player? Maybe that's a new awesome feature no one will have a problem with when D4 comes out.

Here's another one. I'm playing single player, my router flakes on the connection, and I lose the past 2 hours of effort.

3) They're banning mods. In the past they didn't support them, now it's an outright ban. I had more fun on D2 mods than I did the vanilla game. Either over a LAN, a private server, or even single player. Now that's no longer a possibility.

How are these good things? I was looking forward to Diablo 3, and the wait was annoying. Now I think I'll just skip it altogether. Seriously, interest in the game just fell off the map. Of course I know I'm in the minority in this one.

Hopefully Torchlight 2 will do something.

^Well, that much is nice, but an ever intrusive DRM and the mod ban even for LAN/single player is what seals it for me.

[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 4:30 PM. Reason : -]

8/2/2011 4:29:29 PM

Quote :

" The marketplace. So now you'll just get blizzard shills posing as users to sell the latest equipment for $10. Probably won't even be something that can drop - you gotta pay. And if they had two versions of Battle.Net, one that allowed marketplace items and one that didn't, I'd rather play on the one that didn't. It just seems like the marketplace creates an environment where you have to pay extra just to compete. It's just a money grab by blizzard."

except they have already announced the exact opposite of the problems you just complained about. They have no plans on sell items themselves. So spending extra $ just to stay competitive (in what, a single player game? this isn't WoW) wont happen.

It really has nothing to do with DLC or 'nickel and diming' anyone. At least how they have laid out their plan for it. This isnt a store where you buy stuff for the game, its a trade center for players to buy and sell to eachother. Its just legal and administrated by blizzard now instead of on trojan infected websites.

I do agree that single player requiring an internet connection sucks; but there aren't many games that work like that anymore. sucks.

[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 4:37 PM. Reason : *]

8/2/2011 4:35:23 PM

^Sure, blizzard might not sell items, at least in the open. I don't trust them to not do it in a sneaky fashion. Get some employees to be "gamers" that have this excellent item that can't drop in a game, create an instant market with controlled supply. If they don't do this sort of thing under the table it's sure to go on among the employees (with legit uniques).

I guess you trust them, I don't.

Again, if they put up two b.nets, one that allowed market items and one that that didn't, I wonder which one the majority of people would gravitate toward. I hear hardcore doesn't allow market items, so maybe that's the answer.

And I can only think of one other game that requires a persistent connection - Assassins Creed 2 IIRC. Hate to see this become the norm. I hope I can hold out from the - I hate the DRM but I really, really, want to play, so I'll cave thereby paving the way for the pay to play future.

And it's ok, the market thing will probably work out fine. I've come to grips with my insanity.



[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 5:00 PM. Reason : -]

8/2/2011 4:41:13 PM

I came here to say what jbtilley is saying:

Blizzard has announced that they personally will not sell items, but users can sell. However, the system will be anonymous.

As Jerry Holkins says: "Apparently you’re supposed to report things like these with a straight face."

8/2/2011 5:24:05 PM

I guess I just don't see any reason they would lie about it.

They already sell DLC for WoW. They don't shy away from it.
They announced they will get a posting fee and % of the sale of every item; so its not like they're saying they wont be making money.
What is the point of
a) saying they wont sell items themselves, but doing it anyways under false gamer accounts (what is the advantage here?)
b) selling otherwise unobtainable items in a game where very few, if any, other people will see your character. This isn't an MMO. Its a single player game with limited multiplayer (i.e. bnet friends, not an entire server).

The risk of this being found out (consumer backlash) and the overhead of implementing this 'shadiness' just doesn't make sense. If they want to have a 'blizzard' store in the game there is no reason for them not to, and no reason for them not to announce it and hype it.

8/2/2011 5:32:51 PM

What incentive would people have to buy from one another if they knew Blizzard was selling the products they needed?

This way, they have their cake and eat it, too - They sell under the guise of normal users, so all anonymous "players" will have equal opportunity of selling items, and they will also be making full profit off of whatever items the super duper top secret Blizzard employees are selling. They are merely using the community as a means to increase the chances of their anonymous employees selling more gear, while still raking in a percentage off of these pawns.

All theory, obviously. But like I said, are we supposed to believe they wouldn't want to make that extra buck this way?

8/2/2011 6:01:19 PM

Ok, I'll take the tinfoil hat off again

a) They make a percentage cut. The rarer the item, the higher the price, the higher their cut. Have some shills introduce only 10 windforce bows in the market and boom, limited supply, high demand. In fact you could also argue that they'd tweak the unique drop formula to cash in on that. Say they didn't have a marketplace. You might see a 0.02% chance of a unique drop. Marketplace? Well we can get a bigger cut if we reduce unique drop rates to 0.00000000000000000000000000002% They don't even have to have insiders. Just throttle down the good items and let the market drive itself. It sucks because they can control the market supply and stand to make a tidy profit each time they do.

Maybe I'm wrong about the percentage thing. If they made it a flat fee per transaction then it would go a long way toward convincing me there isn't some kind of shady dealing going on.

b) I assumed that you didn't have to see a character in game. You'd just go to the site and you'd search postings of the item. And it's starting to sound like an MMO.

And yeah, there is the risk of backlash, and I'm sure blizzard would care about as much as they care about the DRM and mod backlash. People are gonna buy it no matter how much they ratchet up the suck because it's Diablo and no one can boycott it or resist it's temptation. It's a license to print money, so we better add a couple years to the dev time to implement as many schemes as we want. Well they took too long for me, I've lost interest now.

But you're right, why risk shady/secret plans in the market? I'm sure they'd be content to make the overwhelming majority of drops suck so they can drive their market and take their cut.

Tinfoil hat back on. Of course it remains to be seen how it will all work out. It'll probably be ok and you probably won't be at severe PvP disadvantages if you don't drop cash in the market.


[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 6:21 PM. Reason : -]

8/2/2011 6:10:12 PM

Quote :

"What incentive would people have to buy from one another if they knew Blizzard was selling the products they needed?"

other users could sell it cheaper? Its an auction house, not a store.

Quote :

"Maybe I'm wrong about the percentage thing. If they made it a flat fee per transaction then it would go a long way toward convincing me there isn't some kind of shady dealing going on."

I would imagine its going to be a % cut

Quote :

"But like I said, are we supposed to believe they wouldn't want to make that extra buck this way?"

They COULD, but my question is why would they risk it? They get a cut of all of the postings and sales of EVERYTHING sold on the auction house. Why would they bother with the risk of this tinfoil hat stuff? They clearly dont shy away from making money. Im not saying its impossible or absolutely wont happen; i just dont see a benefit to them doing it the way you describe.


[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 6:34 PM. Reason : *]

8/2/2011 6:30:11 PM

I guess they don't have to have plants in the system to turn the profit machine. Just tweak the drop rates.

Make uniques, rares, and sets next to impossible, control supply, and drive prices up (of which you get a % cut). Need more cash? Make the windforce drop a million times harder to get. End result "poor" gamers have hardly any uniques, rares, and sets because they rely on drops and only the "rich" have the uniques, rares, and sets because they bought them.

I think I read that it's a fixed fee, so all that whargarbl may very well fall to the wayside.

[Edited on August 2, 2011 at 6:42 PM. Reason : -]

8/2/2011 6:40:10 PM

so pretty much if you're Jewish you shouldn't buy D3.

8/2/2011 6:44:22 PM

it does beg the question: What items worth a shit are going to be on the 'gold only' auction house?

8/2/2011 6:57:02 PM

i predict this game will be fun as shit and everything will be okay

8/2/2011 6:57:05 PM

I honestly couldn't care less one way or the other.

Quote :

"People are gonna buy it no matter how much they ratchet up the suck because it's Diablo and no one can boycott it or resist it's temptation."

and I understand - why would they risk doing shady plant dealings when they'll be making a cut anyways. At the least, though, I'd expect them to do it once in a blue moon to sell an item otherwise not found as a drop. Then, this item (or items) could just circulate from player to player to player to player, and every sell would yield a percentage for Blizzard, correct? Wash, rinse, repeat - with different items.

Infinite money, if I'm not misunderstanding the system here.

8/2/2011 7:03:19 PM

this discussion just strengthens my position.....it's a damn game, it's supposed to be fun, but all this shady cash transaction nonsense distracts from that

8/2/2011 7:06:47 PM

flat fee per transaction

good summary video from a youtube channel that was at the media event

http://www.youtube.com/profile?annotation_id=annotation_349803&user=ForceSC2strategy&feature=iv#p/c/1/4ir6zrHXuO0

8/3/2011 12:28:33 AM

Without the auction system, I get a drop that I'm not going to use and I sell it for virtual money. Actual profit = $0.

With the auction system, I get a drop that I'm not going to use and I sell it for real money.
Actual profit > $0.

How am I getting nickle and dimed here?

Quote :

"this discussion just strengthens my position.....it's a damn game, it's supposed to be fun, but all this shady cash transaction nonsense distracts from that"

You're being an obstinate tool that has decided to hate the game. You are not required to do any of the shady cash transaction nonsense. You don't ever have to visit the auction house. However, for some people working the economy is how they have fun. You want a game that only caters to the way that you have fun but not allow other people to have fun?

[Edited on August 3, 2011 at 9:22 AM. Reason : less mean]

8/3/2011 9:15:29 AM

The always-on persistent DRM blows -- I have a pretty solid internet connection but the first time it flakes out and I lose progress I will definitely end up hating life. I get why they would do this, but it still is retarded

As for the market place -- it is all flat fees, nothing percentage based.

8/3/2011 9:21:09 AM

So the latest rumors on the internets that I'm hearing is that there are no stat point allocations, that it is all automatic, and that boosting stats is handled via item attributes. I'm guessing similar in fashion to how Dungeon Siege 3 has no stats and items give boosts to stats like agility and doom - or str or dex in this case.

It's starting to feel that people are just making up bad rumors to get people stirred up. Any teeth to that rumor? If so, man. Why further limit people's choice in character customization? It seems so unnecessary. Maybe they discovered that a pure strength barb was too overpowered, or similar single stat focus builds were too unbalanced when thrown together. Is there any good news coming out about Diablo 3? Ugh.

[Edited on August 3, 2011 at 1:51 PM. Reason : -]

8/3/2011 1:49:10 PM

I would still play the shit out of it. I've really gotten burned out of games after WoW, but this and that Deus Ex game are the two games I'm looking forward to.

8/3/2011 2:02:23 PM

new battle.net features
http://www.youtube.com/profile?feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_781425&user=ForceSC2strategy#p/c/2/eoK_Z5YIUk0

Auction House detail
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ForceSC2strategy&annotation_id=annotation_349803&feature=iv#p/c/1/4ir6zrHXuO0

In depth interview on skill point decision
http://www.youtube.com/profile?annotation_id=annotation_290351&feature=iv&user=ForceSC2strategy#p/c/3/NVTVMqtmxPU

beta gameplay footage
http://www.youtube.com/profile?annotation_id=annotation_733644&user=ForceSC2strategy&feature=iv#p/c/0/vbGeuFkZIMI

[Edited on August 3, 2011 at 2:08 PM. Reason : *]

8/3/2011 2:04:41 PM