Diablo 3 - Drm/auctioning Items

[Cozi]

This is going to be interesting. On Tuesday, Blizzard invited us to their headquarters in Irvine, California to announce that Diablo 3 will feature an auction house that lets players buy and sell in-game items for real money. At the same event, they revealed that Diablo 3 requires a constant internet connection to play – there's no offline mode at all.

This is not the same as the microtransaction model we've seen in other games: Blizzard themselves aren't selling any in-game items. The auction house will be entirely player driven: everything you see there was found by someone, and most of the money spent to buy it goes to the player who found or crafted it.

Read on for more details, and Blizzard's justifications for it.

Blizzard's cut

It will cost a small flat rate to list an item on the auction house, and Blizzard will take another flat rate fee when the sale is completed. Both figures will be in real money, but they're not proportional to the value of the item. Blizzard say they wanted to stay away from taking a percentage cut.

"Percentages really incentivise us to manipulate the system," says lead designer Jay Wilson, "and we don't even want the incentive to do that, much less actually doing it."

Despite the flat fees they take, Blizzard don't expect it to be a money spinner for them. "We expect it'll break even," lead designer Jay Wilson says.

"We talked about this as a service we wanted to provide players, and not primarily as a financial model… we don't know if it will make us money. It would be nice if it did, but as long as we don't lose money, that's really what we care about: that we provide the players with a great experience that doesn't put us out of business."

I asked if they'd still do it even if they couldn't take a cut of the sales. "Absolutely," says Jay.

http://www.pcgamer.c...for-real-money/

Don't really care about the auctioning of items but a permanent DRM sucks balls.

Edited August 1, 2011 by Cozi

[R31Nismoid]

Another Blizzard cash grab.

If SC2's tri-release wasn't enough, this is just taking it to the next level.

Think WoW, but more money.

& ye perma DRM is a f**ken joke. Not that it'll take someone long to crack it for personal use. Blizzard are now the Apple of the gaming world.

[vspecIInur]

^ So f**king true. Can't believe it will be perm online.....

[TerminalWraith]

Perm online is total rubbish. My old man loves Diablo but his location means internet is terri-bad.

[KezR33]

Nothing wrong with it being entirely online. It's just the way the world is now. I actually like the sound of the auction house too, it's not forcing you to use it all and if you play enough I reckon you pretty easily make your money back.

[TerminalWraith]

The selling I like but if its not a moo at least let us offline when we want.

[BigDirtyJase]

Perma DRM really sucks the big one...

Auction Houses...hmm...from what I read there is two different types of auction houses in the game...one that you can use in game gold and the other is real world money....I don't know about this..

Also the real-money auction house is not available for players playing in hardcore mode...

Edited August 3, 2011 by BigDirtyJase

[Cozi]

Nothing wrong with it being entirely online. It's just the way the world is now. I actually like the sound of the auction house too, it's not forcing you to use it all and if you play enough I reckon you pretty easily make your money back.

Nothing wrong with it being perm online are you joking? There are so many bad reasons why DRM's are bad!!! StarForce was a joke, SecuRom was a resource hog not to mention the issues people had or the class action lawsuit with Spore. Ubisofts DRM is also a joke with the constant checking/bandwidth usage. When one of the Assassins Creed games came out people could not play the game (that they paid for) for about 3/4 days because Ubi's DRM was down. In the past Ubisoft was hacked a few times again meaning no one can play the game until they fix those issues. If you have more than 1 person in your family only 1 person can play the game at once as its now permanently online. Depending on the DRM you cannot backup your disc so if you get a scratch or you lost the disk you need to buy a new game. There is also the possibility authentication servers can go off-line and games can stop being supported years down the track meaning you will not be able to play the game!

I really could go on and on about why a DRM is bad but i really can't be bothered.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Cozi

[TerminalWraith]

Cozi +1

[J34]

Any idea on when the game is finally going to be released.

I just hope by the time its out the graphics dont look too dated.

[TerminalWraith]

When its ready.

My pre order claims November this year but we'll see...

[J34]

I've done some looking around and it looks like the beta is out now http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27822632904&sid=3000

i'll give it a go tonight.

Who did you preorder with, my girlfriend did a preorder for me a looong time ago with EB and all i got was a reciept.

[Shazza24]

Although Permi-online is bad it was the way things have been heading for some time, the first one i personally saw heading down this path was C&C(not getting into the whole WOW)... so after SC2: P1 was released i knew it was the way Blizzard were going to go with D3. Cracks will probably be released but for true enjoyability it will require the full version with mates and a internet connection, unlike D1 & D2 which me and my friends would smash for week's on end with just a local TCP/IP alone.

Torchlight was a offering some time ago by Runic games, that some-what resembles D3...

Edited August 5, 2011 by Shazza24

[Cozi]

I can't find the new report but Blizzard still said they were on track for a 2011 release. That was about a week or 2 ago.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Cozi

[MUZT3K]

Most likely will be seeing it November. If not than February. I'll be pre-ordering with my work (JB hi-fi) awsome discounts

[TerminalWraith]

That link simply says update beta profile. Not beta is out...

[J34]

Looks like beta is not out just yet but you can sign up so when they start selecting people you might get picked.

[TerminalWraith]

I'll just preorder at EB and get early beta access

[MUZT3K]

I'll just preorder at EB and get early beta access

and in the mean time pay double for the game...i remember when SC2 came out i pre-ordered from EB and got the beta key...then jb hi-fi ended up selling it $69 like $40 cheaper. i knew the guy at EB so he gave me the amount i payed extra

[R31Nismoid]

EB price match. So as long as the retail store/competitor has it in stock you don't have a problem (cant compare to online)

I caught them out on SC2 in that exact manner when Dick Smith were selling it the cheapest.

They don't openly advertise it of course.