Diablo 3 RMAH fees

[Craig234]

Blizzard's RMAH just replaces the third party black market sites that would have come up if no RMAH existed

black market sites will still exist, but they won't be as prominent because the majority of people willing to buy/sell stuff for real money will be using Blizzard RMAH due to it being the legitimate choice and not having to worry about security

I haven't seen anyone here say the RMAH shouldn't be in the game. It's taking a cut.

 

[StrangerGuy]

There is no such thing as gouging.

Any time anyone says anything is gouging, correct them by explaining 'they are out to make money'. That disproves the possibility any policy can be gouging.

Very astute of you.

BTW, how did Diablo II pay for a decade of expensive online play?

It's free, but you also get a low quality of service with all those bots/dupes/hacks/trade scams. Of course you would just simply say all that should be solved free of charge in D3 too.

 

[shortylickens]

Video games are 100 percent optional. There is no gouging.
In fact theres a buttload of free games you can play online that arent bad at all. Not to mention all the free and dirt cheap stuff on Steam.

 

[LurkerPrime]

There is no such thing as gouging.

Any time anyone says anything is gouging, correct them by explaining 'they are out to make money'. That disproves the possibility any policy can be gouging.

Very astute of you.

BTW, how did Diablo II pay for a decade of expensive online play?

Everything is server side in D3, which wasn't the case in D2. That requires alot more hardware and infrastructure along with the recurring costs of electricity, admin and bandwidth.

Anyway gouging doesn't even apply here. This isn't food, water, gas or something that is even remotely required. All of this is optional. By your definition of gouging, anything you dont get for free is gouging b/c the company could obviously give it away.

 

[Arsinek]

I cant wait to see what happens with the RMAH. Im curious to see how many people actually buy stuff with real money. I dont really see this game justifying the use of real money. With an MMO I can see it, but Diablo doesnt make sense to me.

 

[blurredvision]

I cant wait to see what happens with the RMAH. Im curious to see how many people actually buy stuff with real money. I dont really see this game justifying the use of real money. With an MMO I can see it, but Diablo doesnt make sense to me.

It really depends on how much you think your time's worth or how impatient you are. I can certainly see myself spending a bit of money if stuff is cheap enough. I'll honestly treat it much I like I treated the Apple App Store when I had an iPhone. If something looks good and is cheap, I'll throw a couple of dollars at it without thinking too much. Getting to $5, it better be worth it. I doubt I'll spend anything higher than that.

 

[kami]

The flat $1 fee for gear is probably so the place won't be flooded with a zillion 99 cent items and people will only list quality stuff.

As time goes on, spending real money in games is becoming more and more the norm. Maybe it's because the overall gaming population is aging and we have less free time. Our time is worth more to us than spending it farming or grinding for something. How much is an hour of your time worth to you? My free time is worth a damn lot to me.... Sometimes if the choice is farming for an hour or paying 2 bucks I'd rather pay the 2 bucks and enjoy the non-grindy parts of a game. Then again diablo is all kind of grindy isn't it? I guess making your character more powerful with less investment and buying gold to spend on the gold auction house is the reason.

As long as theres a reasonable option for people who would rather spend the time to earn the same stuff in game. There's also still no replacement for that feeling of getting a rare drop...

 

[Arsinek]

It really depends on how much you think your time's worth or how impatient you are. I can certainly see myself spending a bit of money if stuff is cheap enough. I'll honestly treat it much I like I treated the Apple App Store when I had an iPhone. If something looks good and is cheap, I'll throw a couple of dollars at it without thinking too much. Getting to $5, it better be worth it. I doubt I'll spend anything higher than that.

What kind of item would you expect for $5? $5 seems low to me for a top item. It depends on drop rate. If they drop all the time then maybe $5 but for something hard to get I think I would want more than $5.

 

[blurredvision]

What kind of item would you expect for $5? $5 seems low to me for a top item. It depends on drop rate. If they drop all the time then maybe $5 but for something hard to get I think I would want more than $5.

I didn't really have top-tier items in mind when writing that post. I'm sure that stuff will go for MUCH higher. I imagine there will a weapon or piece of equipment here and there that isn't necessarily hard to get due to drop rates, but I might not want to take the time to go after it, so I might drop a few bucks on it to make my guy more powerful.

I don't think I'll do that much, but that's where I'm at right now in terms of putting disposable income towards the RMAH.

 

[Raduque]

because supporting a game costs money.

Here's a brilliant fucking idea: Don't make the game a shitty quasi-MMO. Let people like me, play it fully offline.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i wish they would partner up with someone else other than paypal

 

[blurredvision]

Here's a brilliant fucking idea: Don't make the game a shitty quasi-MMO. Let people like me, play it fully offline.

But that's not what they wanted to do with it, so I guess don't play it. It is what it is, might as well come to terms with it and decide if it's something you want.

I honestly can't understand why somebody against the RMAH couldn't still enjoy the game with their $60 and never spend another dime.

 

[Newbian]

I cant wait to see what happens with the RMAH. Im curious to see how many people actually buy stuff with real money. I dont really see this game justifying the use of real money. With an MMO I can see it, but Diablo doesnt make sense to me.

Well it won't be long until blizzard releases money only items that are better versions of stuff like other games do.

 

[Raduque]

But that's not what they wanted to do with it, so I guess don't play it. It is what it is, might as well come to terms with it and decide if it's something you want.

I honestly can't understand why somebody against the RMAH couldn't still enjoy the game with their $60 and never spend another dime.

That's where I'm at. I got no plans to play Diablo III.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Here's a brilliant fucking idea: Don't make the game a shitty quasi-MMO. Let people like me, play it fully offline.

Here's a brilliant fucking idea: Don't buy the game. Blizzard doesn't care about people like you in the slightest, or that Iraq vet got a leg blown up and wants to play D3 on an aircraft carrier.

Well it won't be long until blizzard releases money only items that are better versions of stuff like other games do.

They have a 8 year MMO with 3 xpacs, and have a perfect opportunity to do that and none of that happened.

 

[Newbian]

They have a 8 year MMO with 3 xpacs, and have a perfect opportunity to do that and none of that happened.

Um they have released items for money only like special edition mounts and such awhile ago with the purchase of cards and other random stuff so it's the same thing really as people only wanted the in game items.

But that game has a monthly fee and usually f2p games do this a lot more and D3 is just that once you bought it.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Lack of offline is annoying, but not a deal breaker. Path of Exile is online and I find the playing experience pretty smooth. I imagine Blizzard are probably better at optimizing the streaming as well, being more experienced with it.

 

[Craig234]

It's free, but you also get a low quality of service with all those bots/dupes/hacks/trade scams. Of course you would just simply say all that should be solved free of charge in D3 too.

You're confusing the cost with the bots and such. If theycan be prevented, it doesn't cost that much. Blizzard put a huge effort into anti-bot and anti-scam things in Diablo II.

As I recall, there were hundreds of thousands of account bans for just one thing - either they can put in code safeguards cheaply or not at all. It's not about money.

 

[Craig234]

But that's not what they wanted to do with it, so I guess don't play it. It is what it is, might as well come to terms with it and decide if it's something you want.

I honestly can't understand why somebody against the RMAH couldn't still enjoy the game with their $60 and never spend another dime.

Maybe we can - I expect to. It's not a 'the game is terrible issue', it's a concern about the effect when design takes this money into account on things like how loot is designed.

And it's a simple gouging issue; why not put the rmah in for no extra charge (or one-time)?

 

[Craig234]

I cant wait to see what happens with the RMAH. Im curious to see how many people actually buy stuff with real money. I dont really see this game justifying the use of real money. With an MMO I can see it, but Diablo doesnt make sense to me.

Diablo II was about the closest thing I've seen to a non-MMO MMO, with people playing the same bosses tens of thousaands of times for drops - it's a different market for loot.

 

[Craig234]

Everything is server side in D3, which wasn't the case in D2. That requires alot more hardware and infrastructure along with the recurring costs of electricity, admin and bandwidth.

Anyway gouging doesn't even apply here. This isn't food, water, gas or something that is even remotely required. All of this is optional. By your definition of gouging, anything you dont get for free is gouging b/c the company could obviously give it away.

First, you finally started to make a rational point about server-side changes - but I'm uncovinced they anywhere near justify the cost. A very small charge could cover it IMO.

Second, your definition of gouging as applying only to 'essentials' is wrong, and any game practice no matter how abusive you apologize for.

As I said for you there's no such thing as 'gouging' with games no matter how bad it is.

Gouging is most notable when it's about essentials, but it can apply to any product that's overpriced.

As the Wiki entry on gouging defines it:

"Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. "

That's what I'm saying, that Blizzard has found a way to get players to pay a lot more money for something priced far above its cost to a degree it's not just 'making a profit', but gouging.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Um they have released items for money only like special edition mounts and such awhile ago with the purchase of cards and other random stuff so it's the same thing really as people only wanted the in game items.

But that game has a monthly fee and usually f2p games do this a lot more and D3 is just that once you bought it.

Meh, all that is just cosmetic stuff which every F2P MMO does. What I meant is you can't buy actual endgame equipment with cash in WoW.

That D3 "monthly fee" is covered by their cut in RMAH. That alone is enough to generate millions of dollars every month which is no surprise from the sheer amount of loot traded, and they don't have to maintain a persistent world and separate servers like in WoW.

 

[Geosurface]

As someone who's been with this series since Diablo 1, I have to say I'm rather disappointed with some of the changes they're making.

Someone mentioned the guy on the aircraft carrier, well I work on a submarine and I can tell you I know of numerous guys on subs who are quite disappointed in the inability to play Diablo 3 together underway.

I think this RMAH is completely stupid too. But then again I'm someone who, in Diablo 2, never duped, or bought items, or participated in that whole culture at all.

My fondest desire would be to have offline single player, and ideally LAN play and the ability to host/join 4 player games without any sort of interraction with battle.net.

I played the free beta weekend (because despite putting like 7 years into WoW, and being a loyal Blizzard fan since WarCraft 2 I can't seem to ever get into a beta, no luck at all haha) and I really enjoyed it... they've done a great job with the presentation, the gameplay... I just wish it didn't have to have these lame developments attached to it.

I really do miss the days when PC gaming was more simple, without all this money-grubbing, unnecessary internet element... excessive DRM and pointless attempts to stop piracy at the expense of the legit customer... it's getting worse all the time.

What happens if the world plunges into chaos and anarchy, zombie apocalypse, but you still want to play Diablo 3 with your 3 wives in your underground Mormon compound? What then huh? Out of luck, I suppose

But seriously... we can all have disagreements, and should be able to have a civil discussion. But the group that always puzzles me on things like this, and they are unfailingly there for every thing like this... are the people who not only will support literally any decision on the part of developers, publishers, etc... but will lash out quite viciously at anyone who questions them. Even when the decision is transparently odious and completely out of step with previous entries in a series, or the way games have been handled for decades.

They seem to get some weird thrill out of being big old douches toward people with legitimate gripes about very worrying trends in the game industry. Puzzling.

 

[Craig234]

Meh, all that is just cosmetic stuff which every F2P MMO does.

That was all done before WoW was (very limited) f2p, costing $15/month.

They made millions on it - not criticizing that, just saying it wasn't F2P.

 

[blurredvision]

But seriously... we can all have disagreements, and should be able to have a civil discussion. But the group that always puzzles me on things like this, and they are unfailingly there for every thing like this... are the people who not only will support literally any decision on the part of developers, publishers, etc... but will lash out quite viciously at anyone who questions them. Even when the decision is transparently odious and completely out of step with previous entries in a series, or the way games have been handled for decades.

They seem to get some weird thrill out of being big old douches toward people with legitimate gripes about very worrying trends in the game industry. Puzzling.

Welcome to the internet.