[MatthTheGeek]

Obligatory but-if-I-play-games-it's-to-remain-hours-in-front-of-my-screen-not-to-be-social-I-hate-social

But in all honesty ? Don't give a ****, the computer I'll play it with is connected to internet 99% of the time anyway, aside from connection drops.

[Liberator]

Yeah, but the solution I would have preferred is just to lock SP characters out of MP.  It seems like it'd be easier and much more...elegant.

Then again this is modern game design, elegance seems to be a dying art.

[SpardaSon21]

I doubt I'll be buying this always-online MMO-light at the $59.99 price point, especially since I saw the Torchlight 2 trailer on Steam which looks to be just like Diablo 3 but $40 cheaper.

[Liberator]

Meh, I got it for free...sorta.

[Mikes]

Go go Diablo 3 real money auction house where players can sell items for real hard $$$  to other players and Blizzard takes a fee for every transaction.

I won't be buying a game that blatantly monetizes gameplay. Period.

[Mefustae]

Go go Diablo 3 real money auction house where players can sell items for real hard $$$  to other players and Blizzard takes a fee for every transaction.

I won't be buying a game that blatantly monetizes gameplay. Period.

Welcome to every MMO from the past few years.

[The E]

Hell, if anything, the fact that it is possible to do this legally, as opposed to having to resort to mechanisms that bypass in-game economies is a good sign.

[SpardaSon21]

So with the release imminent, who has already bought this or will end up buying it?

[NGTM-1R]

Doubt I will, to be honest.

[BloodEagle]

I won't buy this.

[Flipside]

I'm kind of getting it for free, since my brother bought a year of WoW, but doesn't want Diablo 3.

Not sure I'd go out and buy it if this wasn't the case, at least not yet, I don't much like the idea of having to wait several minutes to log into an online system just to play the single player game.

[LordPomposity]

Naw.

[SpardaSon21]

A guy I talked to said Diablo 3 was fun when the servers were up, and that his roommate couldn't even get the damn thing to install.  I'm definitely passing.

[Mikes]

Go go Diablo 3 real money auction house where players can sell items for real hard $$$  to other players and Blizzard takes a fee for every transaction.

I won't be buying a game that blatantly monetizes gameplay. Period.

Welcome to every MMO from the past few years.

You are quite mistaken I'm afraid. We are not talking about illegal/shady Ebay sales that can get your account banned...
Nope, in Diablo 3... it is the actual developer of the game offering and promoting "legal/official" item and gold sales for real $$$ -  while taking a cut for themselves for every transaction.

That is definitely something entirely new and entirely different... and entirely disgusting.

[NGTM-1R]

So basically you're okay with it as long as it's not done by the developers, just everyone else.

[Mikes]

So basically you're okay with it as long as it's not done by the developers, just everyone else.

Yeah yeah so funny... so when did you stop beating your wife?  For the record, of course I am rather not "ok" with either... however...

... is the difference between shady ebay deals that most players shy away from due to fear of being hacked (by the goldsellers) or having their account banned (by the developers) ...  and an officially sanctioned real money/item/gold transfer system that basically turns the whole thing from a "game" into some sort of wierd casino really not apparent to you?

We are talking about an entirely different level of bull*hit here.

[Scotty]

I... what?

So, Blizzard removing the impetus to use shady Ebay sales and account bannings by making it a (optional) part of the game turns it into a wierd casino?  All they did was take it from the back rooms to a place they can actually, you know, make money off of it.  And keep players from getting cheated.  And keep their accounts from being banned for out of game trading.

I'm sorry, what's the bad part about this again?

[Mikes]

I... what?

So, Blizzard removing the impetus to use shady Ebay sales and account bannings by making it a (optional) part of the game turns it into a wierd casino?  All they did was take it from the back rooms to a place they can actually, you know, make money off of it.  And keep players from getting cheated.  And keep their accounts from being banned for out of game trading.

I'm sorry, what's the bad part about this again?

The implications for gameplay.

Also, as far as removing goldselling from the game there are much better systems, see Eve or GW2.
Those are controversial too... but they actually remove the motivation for farming items/gold to sell it for real $$$. Blizzard on the other hand... this is the hilarious part, promotes it. LOL.

[Polpolion]

All they did was take it from the back rooms to a place they can actually, you know, make money off of it.

This is what's wrong with it. They neutered the leveling system to nudge you into buying better items. I'd rather play games designed by people that enjoy making games, not by producers that want to get rich at the expense of the community.

[Scotty]

Oh, you mean the parts of the game that people already do?  You know, the parts that until now got them banned and they did it anyway?  The implications for gameplay that have already been realized for the better part of a decade?

Still not seeing the downsides.