Diablo III Wild Speculation and Rumor Mongering Abounds

[schild]

The auction house won't even be accessible due to the hammering for the first 6 hours. 24 is a safe bet, though it'll likely be taken down at 0 hours, so you're both wrong on The Price is Right. Within 72 hours post-some emergency patch is more likely given China and general ability to access the NA auction house.

[Lakov_Sanite]

What's the bet here, does it have to be a dupe that takes the AH down cause I can forsee a whole host of reasons for it to get taken down.

[Yegolev]

That's what I was thinking.  Some shit is coming down inside the first twelve hours, but I am afeared to submit a particular reason.  If I had to, I'd say "because china".

[ezrast]

10 character slots

Wait, really?

Huh.

[MrHat]

10 character slots

Wait, really?

Huh.

6 months after release:
Buy more character slots with Blizzard Bucks!
Gift D3 to your friends with Blizzard Bucks!
Buy more stash slots with Blizzard Bucks!

Blizzard Bucks obtainable only by selling items on the RMAH!

[murdoc]

Hey, Runic Games? Tick tock.

Congratulations to the Diablo III team
March 16th, 2012
Congratulations to the Diablo III team for announcing a release date! That's got to be a such a feeling of relief to be on the home stretch. We're excited to hear the news, and we can't wait to play.

To our fans:

We know a lot of you are worried about us. We've heard what you're saying, and sure we've had similar discussions. But we began making the first Torchlight in 2008 when development on Diablo III was already underway. We didn't let that be a reason that we couldn't make an RPG. We made the commitment to create a game we loved to play. That's what's important to us, and that's why we go to work every day.

Our commitment is the same today. It doesn't matter what gets announced, or who gets elected, or if there's a zombie attack. (Well actually, in a zombie attack we might leave our desks, but only to smash them into weapons.) We believe that the best business model is to do what you love, to give it everything you've got, and to make something you'll be proud of.

There will be unforeseen challenges along the way, no matter what business you're in. We've chosen to stay small with a total team of 32. We want to be the company that works hard and makes something we love. We know we have a lot of fans out there who've had a chance to play early builds of Torchlight II at conventions around the world, and are eagerly awaiting the sequel. We want you to have the best darn game we can make. We're pretty sure that we want this game out more than anyone (not just so that we can resume a normal sleep schedule!) - but we are going to do it right. That's our commitment to you, and to ourselves.

We're happy for the team at Blizzard - it's been a long haul for them. We are looking forward to our home stretch too.

I might be the only one who REALLY cares, but I like that they actually addressed the fact that Diablo 3 is coming out.

[TheWalrus]

I think thats the most human letter I've ever seen out of a dev house. Grats to them for being decent people.

[Soulflame]

The problem with that is if Diablo 3 is a good or great game, I may pass on buying Torchlight 2 until I see it for $5 or $10.  Whereas if they'd released Torchlight 2 back in December, I would have put down $20 without any hesitation.

I really think Runic missed a huge window here, and I hope it doesn't bite them in the ass.

[Ironwood]

On the flip side, I'll probably pick up Torchlight before Diablo 3, despite being a massive fan of 1 and 2.

Because, you know, fuck Real Money.

[Paelos]

On the flip side, I'll probably pick up Torchlight before Diablo 3, despite being a massive fan of 1 and 2.

Because, you know, fuck Real Money.

Why exactly? I mean RM epic buying I understand. RM trading I'm very much indifferent.

[Ironwood]

Because the contempt the 'New' Blizzard show to the walking wallets annoys me.

I didn't like my Starcraft divided into 3 and I certainly don't like my Diablo having a K-Mart in the middle of it.

It speaks to the intent of the Seller and it says Buyer Beware.

Fuck that.

[dusematic]

Because the contempt the 'New' Blizzard show to the walking wallets annoys me.

I didn't like my Starcraft divided into 3 and I certainly don't like my Diablo having a K-Mart in the middle of it.

It speaks to the intent of the Seller and it says Buyer Beware.

Fuck that.

Well, sure.  Although, to be fair to Blizzard, the Starcraft2 x 3 thing makes more sense when viewed through the lens of "they don't really make expansion packs anymore, instead they make DLC" framework.  Which, you know, is bullshit, but largely a symptom of the times.

[Ironwood]

Possibly so.

I don't buy that shit either.

[K9]

The Starcraft thing doesn't even strike me as an issue. SC2 was a complete game, and was a far more complete game than many other triple-A titles. I have faith that the expansions will be similarly complete. The AH is closer to what they have done with WoW, by finding ways to monetise in-game activity. Although even there I am not obliged to give them any more money. I guess I'll have to see how D3 plays, but since I'm intending to play it mostly or entirely solo, I'd expect to be able to get through the game without depending on the cash AH.

[Azazel]

I plan to play my free copy of D3 and completely ignore the RMAH. I also intend to pick up T2 when it drops to a $5 steam bargain, at which point Ill pick up 4 copies.

[Ingmar]

The reason it exists is to kill off/subsume the *enormous* 3rd party sales market that D2 had. As long as I can play the game without touching it at all I don't really care about its existence.

[Paelos]

I plan to set up my own LLC and farm items.   

[Malakili]

The reason it exists is to kill off/subsume the *enormous* 3rd party sales market that D2 had. As long as I can play the game without touching it at all I don't really care about its existence.

This is more or less how I feel about it.  And they've also made it so you can list items for no fee, which means if you want you can get involved with no up front investment, or just sell that one really epic rare item you happen to find worth 200 bucks or whatever (if one was ever to be so lucky).

[Yegolev]

On the flip side, I'll probably pick up Torchlight before Diablo 3, despite being a massive fan of 1 and 2.

Because, you know, fuck Real Money.

Great minds and whatnot.  I have some extra Becauses, though.

The problem I currently have with Torchlight 2 is that it is now not going to be a XBL title.  Unless they put it on a disc, which I haven't heard that they will, my jizzgoblin friends won't be playing it and my interest in playing on PC is very low these days.

[cironian]

I plan on neither putting money into the market nor pulling any out, but just using it as a more flexible alternative to an SoJ barter economy. Sell this bow for 10 cents, then buy a shiny new sword for that. As long as that sort of thing works, I'll be happy.

[luckton]

A trip down memory lane, since Diablo II came out.

http://i.imgur.com/kYGga.jpg

Open in a new tab...long vertical infograph.

[Ironwood]

The reason it exists is to kill off/subsume the *enormous* 3rd party sales market that D2 had. As long as I can play the game without touching it at all I don't really care about its existence.

This is more or less how I feel about it.  And they've also made it so you can list items for no fee, which means if you want you can get involved with no up front investment, or just sell that one really epic rare item you happen to find worth 200 bucks or whatever (if one was ever to be so lucky).

I think we might be massively overstating the worth of these items as time goes on.

Also, the forums is giving me weird warnings about this being an old thread.  What's all that about ?

[Reg]

It was 2014 for a little while earlier but I think we're back in 2012 now.

[Malakili]

The reason it exists is to kill off/subsume the *enormous* 3rd party sales market that D2 had. As long as I can play the game without touching it at all I don't really care about its existence.

This is more or less how I feel about it.  And they've also made it so you can list items for no fee, which means if you want you can get involved with no up front investment, or just sell that one really epic rare item you happen to find worth 200 bucks or whatever (if one was ever to be so lucky).

I think we might be massively overstating the worth of these items as time goes on.

Also, the forums is giving me weird warnings about this being an old thread.  What's all that about ?

I'm just going by what D2 items sold for.  Those prices stayed high for a long time but of course we don't know for sure how D3 will go in this regard.  Also, some of those D2 items had TINY TINY drop rates compared to what people are used to these days (like old drop rate of Baron's mount), and they only dropped from bosses that not everyone could kill since Hell mode did actually give some people drop in terms of boss farming.

[Mrbloodworth]

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would have bought/sold anything for D2. MMO's, sure. Single/multiplayer games..... Especially ones with editors.... No.

[Malakili]

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would have bought/sold anything for D2. MMO's, sure. Single/multiplayer games..... Especially ones with editors.... No.

Closed battle.net was like an MMO in a lot of ways.

[Numtini]

Closed battle.net was like an MMO in a lot of ways.

It's as much of an MMO as the end game in WoW or other LFD games. The only difference is whether the lobby is graphical or not.

And I'd never heard of Runic games or Torchlight and their letter plus a demo sold a copy to me. So good PR on their part.

[Malakili]

And I'd never heard of Runic games or Torchlight and their letter plus a demo sold a copy to me. So good PR on their part.

How did you miss Torchlight?  It was a fairly well received launch on these boards.   In any event, it has some old Diablo developers on the team and while it was a bit rushed, it was quite good.  Definitely looking forward to Torchlight 2 whenever it comes out.   

[Merusk]

Beta down until further notice because the last patch severely fucked shit up.

But hey.. no problems at all with keeping things online-only. 

[Malakili]

Beta down until further notice because the last patch severely fucked shit up.

But hey.. no problems at all with keeping things online-only. 

Practically every major SC2 tournament has had to deal with player drops do to internet connectivity, its truly ridiculous.

[Numtini]

How did you miss Torchlight?

I'm not a gamer, I'm an MMOer. I bought the last version of Civ when it came out and I bought this. And that's probably it for the last five or six years. Oh other than some Wii sports games.

[FieryBalrog]

D2 3rd party market was in the tens of millions of dollars.

As long as this kills D2 JSP I'm all for it.

[schild]

All I care about is them coming to their senses and going to great lengths to keep asians off American servers. I want The Great Wall of Geoblocking separating our markets.

[Ironwood]

What's the upside for them ?

[schild]

More importantly, are the perceived downsides worth any headaches caused by child labor and hacking? Also, I bet cash money there will be entire goldfarms over there that skirt the entire system not giving Blizzard a cut.