No, not really. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by vertices
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No, not really. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by vertices
He is correct that unqiues/sets/etc don't drop nearly frequently enough, but he's missing the real sore point of the AH. It makes too much rare loot available to everyone immediately. If rares are commonly better than equal-level legendary and set items, why would you make loads of them available to everyone? It drives prices down, and the next thing you know, every character in every difficulty is rolling with (primary stat)/vit/resist armor and a massive damage weapon. There is zero reason to go magic finding, which was my favorite part (aside from pvp) of D2. Oh - and since everyone gets their own loot - in a four-player game, you have 4 times the amount of loot dropping. Too. Many. Rare. Items.Quote:
Originally Posted by Astros Fan
It's also ruined crafting. I can buy much, much better stuff from the AH for well under 100k than I could ever craft. Maybe chalk this up to bad luck, but I've spent a lot of time crafting, and guess how many of those pieces my characters actually wear? Zero.
I mean, I know D3 is much harder than D2, but I think about how ridiculously long it took to get my D2 characters geared up as well as my wizard was within one week of D3's release... and it's just disheartening.
Solution? Kill the for-gold auction house. Make it go away. Create easily-accessible trade channels and make people trade the old-fashioned way - via chat channel or forum post. This won't fix the issue of how many awesome rares are available, but at least it will slow their spread, and it will make people work a little more to get these items. It's better than doing nothing but clicking a couple of buttons to get ridiculously good gear for your character.
And what's up with the level cap being so easy to hit? Sure there were detractors that hated the grind-fest D2 became at high levels in order to hit 99, but it made hitting the cap actually mean something. Where's the incentive to keep playing a character that I easily capped within 2 weeks?
I know, I know, it's not Diablo 2.... but overall I'm pretty disappointed. I do love the game for what it is, but my interest is already thinning. I played D2 on and off for a decade - I don't see my D3 addiction lasting through the summer.
It may be a solution for you, but I like to play in groups - both RL friends and random public games online. Neglecting the AH will gimp your character compared to those people you meet. This isn't horrible now - but it will be when pvp arenas come out... which I plan on frequenting.Quote:
Originally Posted by monroeski
Avoiding the AH is only a good option if you play solo or only with a group of friends that all agree to avoid it.
The bigger problem with the AH, me thinks, is the lack of information you have before you even go there. Because everything is random, it's hard to know what really "good" is. You might see something that looks good in the AH, but you don't really know what the odds are that you will get either that very item, or a better item, the next time you play.
The concept of rare is so broad that it basically encompasses all items worth trading. It's like playing the lottery, only you don't know what your odds are of winning, the jackpot is constantly changing, and you don't know what the odds or jackpot are of other lotteries.
I'm not too worried about it though. Blizzard can easily make very small tweaks that change the entire economy. For example, they can release a set of items which can't be repaired, BoE items, or somehow quantify the probability.
Imagine if every item had a probability number attached to it. The AH would be FUNDAMENTALLY different. What if the probability of finding this item that you think is really rare is actually quite high? Maybe the odds are actually 98% if you play through your current difficulty. Still worth it? Probably not.
I like the AH, I just don't like that I don't know what I'm looking at.
The problem is those tweaks fix the macro-economy of the AH, but destroy the gamer that wants to play by finding their own gear. Then you are bound to the AH, because your rare items are unrepairable or you absolutely never see a drop that you can use. BOE could be the way to go, but like I said I think too many items drop for it to really matter---but if you tweak the drop rate you could destroy normal play. They need super items that are BOP perhaps linked to achievements, very hard quests, or extremely rare/practically impossible bosses.Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaNihilist
I personally couldn't care less about AH... in my mind, finding and searching for rare loot is PART of the game and the experience... so to buy something defeats the purpose of finding it... just my 2 cents
Agreed. I haven't bought anything from it. I have sold a few things however. I tend to find a ton of good monk weapons when playing my Demon Hunter. I have no interest in playing a monk. So I sell it.Quote:
Originally Posted by proxops-pete
Edit. Well, I usually just give it to the first monk I see. There is actually a lot of giving away and in-game trading of items. Even in pub games.
I'm just not sure I see it as a problem if the good items are, in fact, rare enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timman_24
I think there is this idea that everyone should be able to have the "best" item, and I just don't think that's correct. Some people will have better items than others. It's not fair. If you want those items, you can try to save up and buy them from someone else. Everyone should be able to have good items, but if there are 10 swords that do 2k base damage out there, so be it. You are not bound to the AH. It is simply an option.
I think people get a little two wrapped up in having the absolute best items, and I just don't think that it makes that much of a difference in terms of how fun the game is.
I'm a monk! I like awesome items!Quote:
Originally Posted by Snakespy
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rush
I don't think simply making it more difficult to trade is the answer either. That just adds frustration for no reason. I like that I can easily peruse an AH and buy what I want.
I really think the best answer is a combo of BoE and BoP like Timman said. That would keep the AH an easy and user friendly method of trading items, but drive prices up by reducing supply.
The thing that bothers me most about the auction house is that when I look online for advice on something the answer almost always seems to be "just get some stuff from the auction house." As a guy on another board posted -
"guys check my char, any tips?"
"AH"
"i have X dps, is that good for my lvl?"
"AH"
"wow normal/nm/hell/inferno is tough"
"AH"
"is it worth crafting"
"AH"
"So my barb..."
"AH"
That's not true, sometimes you just have to learn to AH.Quote:
Originally Posted by monroeski
sounds like it's turned into a $60 FTP game.
Trying to get this figured out but thought you guys might have an idea. I usually start my playtime between 8-8:30 pm est. I will for sure get booted from both the game and Ventrillo at least three times in the first half hour. My ping bar is always green and less than 230ms. The odd thing about it is that Windows is telling me in the taskbar that I have no net connection at all during this time. After about 1-2 minutes it comes back on. I've tested the pc during the same time doing other tasks and not once do I get these off disconnects. It's only while playing Diablo 3. Are there any firewall settings I should be looking into? I know I gave it privileges through Windows the first time I booted the game.
If the RMAH actually brings in a decent average revenue per user then they probably will make it FTP.Quote:
Originally Posted by Astros Fan
I can't even browse the official forums anymore; nothing but trolls and people who got 'hacked'. It irks me to no end that people are that ignorant. This is the only place I will go to talk anything about D3 anymore.
To that note, I'm logging in now. Feel free to join me, trying to get through NM.
AH is just like mods in Oblivion/Skyrim.... yes, they can break the game... yes, it is your choice to break the game... yes, i would rather have the option to choose for myself if i want to break my own game
Listening to you guys talk, the only thing that truly stands out to me is this: You are discussing everything in MMO terms.
Me personally I don't think that every game has to act exactly like WoW in order to be considered good. Diablo and Diablo2 were nothing like WoW, and they were good. From your discussions/mind set it seems that Diablo 3 is nothing more than WoW in a new suit. That makes me sad.
That is the opposite of what I am saying. I'm saying it is too easy to be the best at the moment by simply purchasing items from the AH. I think there needs to be extreme gear that is BOE or BOP so that everybody with a couple thousand gold can't trick their guy out to the max. However, the ways that you said could "fix" the problem end up screwing the people that want to play legit by making it either impossible to get gear to drop that is usable or it makes their gear unrepairable, hence the needs to hit up the AH.Quote:
Originally Posted by ImaNihilist
It will be interesting to see if there is gold inflation on items, or depreciation. It is a fine balance between rare drops and gold drops. If much more gold drops compared to rare items then the price is going to go through the roof. However, it seems to be the opposite. For every X amount of gold that drops, one rare drops. That ratio seems very low right now (gold per rare.) This is the largest factor contributing to the crazy amount of rares priced at rock bottom prices.
@Trunks - These things that you have - I want them.
I crafted them both, grand Master fist weapons. Two tries, and that's what I got :O
Over 3k DPS now :D
How do you know that? I just looked around on the AH and saw a bow that did 1200dps. Is that good? How rare is that? It's like 15mm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timman_24
I just think it's too early to know to be able to say that all the "best" weapons are already flooded on the AH.
Enough about the AH. Yeah, it's there and it's gonna be there. Move on and enjoy the game. So far myself and everyone I know is having a blast grinding and finding their own items. Treat it like you did D2 and it cannot be any better!