When Diablo III first came out, I was excited to play it! Then I was frustrated when the now notorious error 37 appeared on my screen. A few days later as the excitement built up to an unbearable level I was finally able to log on and try it. I was too excited to realize all the issues I had with the actual game (like how my wizard was eventually nerfed)… But I did notice one thing that I brought up in a discussion with my good friend Wasabe (whom I was completing the game with). The Auction House would break the game. Because unlike MMORPG’s like WoW and so on, Action RPGs like Diablo III are ALL about the reward of a Unique Item drop as well as beating the living hell out of the big bad guy! The Auction Houses on the other hand shift the entire point of the game to who has the the better gear. It stopped being a competition of who can make the optimal character build and that quiet honestly sucked.
Now a quiet a while since that discussion Diablo III’s game director Mr. Jay Wilson remarked during a conversation at GDC 2013 that both the game’s Auction Houses “really hurt the game”. He also stated that money whether gold or otherwise became a much higher motivation than item drops and defeating Diablo himself (who ended up being a piece of cake to be honest. It’s like they make him easier with every iteration of the game!)
Mr. Wilson further stated that the team at Blizzard would be working on a viable solution that would not upset the players but no details on what will be done have been said.
