Diablo Auction House bad for core game - SotA should consider this

"More Powerful" is not what I get out of it, I have seen a couple of crafting videos on YouTube with RG explaining it, demoing it and from what I understand for example a Kitana can be made at 80 skill smithing(when you get the recipie), but a Kitana you find as loot will have the same "utility" as a Kitana a crafter makes, there will be alot of addons a crafter will be able to do, for example 90 skill smiths will be able to add a jewel to the Kitana, at 100 skill the smith will be able to give it a Blue polished chrome look or what ever "Bling" the player wishes who will own the Kitana(and what recipies the crafter has). The "Bling" will only affect its looks, not its power.

I am hoping it will be divided between different crafts, say a Tailor can add a hilt, a Jewelry crafter can add the jewel, an alchemist to dye the colors or the smith will need to get the resourses from other crafters to do the job.

Use the Imagination as to what it will finally be. Not the same old stuff in other games.


Diablo III: we're going to be removing the gold and real-money auction house system from the game.

I don't play Diablo 3, nor would I purchase ingame items for real world cash. Many games do have micro transactions though.

 

SmokerKGB, have you made any pledges to SotA?

 

Yes, same as you. Why?
It says under my name same as you...

 

@SmokerKGB the title under your name I believe is based on how many posts you've made which seems a little silly should be based on your pledge level.

I've backed up to Knight but it shows "New Adventurer".

Still not sure about AH In SOTA, I mean it worked great in WOW but I hated it in Diablo made things to convenient, what ever they decide I don't mind.

 

Agreed. I would hate to see more power in any case.

 

Mmmm, I don't know realy, I received it when I made a contribution.

I have never seen any video of RG stating there will or will not be an AH, other than vendor style system, he hasn't said anything about it, I support an AH like WoW has, but I do not agree to having it in a central place like WoW. No one actually "auctions" anything in WoW (but its an option), they generally set a "buy now" price and forget about trying to Auction it. I'm looking more for a "sales board" vendors all over the world can advertise on for a fee, and the sales board could be on the side of any building, just a way to do "price checks". When I played UO, it was a royal pain to go from vendor to vendor, double clicking on all the inner bags after bags, to find they had nothing of value and their vendor was empty, plus they were on a lot that was never build up, just a plot with 50-60 vendors to go through (a vendor mall). House after house was that way.

I had a nice chat with a guy who had a great idea, like a "Blackmarketteer" an NPC you could ask questions too, like "hey buddy do know where I can buy a Long Sword?" and the NPC would say "sure, follow me" and they would take you to the nearest vendor(for a fee) to satify your inquiry. I would pop up a list of all the vendors in that region and let the player decide. Click they take you there.

Some way to compare prices as a sellor or a buyer thats always a good thing, IMO.

 

And, there will be no auction house.
I'll try to find a video link, but definitely, for sure, no auction house.

It's in the video at 0:57:25

 

Thank you for that video, they just said there wouldn't be any "Global" ah, they want to keep it "regional", and for ppl without a house will have some kind of a "Bizzar" type market place... I could support that.

I wonder if there will be a limit to how many vendors you can have? I can see vendor malls coming.

I don't see them worrying too much about "item count". Since its not client/server software.

 

I wonder if you own a house, would you be able to choose if you would like your vendor to set up shop there, or have it set up shop at the Marketplace. Just assuming there is going to be a lot more traffic at the Marketplace, so it would be more profitable to send the vendor there. I would still like to understand what, if any, benefit there is to having a house for selling stuff.

 

If you pledged $55 or more, you bought an in-game item with real world money. Just saying.

 

Personally I would prefer a global AH for SotA simply because I don't really enjoy purchasing things and prefer to be done with it as fast (and efficiently) as possible.

I also don't think a global AH would be particularly bad for SotA - it would remove the possibitily of arbitrage, but apart from this I don't see downsides. SotA crafting and loot drops are different enough from Diablo 3 ones that D3's problems shouldn't hear their heads here. Do keep in mind that I fail to see what other people find fun or interesting in having to walk to each vendor and look at what is being offered, though, so my opinion here is biased.

I'm not bothered by the direction SotA is going, though. I will just go for self-sufficiency and avoid the market. I already have two pledges, and I would have no issues purchasing one or two more copies of the game in order to not depend on the market.

 

For one, a global auction house devalues commodities through increased competition. Also, there has been talk of having certain resources available regoionally (like, say, a certain type of ore can only be found in one area). They want to simulate a feel for regional economics. If you want some of that ore and you live in the region where it is found it may cost just 10 gold a chunk. If you live half a continent away, it may cost 100 gold a chunk because of the effort it takes to get it there. A global auction house would kill all of that.

 

Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot

Now I have something to quote to my friends who ask me why I don't play Diablo.

 

Which I personally see as a positive development

A larger market, more stable, harder for any single player to corner and force a price increase. As a player that tends to do his own crafting more often than not, it's exactly what I want.

In one word, arbitrage. Yeah, I know this and acknowledged it in my previous post. I just don't see arbitrage as valuable enough to justify removing the convenience of a centralized market.

But, like I said previously, I don't really care and won't push for it. If I find operating in the market too inconvenient (which is almost certain if I have to go to the seller's house to purchase anything), I will just ignore the existence of the market and go for self-sufficiency instead.

edit:

It's why some people call it "loot porn". And why I stop playing it when luck with loot becomes more important than skill in order to advance.

 

Huh? The game is not even out yet, so what did I get for my pledge again? Bragging rights maybe?

I actually plan on pledging a little every month until it is released, not knowing just what it is I'm buying, cool huh...

 

I would much rather RP out an auction than have auction houses. I've done it in the past and it's fun. That said, I realize my persepective is from that of a heavy duty RPer and there are more casual players who aren't into the RP who want ease of getting goods.

However, I think with the number of people playing crafters and bazars in each village/town/city, finding goods won't be all that hard. Especially since what we've hears about the game is it isn't going to be 'gear heavy' or grinding to get specific gear to fight specific monsters.

 

I don't dis-agree with you, "For one, a global auction house devalues commodities through increased competition.", I wouldn't use the word "devalue" because "value" is determained by the "market" (buyers), not the (sellers) whom are also part of the "market". If "value" were to be determained by the seller, then I would accuse them of "running a Monopoly" or price fixing or conpiracy at the very least, all I consider "criminal" acts if all comodities were priced the same.

"Demand" (buyers) will determain the "Value" of a comodity, for example: if there is only one(1) buyer and many(10) sellers(flooding the market with the same comodity-ore in your example) would you not expect the sellers to compete for the one(1) sales? This is called a "buyers" market.

I would not like to see the "Greed Monky" bite all the sellers and infect this game the same as it did in UO, now lets talk about a "sellers" market where there is one(1) seller and many(10) buyers, now the seller will have a difecult time to supply the demand for this ore and of course the price riases. Well this market is only controlled by "how much Gold" a buyer has in his pockets, if none of the buyers have enough Gold to purchase the ore then there is still "no sale" at any high price.

I was glad to see Mr. RG saying that Gold will be curbed as loot drops, instead there will be other uses for the corpes, for example: hunters who kill a deer will need to skin it at a skinning table and then cut it up at a butchers table, then be able to cook it up into usable meals with the proper cooking tools (oven, pan, etc). I'm also hoping there will be a real need for eating and sleeping in SotA, just like in Ultima; Ascenssion, when it was dark, it was really dark and you had to sleep until morning broke. Eating should regain HPs faster, causing players to stop and build a fire to regain something faster make alot of sence to me.

I agree with your "region" example when it comes to NPCs, it will probably be that way (I hope all comodities are offered by NPCs as another outlet), players on the other hand get bite by the "Greed Monky" and start going overboard when they sell their comodities, because the make the assumtion every player in game has as much gold as they do, which is a wrong assumtion.

Just my thoughts, sorry I offended anyone...

 

I was trying to make the point of, never say never. Also, have some faith and patience. The game is fully funded it will launch next year. Alpha should be available to backers in the next few months. You will be able to try out the game at that point in time. People have to remember a game is only maybe 50-75% done during alpha testing, so don't expect everything to be finalized at the point in time.

 

I understand your point, you started by asking me if I pledged? Some ppl would call that an insult, I didn't. It's kind of like Voting, some ppl just complain about how things are, when asked "who they voted for", they are not even registered to vote, so how can they complain? If they are not willing to participate in the proccess.

I have made my pledge, and I will be pledging more. From what I've already seen, it's a well worthy project, I would like to add my input and feel my voice is being heard, do I expect anything from my support, No I don't.

 

"The current SotA plan"....I planned on doing 100 sit-up's today. Plans changed.

I understand the sentiment behind the "you can really craft some great things." Every game that has a crafting system makes this same claim. I'm sure the high end stuff will be incredibly hard to make. Rare recipes drops. Hard to find ingredients. Special requirements (remember Mooncloth from WoW?). Special tools. Special locations. It may take a great warrior and many great warrior to obtain these things.

But...you really do bring up a valid point. I want to go into a dungeon to find a weapon, not a do-dad or a an ingot of whatever. I want a War Mace with crazy damage and plays that sweet guitar riff from "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes when I raise it above my head and swing it.

My hope beyond hope is that they split up the high end gear. Let's say there's a high end longsword. A blacksmith might be able to make one with either fire or ice. Go in a dungeon and you might find the same longsword but it has either acid or shock. This way, we get the best of both worlds. Smiths are making great things yet you can still find great things on your own.

So until we get some real hardcore facts about smithing and crafting overall, I wouldn't push the panic button just yet...