Diablo III

[asabase]

Been waiting for this game for 5 years now. I couldn't care less about starcraft 2.

[Groucho]

Only two days left in the week...whens the announcement??

[DVDsAreMyLIFE]

Last I heard it wasn't going to be until 2011.

[Numes]

The Blizzard Q4 2010 Investor Conference call was this week and there were some interesting snippets directly about Diablo III or could be inferred about Diablo III. Depending on how you interpret it, one could speculate that they are aiming for early/mid-2012 but not completely ruling out 2011.

Of course, with Blizzard, that probably means 2015.

Great Link/Summary from http://diablo.incgamers.com

[Wolf359]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...lo-iii-article


MMO Diablo III will offer players the chance to use real world currency to trade game items.
The service will be on an item by item basis via an eBay style auction house system and entirely optional. Gold based auction houses will be available for players who don't wish to spend their money in-game.
"It was definitely a design decision," the game's lead designer Jay Wilson told Eurogamer.

Players can purchase gold, weapons, armour and runestones via their registered Battle.net accounts. Blizzard will not sell "game play affecting" items, and stated it has no plans to post items directly to the auction house, leaving trading to the players.
"Trading is not very good in Diablo, and yet it's a game about trading," explained Wilson. "Trading is the way you get the best items in Diablo. And yet there was no trading mechanism to speak of... We wanted to focus on filling that hole."

When selling, players can use the money they earn to purchase other other Diablo III items through the auction house, purchase Battle.net products, such as World Of Warcraft subscriptions, or claim the cash through third party services.

For each item sold for real currency players will be charged an unspecified "nominal fixed transaction fee" by Blizzard, which will vary by region and whether or not the item sold. Players will also be charged a fee for withdrawing sales proceeds from their Battle.net account.
Wilson denied that this was the main motivation behind the decision.
"Certainly there's an economic element to the auction house for us, but it came first and foremost as: what do we want to do for the players? What service can we possibly offer that would make the game experience better?"

"If we make money on it that's great, we're a business, we want to make money. But not at the expense of the customers - but because we've offered them something that was worth their money."

Blizzard further explained its motivations in an official statement, citing player behaviour and security.
"The item-based nature of Diablo game play has always lent itself to an active trade-based ecosystem, and a significant part of this trade has been conducted through unsecure third-party organisations."

"This has led to numerous customer-service and game-experience issues that we've needed to account for. Our primary goal with the Diablo III auction house system is for it to serve as the foundation for a player-driven economy that's safe, fun, and accessible for everyone."

Blizzard has said it will not be introducing the system to its other MMORPG, World Of Warcraft, due to differences in the game play. It also clarified that it has no plans to provide support for the auction house system to mobile devices.

Diablo III still has no official release date, but is currently recruiting players for a beta test. Diablo II was released in 2000, but still has a large online audience.

[glassdragon]

Here come the people saying they make money playing video games. Also, they will eventually bring this to WoW, you know they will, there is money to be made and sadly I think blizzard isn't the same company we once new. Bobby Kotik wants that money

[Groucho]

I'll never pay for any of this, but I totally understand the Blizzard's reasoning. People are doing this already, via shady websites and other methods where it's easy to get ripped off. Might as well shape supply to meet the demand, and make a few bucks while you're at it.

[Numes]

There were hundreds of items available on eBay for Diablo II during it's hayday, so I guess I don't see the issue with Blizzard supporting it formally in Diablo III. What it might prevent, though, is for people to do just regular trades when they get a good item. They may get greedy and just go for the real $$$, which is unfortunate.

It isn't clear if this also supports item-for-item trades better in Diablo III. I will have to check out http://diablo.incgamers.com when I get home (it's blocked at work, ugg...)

[fumanstan]

Originally Posted by glassdragon

Here come the people saying they make money playing video games. Also, they will eventually bring this to WoW, you know they will, there is money to be made and sadly I think blizzard isn't the same company we once new. Bobby Kotik wants that money

Don't count on it ever coming to WoW.

[Cusm]

Originally Posted by fumanstan

Don't count on it ever coming to WoW.

I would think this is step 1 for it going to WoW. I could actually see them doing this strictly as a beta test for WoW - no need to upset anyone in WoW and work out all the bugs then implement it into it's biggest money maker.

[Numes]

The overview on the Blizzard site provides a whole lot more detail than the article above. The article above is focused mostly on the real-money aspect. To me the auction house sounds great. It will get rid of a lot of the issues that plagued the lack of an official trading system in Diablo II. It will be interesting if gold becomes the in-game trading currency or if something else (Stones of Jordan) becomes currency. I think one thing that I think will still keep everyone from just trying to randomly sell their wares is the fact that there will be some sort of fee for every item sold.

This quote is pretty funny:
"In the previous Diablo games your best option might have been to sell the axe to an in-game vendor..." lol. I like how they ignore the trading/selling that went on in Diablo II.

[Groucho]

I like the sound of the feature that will help you search the auction house for items that are actually an upgrade for your character. A shared stash is good too.

[fumanstan]

Originally Posted by Cusm

I would think this is step 1 for it going to WoW. I could actually see them doing this strictly as a beta test for WoW - no need to upset anyone in WoW and work out all the bugs then implement it into it's biggest money maker.

It seems like that, but there's some big differences in the loot and economy of both games that it wouldn't happen, at least anytime soon.

The bigger complaint from users is that the game requires an internet connection (and no offline mode like SC2).

[Groucho]

Originally Posted by fumanstan

The bigger complaint from users is that the game requires an internet connection (and no offline mode like SC2).

Interesting. Are all your characters "in the cloud" then, meaning no hacking even in single player?

[fumanstan]

Originally Posted by Groucho

Interesting. Are all your characters "in the cloud" then, meaning no hacking even in single player?

Correct.

[asabase]

“Soon” Was Too Soon -- Diablo III to Arrive in Early 2012. For Diablo III, we were aiming to launch by the end of 2011. As we’re announcing globally today, our new target for the game is early 2012.

The upside of today’s announcement is that we will be running the beta test longer than we initially planned, which will allow us to invite more of you who have opted in.


No invite for me. It started on the 20th.

[flashburn]

I'm okay with the delay. So much other stuff coming out between now and then.

[nickdawgy]

I got the beta test invite. Now as soon as I send all my personal information including my password and social security number via email to what is surely a Blizzard monitored account, I will be Diablo'ing it up

[kgrogers1979]

Are Nigerians sending out beta test invites now?

[nickdawgy]

The email was pretty bad with grammar. Made it easy to spot. That, and Blizzard already said invite scams were circulating.

That being said, if I actually got a legit invite, I wouldn't use it. Diablo isn't my cup of tea. Same with Starcraft.

[glassdragon]

I was in the beta for 2 and would love to get in the beta for 3. I wish they picked people who did betas for them before first.

[Cusm]

Originally Posted by fumanstan

Anyone here still curious about giving this a whirl?

I am so wanting to give this a whirl!! Just hope one of my machines can run it.

[Groucho]

Based on the screens and movies I've seen, this looks like it's basically Borderlands from a third person isometric perspective, and set in medieval times.

[flashburn]

Screw this game, it's just a Borderlands rip off!

[DaveNinja]

Beta is awesome. pretty short but also pretty stable.