Dear Mom and Dad I've run away to the Auction House

[gogoblender 3,070]

Being a skilled diablo 3 merchant is hard work but so fun!

In fact, the auction house has to be one of the most satisfying parts of this game or merchant gaming experiences I've used. I love the way the filters are set up, in a matter of seconds I can find equipment that's meaningful to my build. The sell option is highly intuitive, "sees" everything in my stash and that I'm carrying, and with a single click and a few entries and tabs, the item is on the markets.

 

Schot had noticed a while back that the drops for equipment are so low below ours, and that the only way to great equipment (min/max, min/max... ) was through the AH, and that quickly became home.

 

My only complaint is that we can't get to it from ingame, but the break that comes with shopping is nice, and I especially love waking up in the morning, to log into Auction House, see what I've sold and get my revenue for the day.

 

I'm beginning to think that this kind of revenue maintenance is important if we're going to have the best possible equipment for our toons in hell or nightmare?

 

 

gogo

[lujate 578]

The first time I got into the AH was Friday night. All of my purchase attempts thru Saturday afternoon said they failed. Sunday morning I noticed I had a lot less gold than I expected. Turns out most of the failed purchases had finally gone thru (and I had two more come thru just last night). That was when I first started selling. I was just hoping to recoup some of what I had spent on all those redundant items. Now I check the AH and keep the max of 10 items listed for sale.

 

If I am not mistaken, you can also leave up to 50 purchased items in the AH. I am thinking that would be a way to increase your item storage. I have made bids on items too high level for me to use yet. If I win, I am planning on leaving them in the AH until I can actually use them.

[Schot 407]

The Auction House is so fun. I was reluctant at the start to use it but when I realized that the items dropping in game were way below my level I decided to start using the AH. It's so important to be wearing gear that's close to your level.

 

Great idea about storing items in the AH lujate. I'll keep that in mind!

[Ryanrocker 200]

A big thing to think about is how the Auction House will end up turning into a real time economy like the markets we have today. There are already guides out there titled things like "D3 Economy 101" and the like that give tips on what to expect from the AH world. One key concept that you might want to think about is inflation. D3 has very little gold sinks in it besides really high priced legendary/rare items and the blacksmith/jeweler levels. Remember that gold never goes away on your account when you die, and that it is shared across all characters in the account. So gold will ALWAYS be flowing in to this economy. More gold will drive prices further and further up, due to each gold piece being worth less. So hold on to those legendaries that you've found now, and purchase the rare items too, so that you can sell them for alot more gold coming up GREED

[Knuckles 904]

Well I was against the AH form the very beginning. Just didn't fit my playing style. But with decent gear almost impossible to find at my level, I had to give in and purchase equipment if I was ever going to survive Nightmare. Normal I could get by with gear 20 levels below me but not in NM. Had way too many near death experiences.

 

By buying gear I increased my DPS 5 fold and Armor rating quadrupled. Needless to say I like my chances of surviving NM much better now. In fact I'm now even selling stuff (you would be sooo proud of me gogo lol). Something I thought I would never do. All 10 pieces I put up for sale last night have sold. Pocketed a nice 350k (gotta raise prices even more). From what I've seen, multiple sockets can easily double the price.

[Dragon Brother 619]

Im too broke to buy stuff from the auction house

 

Edit: in softcore that is, wanna finish the story in soft core before going HC...

[Dobster 39]

I use it but only for the same reasons Knuckles said.

 

For me it goes against everything a loot'em'up should be though. The game is more of a gold farming then shopping game. They need to increase the level of the items that drop from monsters so that it is actually fun to get good drops again.

[Dragon Brother 619]

They need to increase the level of the items that drop from monsters so that it is actually fun to get good drops again.

 

I like that idea. Its definitely frustrating to kill a boss, see a gold item drop and have it be a level lower than the item you dropped some time ago...

[Spunky 16]

For me it goes against everything a loot'em'up should be though. The game is more of a gold farming then shopping game. They need to increase the level of the items that drop from monsters so that it is actually fun to get good drops again.

 

Indeed, my interest in the game has waned drastically since I got to inferno as I'm so badly equipped and the drops I'm getting are beyond garbage, getting level 52 gear is frustrating as hell when I'm badly in need of some good loot.

[lujate 578]

The under-level drops seem almost designed to force you to the AH.

[Dobster 39]

The under-level drops seem almost designed to force you to the AH.

 

Blizzard have basically said that yes they are. It's all about the money, even more so when the RMAH opens.

[lujate 578]

The under-level drops seem almost designed to force you to the AH.

 

Blizzard have basically said that yes they are. It's all about the money, even more so when the RMAH opens.

That is just not right. I thoroughly enjoy the AH, but it should not be mandatory to actually succeed.

[Stormwing 40]

Gotta echo Lujate in this one.

It's nice to see that folks are enjoying D3 but with all things considered, one of being AH, this prolly won't be my cup of tea. At least right now.

[Ryanrocker 200]

That is just not right. I thoroughly enjoy the AH, but it should not be mandatory to actually succeed.

 

Ugh tell me about it Nightmare is a pain in the butt every couple levels because I have to keep regearing with the AH because the drops are so bad. Can't even imagine how bad it must get in Inferno and Hell

[gogoblender 3,070]

lol guys, this is new game, the experience is amazing, even if we're not doing stuff the same way.

 

Niobium for Sacred 2 in HC... was there really any honest way to do it unless you took bargaining? ...yeah exactly

 

And wasn't the group accounts we all had to to exchange the best equipment "mined" from drops a kind of private AH?

 

 

There's loads of ways to come ahead.

 

Getting used to AH, is major part of this game, but doesn't mean it's easy. There is pleasant tension for me when I open it up, looking to see what goodies are there. I crow just as loudly when something great is there for me as there was when a drop happened for me in any other game. Schot's actually gotten improved drops, but I'll let him come here and have him talk about his experiences with this game and how he's come to understand the procurement design. He's a part of all of it...drops, bids, buy outs, builds... there's a lot here for everyone, I'm not going to try and pander my own experience to all a y'all...but my gaming experience is very good, with me just being flexible with what this game is and how it impacts my happiness.

 

Sacred, Sacred 2, all of them made us bargain or buy to get elite levels of playing achieved.

 

There's nothing really different here with Diablo 3, its just a really good game (that has sucked away too many hours of my life! )

 

 

gogo

[Dobster 39]

Sacred, Sacred 2, all of them made us bargain or buy to get elite levels of playing achieved.

 

There's nothing really different here with Diablo 3, its just a really good game (that has sucked away too many hours of my life! )

 

 

gogo

 

I have to disagree Gogo, there is a difference. D3 has been designed around the auction house and is pretty much impossible later on unless you use it.

 

You could easily get a toon to niobium in Sacred 2 without ever using bargaining and still have good items from drops, including +skill/CA stuff and set items. The buzz of getting good drops was always there in Sacred 2 and it just isn't in D3.

 

How much of what you get from drops do you actually use? I would hazard a guess that it is no more than 10% because most of what drops is 10+ levels lower than you and is way worse than items you can buy from the GAH. I played pretty much all day today and found ONE item from a drop that was just about useful, a rare shield with +vit and a socket. Even then I could have gone on the auction house and bought something better for a few grand. Pretty much every rare that drops is under level rendering it useless.

 

I'm enjoying the game for what it is but the loot system is a bit of a mess.

[Spunky 16]

Well said Dobs, you are spot on there.

[gogoblender 3,070]

D3 has been designed around the auction house and is pretty much impossible later on unless you use it.

 

 

I don't mind having to use Auction House so I don't think of this as an anything unpleasant. I have transformed how I had gotten items from other past games, mostly via drops to this new method, and have not noticed any decrease in my satisfaction.

 

I still get my "loot fix"...I think that's the most important thing, even though it's done differently.

 

I love the Auction House, for me, it's a very good gaming experience, it's giving any other loot experience I've had in years stiff competition.

 

 

You could easily get a toon to niobium in Sacred 2 without ever using bargaining and still have good items from drops, including +skill/CA stuff and set items.

 

 

For HC though? I don't think I know anyone who's played regularly in Niobium HC in Sacred 2 without access to Bargaining in one of their toons or to a friend who had bargaining and helped them out

 

Pretty much every rare that drops is under level rendering it useless.

 

Schot gets rares that he finds good, and has to sort, but he's got a super mf build, he's using a follower that gets a percentage of his mf, and so he now uses drops and auction house...he still finds the game challening in HC...for now... we'll see how hard this game still is in a few months ^^

 

 

I'm enjoying the game for what it is but the loot system is a bit of a mess.

 

 

I think I would say that loot system is more complex now, it's comprised of a lot of different things, but this game is larger than any regular hack n' slash ever made, and is comparable to online mmo's...it may actually be one but in disguise, lol, have to think about it.

 

Re what you said about Buzz for Sacred's drops being much stronger than buzz in Diablo 3...agreed...but that dismisses the buzz we have going now for procuring the best equipment possible which is coming about through massive (for me anyway) anticipation of gems which drop from elite mobs not really bosses anymore and use of AH.

 

The equipment hounding is stil here, even more powerful for me than it ever was in any game I've ever played, but the way to get to it is is different, and I don't mind it having to come to a different way of getting to a good build.

 

Sure this is a wholly different kind of hack n' slash I've ever played before, but, for now anyway, the gaming feels good.

 

gogo

[Dobster 39]

I think we are going to agree to disagree on this one Gogo .

 

I don't see the comparison between bargaining in Sacred and the auction house in D3. Bargaining needed a heavy skill investment and you could not buy sets/uniques. There were many players that got too niob HC without bargaining because the game was designed to not need bargainning to survive at later levels. D3 has its drops designed to be worse to force you into using the auction house.

 

Have a read of this thread Gogo, by a game dev explaining what is wrong with D3 loot. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5270834615?page=1

 

I want to kill stuff and find loot, not spend time browsing EBay

[gogoblender 3,070]

I want to kill stuff and find loot, not spend time browsing EBay

 

 

 

But if the game experience is awesome, does it really matter what we're doing? My enjoyment is amazing. Does it matter what I'm doing as long as, while I'm playing, I feel like the game is "good" ?

 

 

I guess for me now, finding stuff that just drops doesn't mean what it used to anymore, especially with how happy this game has gotten me with the playing and use of auction house.

 

 

 

 

 

gogo

 

p.s. just thought of this, Dob... while you're playing are you having a good time? Or is your gaming experience ruined by what you wanted this game to be regarding a player able to create builds with solely drops, that you're not having any fun?

[Dobster 39]

I'm having a good time but my enjoyment is lessened by the poor drops and the regular trips to the AH.

 

The example of these games being like a playing on a slot machine was good. If every monster I kill is like pulling the handle on the machine and waiting for the jackpot to come, then D3 has lost a lot of that. It is fun for a while but I wonder how many people will still be playing it in a years time.

[cider_steve 26]

It is a bit of a puzzle and I can see both sides of Gogo and Dobster's point of view.

 

Even though my main toon has very high mf, she still get's poor drops. Also, it really is daft that the drops are so far below your toons level. That makes no sense at all !

 

But on the flip side, everything on the gah has dropped for some-one ! So, there must be good drops out there or the gah would be empty..............

 

Hmmm, what a situation !

 

The fact is, for the time being, we will all have to buy the majority of our kit in the gah. Maybe that will change with future patches or an add-on. Only Blizz knows the answer to that one.

 

Steve.

[Dobster 39]

But on the flip side, everything on the gah has dropped for some-one ! So, there must be good drops out there or the gah would be empty..............

 

But on the other flip side, if they were good drops people wouldn't be selling them, they would be using/stashing them

 

If the proposed changes improve the drops to find a happy medium between drops and the auction house then that would make the game more enjoyable to everyone. I'm not sure if Blizzard will ever do this though because the game is built around money money money.

[Shadout 8]

While I agree with Dobsters hatred for AH (I kinda hate it the same way I hated bargaining in Sacred 2 = gearing up by not playing), the argument that loot drops are terrible is a bit weird.

99% of what dropped in Sacred 2, Diablo 2 etc. was bad as well. That kinda is the point of these games, to search for the very few items which are good - the issue is that searching the AH is so much easier than going out and killing stuff - same problem as with bargaining.

 

But still, it is certainly possible to find the good gear yourself. Just slower and harder. Doesnt seem particuarly slower (although certainly harder) than it was in Sacred 2 however. I surely wasnt running around in awesome gear after 3 weeks in Sacred, just as I'm not doing so in Diablo.

 

 

There is nothing between Normal and Hell which forces people to use AH to get through tbh, when you hit act 2 inferno then you start to get forced a bit, as the gear from act 1 simply isnt good enough to survive in act 2. Luckily that particular issue might be fixed in a few weeks, as the next patch should increase the quality of item drops in Hell act 4, Inferno act 1 and 2.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Shadout

[Dobster 39]

I think it was using the Auction House in the first place that made me feel that way about drops.

 

I had one play through normal and found it fun upgrading my stuff from what dropped. Diablo killed me a few times but it was fun

 

After that I decided to see what the AH was like and was amazed at the stuff you could buy. I spent around 75k and my DPS and health doubled. This has been said by many people and this is the reason why drops feel so bad. Since That first time using the AH I know that 90% of what drops is poor compared to what I could buy, so I just sell it to collect gold, to visit the AH for upgrades. We all want to be the most powerful and strong we can so why settle for weaker drops when you can buy stronger gear?

 

It is the level requirement on gear that causes the AH and monster drops to be so out of sync with each other. Drops seem to have a level requirement roughly 10 levels lower than yours(could be higher). Items in the AH can easily be searched by level requirement at or just below your character level, meaning that you get much better gear.

 

In Sacred 2 you could farm for awesome gear from drops and could even get higher level upgrades by farming monsters above your level(purples). Sorry Shadout but the drops in Sacred 2 were way better than D3 and bargaining was still only there for good rares and jewellery, you could not buy sets/uniques.