So this post is all D3 stuff if it ain't your thing feel free to skip it. Some random thoughts on the removal of the AH and a slightly more in depth look at Reaper of Souls know that we have some more info.
So they finally did it, both expected and yet unexpected at the same time. The AH the scourge of of D3 for many many players, is going to be gone both RMAH and the normal gold AH. To be honest this should be to surprising, many of the issues in game have stemmed from the region wide auction house. Why would you bother to farm when you can buy gear? Also there is very little point in resetting all the loot and creating this wealth of new items if i can just pop into the AH and pimp my character out.
However on the flip side this is a massive announcement, remember that the Auction house was a major game feature for D3 when it launched. I myself have made a large amount on the AH and bought collectors editions with the proceeds. To make a sweeping change like this is pretty much unheard of by Blizzard, they talk about the arena making endgame balance a pain in Wow but imagine if they removed arenas from Wow. It is also a very brave decision as it place the emphasis firmly back on player to player trades. Which in turn opens up the whole can of worms of negotiating, always a opportunity for grief and scams. (on a side note what value will gold have in RoS, if the mystic doesn't cost billions of gold is having a billion gold any good?) Though in the same side i did enjoyed the rune barter system of D2, with a bit of thought to prevent scams trading should be to much of a issue.
By and large i figure the reasoning behind this switch, is would Reaper of Souls fix D3 if the auction house still existed? Possibly not though we cant be a hundred percent certain here. However if there was no AH would RoS solve many of the issues D3 has? I don't want to say yes to the latter option yet but for sure it would have a massive impact on the long term viability of the game. This is the real issue here even with the AH's D3 was still a fun game when there people playing, however after patches the player base would dwindle as there was limited reason to continue to farm. IF RoS can solve the long term game issues and provide a continued reason to play it will go a massive way towards solving D3's problems.
So as time approaches and Blizzconn is nearly here, (Virtual ticket for me) there has been more information appearing about RoS. I love the way in which the mystic will deal with transmogg, to basically unlock a catalogue of all the gear you can mogg to is amazing. One of the few issues with with Wows Mogg system is the need to keep the gear and considering space is even more a premium in D3 its a very clever solution. Also it means people who enjoy tinkering with there Moggs/style can flick through them at there hearts content til they find a look they like.
One thing i like about the crusader is the region of combat a mid range to close combat fighter filling the same role as such that the WD does. It brings a nice balance to the heroes we can play. We now have 2 range 2 melee and 2 middle area (sorry for the awkward descriptions) along with 2 dex 2 int 2 str heroes its a neat little symmetry now if we could get 6 player groups that would be awesome.
Finally i was intrigued to see that Blizzard had been canvassing for information on reaper of souls pricings. Which is very interesting, obviously they will have to sell the Expac and traditionally most Blizzard has sold expacs for around half the cost of the main game. However RoS is almost D3 2.0 so they may want to make a lot of money here especially with no AH revenue. Though these questionnaires about pricing do show that they are aware many people feel that they are owed for forking out a lot of money on what could be argued was a defective game for a long while. I got my copy through the annual pass so this issue doesn't effect me. I would think that a price of around £15 to £20 would be reasonable and then if they offered all existing accounts a reward package of some free stuff, a xp boost for your crusader to get him to 60 ready for RoS among other things. This may sweeten the deal and keep people happy.
So that all for today, now i go back to waiting for Blizzconn a new annual pass with RoS beta access and Heroes beta. i really wanna smash things as Zeratul. :D
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