With it, Blizzard is essentially legalizing item and gold farming, and simply taking a cut of it themselves. Though the "real money" Auction House is not yet online, the store that uses in-game gold only has been live since day one, and it's rather fascinating to watch a digital economy struggle to take shape.
The old Diablo had no such mechanism in place, and only after many years was an established system of trade and barter worked out. Gold was largely useless, but avid players knew exactly what high level runes could be traded for what high level items and vice versa. But no more, now it's all gold all the time, and many are wondering if the Auction House is a good or bad addition to the series.
An issue that's already starting to crop up among frustrated players is drop rates of legendary items, meaning how often killing an enemy will result in you getting a unique item with great stats. Such drops have always been low, but now it's almost impossible to find one. Between three friends and I, we've probably put about 150 hours into the game already, and have seen one legendary item drop between us.
The reason for this? Many are speculating that Blizzard is trickling out these items at a glacial pace so that the Auction House isn't flooded with them. This may be good for the economy, but it's frustrating for players who like to find good loot for themselves, rather than paying someone else 3 million gold for the item they want. And with trade and barter almost impossible now, endless grinding for gold is the only way to get the best gear with drop rates so low.
Then there's the issue of the Auction House itself, as no one really seems to have any idea how to price things yet. The same item will range from 10,000 gold to 500,000 depending on a few stats, and it can be hard for players to understand how to price items they think are worth selling. So far, none of my own auctions have sold, and it's a bit annoying to wait two days for it to finish so that I can restart with a lower price.
The Auction House just seems to negate many of the reasons for playing the game. Why wait for loot drops when you can spend gold on way better items that you'll never find randomly? Why use the new blacksmithing mechanic at all when you can find exactly what you're looking for in the AH without having to roll the dice on a random item 10 times depleting all your resources? The Auction House really isn't even optional once you get to higher difficulties as you need the gear it offers to make progress. Unless you have a lucky streak where every piece of armor you find is exactly what you need, you're going to have to buy the rest. You could argue the AH fixes an inherent problem with grinding, or that it simply amplifies it.
It's obviously going to take some time to figure out how exactly the Auction House will work in synergy with the game. The real world cash-only section will obviously change the dynamic to an even greater degree, and we'll learn just how much people are willing to pay in real dollars for virtual items. It's worked on the black market for years, and in a million Mafia Wars/Farmville-style casual games, and I have a hunch it's going to earn some serious cash for Blizzard in Diablo.
