Here we go again.While the (yet another) delay was somehow expected (Diablo 3 still needs a lot of fixing), I ask myself why a company like Blizzard, working for years to make a game (a good one), can make such a mistake?
They had an alpha and a beta with an open beta week-end and they couldn’t even see that the RMAH cannot be released when they announced it, because the GAME itself needs fuckloads of fixing ? I might even say that the game needs an OVERHAULING of almost anything because RMAH cannot work properly without GAH, while GAH cannot work properly without a proper gold drop rate, item drop rate, item vendor prices AND item cost and drop rate from artisan crafting.
I am not going to discuss about how the hard is the game for most people (only 1.9% of the characters unlocked Inferno in 2 weeks after release) because I am pleased with that and it is exactly how they said : “You will die a lot”.I want however to discuss the IMBALANCE between item drop rate and Blacksmith crafting costs.Blizzard announced that they will cut down the costs in gold and pages for BS crafts while also cutting down the need of 3 gems to 2 gems, up to Flawless Square, to craft a superior gem.
If they want RMAH to be running from mid-June (the latest known date) they really need a fast and quick patch.This patch MUST fix the BS costs and the item drop rate.Won’t matter if crafting an item will cost 5,000 gold instead 10,000 gold IF there will still be enough items that will cost 2,000 gold in GAH.It will also not matter that we will need 2 gems instead 3 if the GAH section of commodities will still be broken.
This patch must also fix the gold drop rate.It is too high.At this moment, with 122% GF gear I make about 170k / hour in Act II Hell, one shooting every normal mob and killing a champion or elite pack in less than 10 sec.It takes me 20 sec to kill Azmodan in Hell difficulty and like 1 min to kill Diablo in same difficulty.While i agree that MOST of the people struggle atm with Gold, this won’t last long.And they need to think about it before releasing the RMAH.
There are 2 questions now : ” When will RMAH go live?” and “Will RMAH work properly once launched?”.Trying to answer those question separately will be no good at all, because it really doesn’t matter when RMAH will be available (well, it kinda does matter, but not so much) if it won’t work properly.And by properly I understand no bugs or later fixes and also fix the damn GAH, drop rates and artisan crafting costs.
The MOST important part is item and gold drop rates to be adjusted with artisans crafting costs, because while the repairs are a good gold sink, it is not enough for RMAH.The artisans costs are and item drop rates are too HIGH, preventing players to SPEND gold for crafting (bye-bye gold sink) while in the same time making fairly good items to be priced in GAH in the range of 5k to 50k, which is, again a bye-bye gold sink.
I do hope that the item and gold drop rates along artisans costs to be adjusted before June 14 if they want RMAH to be available where they expect to be.There is time for 2 patches at least, if not much more hot-fixes.
The good part is those delays is obvious : better do something later and be good instead doing it earlier and be bad.This however does not take away the blame.Blizzard’s “smat-heads” should have seen at least that one of the gold sinks does not work.And for RMAH to be a succes for them, they need ALL gold sinks to work, because it doesn’t matter if crafting something costs 100k if there are no people wanting to spend those 100k.
So, i end this now with the hope that they, Blizzard, will know what to do and will do it asap.Not because me or other like me to make some money.But because they need to keep their promise : Diablo 3 will have a Real Money Auction house.
Peace,
Bozzor, Gold Multimillionaire.