Diablo 3 RMAH fees

[Chiropteran]

Running the servers cant be exactly cheap. I know wow's servers run them in the $10(0?) millions a year. I wouldnt expect the d3 servers to be anywhere near as complex but they gotta pay for them somehow and knowing how a large amount of people will play this game for a very long time they gotta have a steady income to support the infrastructure.

That is an odd argument to make, since D1 and D2 never had any problems due to the servers being too expensive to keep running, AFAIK. Since those days, computer power has increased dramatically and a single server has a lot more capability, so if anything the costs should be lower today.

Also, what about the $50 per game sold? That money just vanishes into thin air, it can't be used to cover server costs?

 

[Newbian]

I still think the gold AH will still have a nice inventory to choose from. If what they say is true about Inferno and gold being the most important item then I don't think it will be to bad. Think about it, you have to use gold to repair and train the artisian, that trumps real money for me. I'm not playing the game to make some extra cash, I'm playing to enjoy the game.

Another thing is not that many people will be interested in paying real money for the items yet everyone will try selling crap and make the money AH part crash to be near pointless as this often happens in games that do this.

They will have to add some kind of fee / high restrictions if you want to use the money AH to sell stuff to prevent this.

Not to mention what will happen when the hacks start going again thus making the money AH pointless as it will happen.

 

[ibex333]

Blizzard is just ASKING for black market! People will not take this shit. Auction websites will spring up like mushrooms offering to act like a middleman for buy/sell, and it is these people that will be making money, not blizzard.

 

[Newbian]

If you get caught your account is banned. Thats 60 bucks down the hole.

Plus it's very easy to get scammed if you use websites that do this and the AH would provide a safe means unlike anything D2 had.

 

[Newbian]

Blizzard is just ASKING for black market! People will not take this shit. Auction websites will spring up like mushrooms offering to act like a middleman for buy/sell, and it is these people that will be making money, not blizzard.

Um D2 had these a lot also but safe transaction through the AH plus I would assume a better listing of items and easier to get them will drive a lot of these down as they have official competition now unlike what was around in d2.

 

[masterxfob]

That is an odd argument to make, since D1 and D2 never had any problems due to the servers being too expensive to keep running, AFAIK. Since those days, computer power has increased dramatically and a single server has a lot more capability, so if anything the costs should be lower today.

Also, what about the $50 per game sold? That money just vanishes into thin air, it can't be used to cover server costs?

it's a business. they're trying to turn a profit. how dare they...

 

[nanobreath]

That is an odd argument to make, since D1 and D2 never had any problems due to the servers being too expensive to keep running, AFAIK. Since those days, computer power has increased dramatically and a single server has a lot more capability, so if anything the costs should be lower today.

Also, what about the $50 per game sold? That money just vanishes into thin air, it can't be used to cover server costs?

The structure of the server in D2 and D3 is completely different. D2 was run locally. The server primarily served as a hub, with the majority of the computing and storing done locally. D3 has a LOT of the assets being stored and run on the server. It is going to cost them a lot more to run the D3 servers than the D2 servers, hence the extra revenue from the AH.

 

[Adrenaline]

i still don't understand why the AH isn't in-game gold only.

Have you ever been in a trade channel in Diablo 2?

I paid my bills for 2 months straight when I was jobless from farming in Diablo 2 and hanging in trade channels.

 

[LurkerPrime]

The structure of the server in D2 and D3 is completely different. D2 was run locally. The server primarily served as a hub, with the majority of the computing and storing done locally. D3 has a LOT of the assets being stored and run on the server. It is going to cost them a lot more to run the D3 servers than the D2 servers, hence the extra revenue from the AH.

Since all the information is also stored and generated server side, its also much more difficult to dupe items successfully.

Even with the 15% blizzard "tax" its still alot safer to use the AH than a third party. Its also much more convenient. Buy your item on the AH, bam you have it, instantly. No paying someone, then waiting on mail or setting up a meeting, and most importantly, no chance of getting scammed.

 

[lozina]

Yes I certainly won't support Blizzard's greed by participating in the real money auction.

If I want to sell for money or buy with money I will look at 3rd party sites

 

[Adrenaline]

For gear:

$1.00 USD
15% ONLY IF YOU TRANSFER TO PAYPAL

For gems/crafting stuff/etc

15% to Blizzard
15% ONLY IF YOU TRANSFER TO PAYPAL

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/4796070907?page=2

 

[veri745]

I think that's fine. I will use the RMAH only as a form of anonymous trading. Selling things that I don't need in order to buy things that I do.

I don't care how much they charge to transfer out to PayPal, that's a tax on farmers, not on players.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Yes I certainly won't support Blizzard's greed by participating in the real money auction.

If I want to sell for money or buy with money I will look at 3rd party sites

Blizzard could easily shut this down by forcing a person to be on your friends list for say 5-10 days before person-person trading would be allowed.

I also see them cracking down on third party transactions now that they have a stake in the action. Would you chance having your account banned by buying gold through a third party? Then you find yourself out an account and the gold you bought.

 

[nanobreath]

Yes I certainly won't support Blizzard's greed by participating in the real money auction.

If I want to sell for money or buy with money I will look at 3rd party sites

This makes absolutely no sense. You won't support the company that put all the work and effort into making the content and runs the servers, and instead will support greedy third party leachers. See, that argument can be turned around so easily, because believe it or not GREED is what makes capitalism go 'round.

Not wanting to use their AH service because you believe the extra price isn't worth the extra security and convenience is the true decision of an informed consumer, and is probably the actual decision you're making. But that doesn't sound as good, because you would be acting in your best self interset (I.E. being greedy).

 

[crownjules]

I also see them cracking down on third party transactions now that they have a stake in the action. Would you chance having your account banned by buying gold through a third party? Then you find yourself out an account and the gold you bought.

There's a risk in WoW too but gold buyers and sellers still exist.

 

[Feneant2]

For gear:

$1.00 USD
15% ONLY IF YOU TRANSFER TO PAYPAL

For gems/crafting stuff/etc

15% to Blizzard
15% ONLY IF YOU TRANSFER TO PAYPAL

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/4796070907?page=2

I hope that dollar is AFTER you've sold the item and not before. For Paypal I'm not surprised it's that high, same as selling on Ebay, they take a huge cut.

But you know what, I am not worried and don't care, I would play the game with or without the auction house. And if I happen to be lucky enough to find an item I can sell for 50$, that's a bonus.

Anyways, it's going to be moot in 6 months, you'll have thousands of the same items for sale so prices will tank and it's likely no one will make any money off them.

 

[lozina]

This makes absolutely no sense. You won't support the company that put all the work and effort into making the content and runs the servers, and instead will support greedy third party leachers. See, that argument can be turned around so easily, because believe it or not GREED is what makes capitalism go 'round.

Not wanting to use their AH service because you believe the extra price isn't worth the extra security and convenience is the true decision of an informed consumer, and is probably the actual decision you're making. But that doesn't sound as good, because you would be acting in your best self interset (I.E. being greedy).

I already did support the company that made the game by pre-ordering it. And they are sure to release expansions so I can continue to support further development buy purchasing them too.

But I have to disagree my own decision is not 'greedy'. The definition of greed is not merely self interest as you describe but it is "intense" "inordinate" or "excessive" (looking up in dictionaries). I feel the fees Blizzard is applying are in fact: greedy. They did just fine with Diablo 2 without levying such fees,

 

[badb0y]

I am definitely going to be on this real money AH. If drop rates are similar to D2 and there aren't any well known dupe methods prices are going to inflated for at least a couple of months.

 

[digitalbuda]

I don't have as much an issue with 30% Blizzard cut as I do with the $250 max price you can sell an item for.

30% for the commodities & 15%/$1 for weapons and armor does seem steep at first but it's not as though we are paying a monthly fee or that we physically made the items. The items are digitally generated and all we paid is the one time $60 price for the game. So if there is a healthy market in the RMAH, it might be worth it. Just think of the percentages that Blizzard & Paypal takes as VAT or Value Added Tax when you sell an item. I mean we don't have any risks or overhead involved.

Now with that said, I do have an issue with the max sell price limit that i have been reading on forums. It seems as though there is a limit of what anything can sell for and if that is true, then the limit is $250. If someone finds a piece of armor or weapon in Hell difficulty and it manages to sell for $250 and I find a weapon in Inferno difficulty which I sell at max price of $250, I'm losing out. $250 does not leave much room to work with. Now some people might say "Paying X amount for virtual items is dumb" but then again, there are people willing to and have paid a lot more for items in other games.

 

[nyker96]

I think 30% tax on every sale is bit steep but think of it this way, if Bliz want they can create as much gold as they damn feels like and just sell it off to you. They still make a ton of cash. I think 30% tax is to discourage people from doing it often.

but i think i agree w/ elcs, I had about 120 dollars worth of loot in D2, not much compare to others but still, if they charge even 50% for selling it, I'd get $60 back still not too bad.

 

[Udgnim]

I don't have as much an issue with 30% Blizzard cut as I do with the $250 max price you can sell an item for.

30% for the commodities & 15%/$1 for weapons and armor does seem steep at first but it's not as though we are paying a monthly fee or that we physically made the items. The items are digitally generated and all we paid is the one time $60 price for the game. So if there is a healthy market in the RMAH, it might be worth it. Just think of the percentages that Blizzard & Paypal takes as VAT or Value Added Tax when you sell an item. I mean we don't have any risks or overhead involved.

Now with that said, I do have an issue with the max sell price limit that i have been reading on forums. It seems as though there is a limit of what anything can sell for and if that is true, then the limit is $250. If someone finds a piece of armor or weapon in Hell difficulty and it manages to sell for $250 and I find a weapon in Inferno difficulty which I sell at max price of $250, I'm losing out. $250 does not leave much room to work with. Now some people might say "Paying X amount for virtual items is dumb" but then again, there are people willing to and have paid a lot more for items in other games.

people will sell on black market if an item is worth >$250 real money

I wonder why Blizzard chose the limit of $250 though

 

[Soccerman06]

I wonder if theres going to be things as rare as like Zod. That thing had a ridiculous drop rate and could generate some serious money

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

I hate to play conspiracy theorist, but does anyone think this is going to have a direct impact on loot percentages and how they're handled on the server side? I don't know all the technical aspects of something like this, but it seems like Blizzard could easily manipulate "chance to drop" numbers on their end, making prices spike on certain in-game items.

I have zero interest in this AH shit personally, but at the same time I don't want it to interfere with my ability to play the game and how it affects the chances of me picking up certain items.

This still just has the smell of Activision all over it.

 

[blurredvision]

I hate to play conspiracy theorist, but does anyone think this is going to have a direct impact on loot percentages and how they're handled on the server side? I don't know all the technical aspects of something like this, but it seems like Blizzard could easily manipulate "chance to drop" numbers on their end, making prices spike on certain in-game items.

I'm not convinced they would do that in real-time, adjusting on the fly. I am sure that the RMAH does play a role when they are figuring out drop rates though.

Just the discussion of this entire thing makes me look into the future towards Blizzard's next MMO they are working on. I really feel like this is just a trial run for what they'll be able to do/get away with in Titan.

 

[Aikouka]

I think 30% tax on every sale is bit steep

I see a lot of people throw this "30%" number around, but doing so is rather disingenuous.

1) It's a $1 fee for weapon, armor and things like that. The 15% is for things like craftables or other stacking things (potions would count too).

2) Percentages are not additive. x * .85 * .85 != x * .70.

3) You only suffer the 15% loss if you "cash out" to PayPal. Chances are you may not want to do this. If you also play WoW, you would save money by paying for your subscription using this money (there is no fee for this). I'm not sure if the money is also good at the Blizzard Store.

Also, it might be worthwhile to not just take your money out, but spend it again at the RMAH. A lot of times, making money on auction houses is about reselling. You know how the saying goes, "You have to have money to make money."

I hope that dollar is AFTER you've sold the item and not before.

You only incur a fee if your item sells, and I assume the fee comes directly from the winnings. This also means you can't sell weapons or armor for less than $1.