Diablo 3 auction house closing in March 2014. Blizzard has announced a plan to close Diablo 3's real-money and gold auction houses next year, according to an announcement today by game director. The majority of Auction House hate is directed towards the Real Money Auction House, which many players saw as a shameless revenue raiser for Blizzard, but Wilson explains that “gold does much.

Earlier today, the fine folks from Blizzard’s Diablo III office published a gaming decision that once enacted – set to go in effect on March 18th, 2014 – will finally put a long-discussed, and highly controversial aspect of the game to rest: the gold and real money auction house, which was established this past June, will be shutting its doors and closing its operation for good.

To say that Diablo 3 has caused its share of controversy is an understatement to say the least. While receiving mostly positive reviews from the critics, including Game Rant's 4-star review, it hasn't stopped the tidal wave of negative publicity aimed directly at Blizzard and its incredibly popular demon-whacking franchise.

The decision to require a constant internet connection to play the game (even in single-player) frustrated many players as the game launched a month ago, leading to Blizzard to issue an apology to said players as servers were continuously down for hours upon hours. And while Diablo 3 became the fastest selling game in PC history, that many users requiring a Battle.net connection was bound to lead to something ill, with reports of numerous player accounts being hacked.

While the in-game-gold-only auction house was available at launch, the real-money auction house, which has been met with its share of skepticism (including my own), was repeatedly delayed time and time again by Blizzard. In light of the number of hacked accounts that have already been reported, Blizzard is tightening security as this auction house goes live in an attempt to protect players' hard-earned cash.

Players will be required to have a Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator to add funds to their accounts. These are designed to provide an additional layer of security, requiring players to enter a unique, one-time password in addition to their normal password. Blizzard issued an official statement on Authenticator issue:

Starting today, in order to add to your Battle.net Balance, players will be required to have a Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator attached to their Battle.net account. For clarity, this means you'll need to have an Authenticator to add to your balance via Battle.net Account Management or to send the proceeds of your real-money auction house sales to your Battle.net Balance.

Please note that players who previously added Battle.net Balance to their account prior to this change will be able to use it to make eligible purchases on Battle.net and in the auction house without attaching an Authenticator. However, an Authenticator will be required to add to your balance in the future, as explained above.

While we understand that this creates an extra step for players during the login process, we believe this added layer of account protection will help foster a safer auction house environment for all of our players.

A full list of Auction House FAQs can be found here.

With security always an issue, a post on the Battle.net forums from Blizzard reminded all the players that cheating and hacking could lead to permanent bans. Blizzard stated that they 'strongly recommend' players avoid 'hacks, cheats, bots, or exploits,' indicating that 'suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future.'

In a slightly connected but somewhat different piece of Diablo 3 news, we revisit the fallout from the FTC raiding Blizzard's Korean offices because of potential violations of Korean laws surrounding electronic commerce and commercial contracts. A class-action lawsuit is now being mulled over by Korea's Internet PC Culture Association (IPCA) to assist consumers who feel that Blizzard's negligence is causing irreparable harm to Korea's PC bang (net cafe) owners.

Korea Blizzard claims that they must wait for the go-ahead from the United States head Blizzard office before maintenance can be ended and servers brought back online, which in some instances can go on much longer than anticipated. In the meantime, this delay is leaving Korean PC bang owners and players completely frustrated and in the dark. IPCA head Kim Chan-kuen voiced the issue to The Korea Times.

'We are planning a class action lawsuit against Blizzard Korea, as users and PC room owners are suffering from constant server malfunctions and server check-ups for Diablo III while the company avoids responsibility.'

I don't know, maybe much of this could be solved with an offline single player mode? What a shocking thought.

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Diablo 3 is now available for the PC and Mac.

https://everfunky.amebaownd.com/posts/22862908. Follow me on Twitter @mattrowland1.

Sources: Blizzard, Kotaku

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Diablo Immortal may not be the version of Diablo that most fans of the franchise are looking forward to. Luckily, they have Diablo 4 in development instead. That doesn't mean that Diablo Immortal won't be pulling features from the other games in the franchise, though. They just may not be the features that Diablo fans may have liked. Blizzard's now confirmed that Diablo Immortal will features something called The Market. It's not quite Diablo 3's controversial Auction House, but it's got some similarities. Veeu app earn money.

According to early information about The Market, it's being designed so that Diablo Immortal players will be able to use real money to buy in-game items for the ARPG. However, it won't be used to sell gear, so much as gear augments and other items. Specifically, Diablo Immortal says that players will be able to buy and sell materials, supplementary items, and Legendary Gems. It isn't made clear how much these items will be able to influence a player's power, but the implication is that it will affect power.

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To repeat, gear won't be buyable or sellable on The Market, so long as gems aren't considered gear. Players will have to earn their gear near entirely through normal gameplay, just like in a normal Diablo game. But again, there are questions. Questions like whether buying materials will allow players to craft their own gear, which turns the system into a way to buy gear. Blizzard is leaving a lot of room for The Market to allow players to buy power.

One area that is clear, at least, is that The Market has no way for players to earn real money. The Diablo 3 Auction House allowed players to cash out, earning real-life currency for their in-game efforts. Players will be able to make in-game purchases using a currency called Platinum. Platinum appears to be the sole currency of The Market, though it's also used to craft Charms. Platinum can be purchased with real money or via daily activities.

Blizzard Real Money Auction Houses

Blizzard states clearly that The Market 'is not the Diablo 3 real-money auction house,' but comparisons are inevitable. Real-money currencies, especially those that can be used to purchase gear directly or indirectly, remain controversial. It may be less controversial in mobile games, but with a big franchise like Diablo there's going to be a lot of players with high expectations.

Blizzard Real Money Auction House For Sale

It's not surprising that Diablo Immortal will feature these kinds of monetization systems, and The Market is just one of several. Blizzard was the company that made the Auction House in Diablo 3, after all. It's going to be interesting to see how these decisions are received in 2021 after years of acclimation to increased monetization.

Diablo Immortal is in development for iOS and Android devices.

Blizzard Real Money Auction House Login

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