Previously on MyGaming we caught up with the general Diablo III information that you need to know. However, we did gloss over the new auction system because as a major new feature in the Diablo universe it warrants its own article.
The Auction House concept will probably be familiar to World of WarCraft players, as the core functionality appears to be modeled after the WoW versions. One of the major differences is that in Diablo III items can be traded for real-world money as well as in-game currency.
This sounds like a really great idea for the game, as in previous Diablo titles, the only real option for powerful unwanted items was to barter them with other players, or sell them for in-game gold. Now players will be able to pool the vast array of items generated by the Diablo universe into a game economy, helping them to kit out their characters faster, and feel rewarded for all their hard demon-grinding work.
There will be two auction houses, one gold-based, the other real-currency-based. The gold-based auction house uses in-game gold for purchases and sales. With the currency-based auction house, players will be able to conduct these transactions using actual currency from an authorized payment method or from funds that have been added to their Battle.net account. Players can choose to participate in whichever version of the auction house they prefer, on a per-transaction basis.
To allay concerns, Blizzard has made it clear that players do not have to make use of the real-world currency auction house, and can stick solely to the gold-based auction house if they choose.
Auction House – Selling items for cash
Blizzard has seemingly learnt from the real-money item trading websites that spawned around their World of WarCraft MMO, and have decided to bring this under their control. Blizzard states that the real-money auction house will “protect players from the scams and theft often associated with questionable third-party sites by providing a secure, completely in-game method for purchasing and obtaining the items they want for their characters.”
Players will be able to associate a third-party payment system with their Battle.net account, and using this they will be able to transfer money into Diablo III to purchase items, or cash-out any money. Of course, this also means that Blizzard will be taking their cut from any real world money transfers made out of Battle.net.
Blizzard states that they “plan to collect a nominal fixed transaction fee for each item listed in the auction house. This fee consists of a fixed charge to list the item, which is assessed whether or not the item is successfully sold, and an additional fixed charge that is assessed only if the item is sold. The listing portion of the fee, which helps encourage sensible listing prices and discourage the mass posting of items that are very low quality or would be of little interest to other players, will be waived for a limited number of transactions per account. For players who opt to have the proceeds of their auction house sales go to their third-party payment service account instead of to their Battle.net account, Blizzard will collect a separate “cash-out” fee.”
Auction House – bidding with cash
Blizzard has not yet revealed details on third-party payment service support and region-specific use and fee structure. Not all regions will support the currency-based auction house feature at launch.
Due to factors such as technology, language, and currency, there will be multiple auction houses for each region of the world. Item purchases, as with characters, will be bound to the server region on which they are created.
As the game is patched, so may item attributes and abilities be altered. Blizzard states that there will be no refunds on altered items, and it is therefore up to the player to decide if they wish to engage in the currency-based auction.
How auctions work
Blizzard promises a ‘smart search’ function for the auction house which will simplify finding useful items. Blizzard will not be adding any items to this economy and it will be entirely driven by player contributions.
Players can open the auction house interface from anywhere in the game to make purchases or list items for sale. Items can be sold from the shared stash (storage shared among all the characters on a Battle.net account) or from any individual character’s inventory. When posting the item, the seller picks whether it will be sold in the gold-based auction house or the currency-based auction house.
The item is then held by the auction house system until the listing expires or a purchase is made. Items that are not sold are returned to the seller’s shared stash, and items that are sold are delivered to the winning bidder’s shared stash. In either case, the auction house system will deduct a nominal fixed transaction fee from the seller, the amount of which is determined by whether or not the item was sold.
Auction House – list of completed auctions (gold)
Blizzard plans to waive the listing portion of the fee for a limited number of transactions per account. In other words, for these transactions, the seller will only pay a transaction fee if the item is successfully sold, and that fee will not include the listing charge.
For the currency-based auction house, players will have a few different options for how to pay for item purchases and receive funds for item sales. Blizzard has yet to provide details on this.
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Diablo III Auction House screenshots
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