Yeah! The Diablo 3' Beta Details Coming Your Way On August 1st

 

3 years is enough for launch a great game? "Diablo 3" fans have likely learned that expecting a release date anytime soon is purely self-torture and that the game will be finished "when it's done." After all, this is Blizzard we're talking about. Those same fans do have something to look forward to, though: the "Diablo 3" external beta, which we first reported on back in May. At that time, the beta was targeting the third quarter of 2011, which officially starts in just over a week. So will the world will get its first taste of "Diablo 3" in July? Absolutely, 100% not.

It does, however, bode well for the progress of the beta, which will likely launch in a relatively short span of time after the August 1 date. Granted, that's a big assumption to make, given that this is Blizzard, but we're an optimistic bunch and there's no point in promoting a beta that's still months away. (Then again, there's no point in promoting a game that's three years away, but hey, what do I know?

How do I know this? It's simple, really. Seems that Blizzard is holding a July press event dedicated to the "Diablo 3 gold" beta at their campus in California. Information and assets from that event are embargoed until August 1, which means the beta won't be out before then...unless Blizzard really wants to screw over those in attendance of the event, which seems unlikely.

Since the event is dedicated solely to the "Diablo 3" beta, we expect to learn some of the more pertinent details about its release, including the release date, contents and how folks will be able to register to participate. If I were to guess, I'd say it'll at least include some PvP elements, as a wide-scale beta is the best way to put class balancing through the ringer.
So, "Diablo 3" fans: Mark your calendars for August 5

Diablo III real money auction house announced, gold farmers stunned

In an announcement that is sure to stir up controversy, Blizzard Entertainment has unveiled a Diablo III auction house that will allow players to buy and sell in-game items for real currency via Battle.net. The real money auction house will launch alongside another auction house, which will allow players to sell and bid on items with in-game gold.

Why is Blizzard doing this? Loot has always been an important part of Diablo and Blizzard points to the long history of Diablo I & II players turning to inconvenient and unsafe ways to buy, sell, and trade in-game items both inside and outside of the game. Remember trading on chat channels on the old Battle.net? Remember how Stone of Jordan rings became the unofficial form of currency among players? Have you been bothered by gold farmers lately? Well, Blizzard sees the real money and in-game gold auction houses as a way to address these problems by providing a safe and secure way to facilitate the demand for trade that many Diablo III players will inevitably create when the game launches


Above: Yes, in-game gold can be bought and sold on the real money auction house in Diablo III. Also, look at all those Pants of Healing!

Blizzard aims to make accessing the auction house as easy as possible. Players looking to buy or sell can open up the auction house system from anywhere within the game. From there, you can pick the item you’d like to sell from your character’s inventory or from your shared stash, which holds items from all the characters linked to your Battle.net account. Then, you’ll need to decide if you want your item listed on the in-game gold auction house or the real money auction house.

Let’s say you want to try your hand at making some real money for an extra rare item you’ve found. First, you’ll need to decide if you want to use your Battle.net account or an “authorized payment method.” This is important. If you choose to use your Battle.net account and your item sells. The real currency will be stored in your Battle.net account and you won’t be able to “cash out.” That means you’ll be able to use the cash from your sale to go towards things like a World of Warcraft subscription or maybe a copy of StarCraft II. But how you use funds from your sales will be limited to things you can buy with your Battle.net account, like more loot in the real money Diablo III auction house, for example.

The alternative to Battle.net is an unnamed “third-party payment service.” This is how sellers will be able to “cash out” or directly access profits from sales on the auction house. According to Blizzard, the company is not ready to announce who it has partnered with to handle these transactions and promises more details later. But for now, PayPal or a service like PayPal, seems most likely to us from the way that the system is described.

So what’s Blizzard’s cut?...

Source: gamesradar.com

Blizzard on Diablo 3: Gold farmers and players really doing the same activity

Yesterday we reported that Diablo 3 will let you buy and sell items for real money. During the event, the inevitable question about gold farmers came up: doesn’t this just make it safer and easier for them?


Executive producer Rob Pardo replied: “Theoretically that’s true, but I mean there’s really nothing… what’s the difference between a player that plays the game a lot and a gold farmer? I mean they’re really doing the same activity.”


World of Warcraft is plagued by people trying to sell in-game gold gleaned by repetitively playing the most lucrative areas of the game. Pardo assured us this would be different in Diablo 3: “One of the big differences between, let’s say Diablo versus World of Warcraft, is that in Diablo you can play your own instance of the game.”


Lead designer Jay Wilson responded to the suggestion that Blizzard might be seen as encouraging the sweatshop-like conditions Chinese gold-farming operations are known for. “Well, I think if someone wanted to accuse us of that, they could accuse us of that for just making the games that we make. If anything, I would say that these systems are trying to take some of that element back and put it into the game, and give it to the players. Will someone say that? Yeah, people say all kinds of things, but do we think it’s true? No.”


Did they consider this before deciding to add a real money auction house? “Of course.” Jay says. “Of course we did. Yeah. But we just didn’t consider it valid. The best way to not encourage bad things to happen with the world is never do anything. Just the very fact that we make games that people like to play, you could say that there’s bad results to that. But we say no, we think that the games that we make are awesome, and we think they promote good experiences for our player base. And that’s what we really care about.”


Source: pcgamer.com