Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Uh-oh no RMAH at launch

By now most of you must have heard that the Real Money Auction House won't be available when Diablo 3 launches. That's a bummer. Apparently it will be patched in roughly a week later.

This creates a bit of a problem for those of us who were hoping to capitalize on the initial rush of players willing to buy their way to greatness by buying gold. At this point it's hard for me to calculate the implications of this move. I can't even predict what might have happened if the RMAH was in the game from day 1. There are too many variables and too much unpredictable player behavior to account for, not to mention the fact that nothing like this has been attempted before and none of us knows with certainty how players will react in a real-life situation.

What this new development changes for me is that, instead of selling my gold for real money during the first days, I will simply save it for the following week. When the RMAH is added, I should have a large amount of gold waiting to be sold. The obvious problem is that everyone else will do the same thing. This could cause an instant collapse of gold prices, the moment the RMAH opens. It might also mean that demand for gold won't be as high as it would have been during the first few days, because every player in the game is reduced to a common denominator. We all start at 0 gold and need to fight our way up. After a week, most players will have earned enough gold on their own to afford an expanded stash, crafting mats, artisan training and even some equipment, without the aid of the RMAH.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I have a feeling that this is only going to hurt those of us who were hoping to take advantage of the initial rush. It won't destroy us, obviously, but I think profits won't be as high as we hoped. Either way, I'm not devastated. I can't wait to play the damned game and this RMAH "fiasco" won't change my feelings for D3.

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