Diablo 2 featured numerous third-party methods of obtaining items, some free and some that were not, but there was no official oversight by the developers. This meant that players often took a financial risk when purchasing items from other players, never truly knowing if the other user was scamming them. Blizzard’s new method for Diablo 3 will be to institue an auction house that is supported within the game itself, determined by region – the Americas, Europe, and Asia, with the latter not supporting a real-money auction house at launch. Thankfully, we’ve got new details on exactly what charges and costs will be implemented at the game’s launch.

Buying items takes place in a fairly user-friendly interface, with players being able to set search parameters for specific items or commodities they’re looking for, or setting a price range. Once the player finds an item they wish to buy, they can enter a bid value or purchase the item outright (if it was set up with this option by the seller), very similar to how eBay auctions work. Have a look:

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Those familiar with on-line auction will find selling items is very similar: players find the item they wish to sell, set a minimum bid amount and possibly an optional buyout price, and wait for someone to buy the item. All real-money transactions are linked to the player’s Battle.net account and, if desired, can be transferred to a third-party payment service such as PayPal.

The fees, however, get a little complicated. They are as follows:

Ranters, it’s time for some basic math. You want to sell me magical sword for $5. I have to pay $5, but you will receive only $4.00 into your account. If you then choose to move those funds to PayPal, only $3.40 will be transferred. If the sale was for 500 in-game gold, I again would be forced to pay the total amount, but your in-game account would only be credited with 425 gold.

Transaction Fee (Gold Auction House): 15% of final sale price Transaction Fee (Real-Money Auction House): $1. 00 USD per item / $1. 00 AUD per item Transfer Fee (when sending proceeds to PayPal or other authorized payment-service provider): 15% of amount being transferred

For Commodities (gems, materials, dyes, pages, recipes, and other non-unique items)

Transaction Fee (Gold Auction House): 15% of final sale price Transaction Fee (Real-Money Auction House): 15% of final sale price Transfer Fee (when sending proceeds to PayPal or other authorized payment-service provider): 15% of amount being transferred

As a frequent player of Diablo 2, I can appreciate a legitimate trading system where players and interact with other players within the community and trade items. That being said, the inclusion of real-money trading has the potential to skew the Diablo 3 economy, where some greedy players will surely be unwilling to part with their wares unless players fork over cash instead of in-game gold. As nervous as it makes me feel about cash-spending players having an advantage, it will be hard to not give the system a chance.

Ranters, what is your take on the Diablo 3 auction house?

Diablo 3 will launch May 15 for PC and Mac.

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Follow me on Twitter @mattrowland1.

Source: Blizzard