Tag Archives: Auction House

Diablo III Auction House Closes Forever

Gaming,

Diablo III LogoThose of you who still have unsold items sitting in the Diablo III Auction House have a very short time in which to collect them. Back in March of 2014, Blizzard Entertainment announced hat they would be closing both the gold Auction House and the real-money Auction House. Both will be closed forever on June 24, 2014.

Players have had a lot of time to remove their items from either Auction House. Blizzard has done a very effective job of making it clear that the Auction Houses are about to close. They posted it on the log in screen for Diablo III many times. Several different Blizzard Twitter accounts have sent out Tweets about it. Even Tyrael (@AspectofWisdom) reminded players about it!

Those who had items left in either Auction House got an email a few days ago that reminded them to go get their stuff before it disappeared. The email included instructions about how to go about collecting the items.

Despite all the warnings about the impending closure of both Auction Houses (which Blizzard started sending out in March) there are going to be people will be completely shocked and surprised when they realize sometime tomorrow that can no longer retrieve the items that they left in the Auction House. The items that they ignored, and left to gather virtual dust in the Auction House, suddenly become incredibly meaningful to them. I am expecting a lot of complaining by disgruntled, procrastinating, players all over social media tomorrow.

Say Goodbye to the Diablo III Auction House

Gaming, ,

Blizzard LogoBlizzard Entertainment has officially shut down the Auction House in Diablo III. This includes both the gold Auction House and the real-money Auction House. A controversial concept right from the start has been removed from the game – forever.

For those who are unaware, the gold Auction House enabled players to take the items that they found in game and put them up for auction. Doing so could result in the sale of the item and some gold for the player who sold it.

The real-money Auction House functioned in a similar way. Players can take the items they found in the game and put them up for auction. The difference, though, was that instead of gold (the in-game currency) the items sold in the real-money Auction House allowed the seller to earn some real world money.

The real-money Auction House in Diablo III was the first time that Blizzard Entertainment created an auction house that could be used to earn real money (instead of in-game currency). I remember people being really excited by the idea of selling enough items to pay for their subscription to World of Warcraft (one of Blizzard Entertainment’s most popular games).

There were both positives and negatives to the Auction House system. On the one hand, the Auction House was a great way for players to obtain the items they were hoping to find in the game, but could not. Previous to a recent patch, the “loot” system in Diablo III was problematic. On the other hand, there were those who felt that the Auction House allowed players who had money to “pay to win”. They could buy the best items, and gain an advantage over players who didn’t have the real-world money to spend.

Love it or hate it, I think all players of Diablo III benefited from the Auction House (both types). For example, I’ve never used the Auction House. Several of my friends have, though, and they used it to buy some really awesome items. When they “outgrew” those items, they shared them with other players, including me. The removal of the Auction House is an “end to an era” in Diablo III, and it comes shortly before the Reaper of Souls expansion is released. Good times are ahead!