En tråd har dykt upp på battle.net-forumet där man spekulerar kring de olika alternativen för hur trading skulle kunna fungera i Diablo 3. Det pratas om det klassiska auktionshus-systemet från WoW och den senaste tidens rykte om en sk. Market. Bashiok hoppar in i diskussionen och ger oss följande kommentar:

Would you rather Blizzard implement a universal Auction House, that allowed you to buy/sell/swap items with EVERYONE in your Realm/Region just using a special interface window on the B.net home screen?

Or do you prefer special ”Trade Games” where up to 50 people can jump into and shop for stuff, face-to-face with their toons, knowing that there are OTHER trade games that may have a better selection of items to browse for. (Forcing you to jump in and out of games until you find what you want)

As of right now, I don’t think any type of social or trade-based UI or mechanics have been introduced. We know there will be match-making ala SC2/Old School D2 Bnet for regular games, but nothing mentioned for trade-based games. (If they have announced something, please link it here. I can’t find anything but rumors.)

Personally, a linked, Region-Wide auction house seems the most efficient means of trade and commerce; however, being face-to-face with potential sellers/buyers make the game seem more immersive, even if it’s on a smaller, less-convenient scale. Which way do you think Blizzard is going to go with this? Or something other than I mentioned?

We haven’t made any announcements yet regarding trade systems, but it’s something we’ll be prepared to reveal soon™. I think it’s something people are going to be pretty psyched about, if not passionately indifferent.

Samtidigt bekräftar Bashiok att demoversionen av Diablo 3 som kommer att finnas tillgänglig för spel på årets Gamescon-mässa i Tyskland kommer vara demot från BlizzCon 2010. Inte beta-klienten.

I think many people would consider taking a trip to Gamescom @ Cologne if the demo is ”up-to-date”, than if it’s rather an old demo from 2009/10.

As far as I’m aware it will be the BlizzCon 2010 build, which has not yet been seen in Europe. While there some differences between that and what we have now, the content is still new for people that didn’t make the trip to BlizzCon (ie 99.999% of people at Gamescom).