Real world money

So let me just say right out the gate. I do not support, endorse, or encourage anyone to spend they’re hard earned money buying runes and items from eBay or online stores. I never have nor will I, no judgments if you have but to me it seems against the Spirit of the game. I was however curious what the prices were for top tier runes and I was flabbergasted! Over $80 for a

Ber rune. That’s 4x the cost of the game itself, and furthermore you have no real guarantee of actually receiving your item, I guess eBay at least has buyer/seller resolutions, but still I can’t believe people would pay that much. I understand in todays gaming world it is more commonplace to spend money to get the items you want, but that’s just not for me.

How anyone spends even $1 for digital items is beyond my comprehension.

I'd pay a small amount for additional Stash Tabs. But items? hell no.

(I also remember people saying

Jah runes were going for over $500 a piece shortly after release. xD)

Anni 20/20 for the cheap price of 1099.99 USD.

But wait, there's more: if you order now you can also get a SosoT 20/20 for just one payment of 299.99 USD.

Insanity at it's best...

What really cracks me up on these sites tho is that you can buy like shit tier runes for a couple pennies. Like who is busting out there credit card to spend 12¢ on an

Eld rune? $1100 bucks for a 20/20 anni!? Excuse me while i go blow almost my entire paycheck for an item in a game you probably won’t be playing in a year or two from now. Just bonkers.

BillyMaysed wrote: 3 years ago

I'd pay a small amount for additional Stash Tabs. But items? hell no.

Yeah I might do that as well, as long as we’re talking like 1.99 or something just for convenience factor, but out right just buying items? Idk to me that just seems like why are you evening playing the game? That’s basically the opposite of what the game is about.

Banjo wrote: 3 years ago

Idk to me that just seems like why are you evening playing the game? That’s basically the opposite of what the game is about.

100% this. The whole game is finding items. So buying them is just paying someone else to play the game for you. lmao

BillyMaysed wrote: 3 years ago

Banjo wrote: 3 years ago

Idk to me that just seems like why are you evening playing the game? That’s basically the opposite of what the game is about.

100% this. The whole game is finding items. So buying them is just paying someone else to play the game for you. lmao

Well, we're outsourcing work to other people, why not also outsource our hobbies now? Leaves more time for you to work! --> Profit(?)

Following the argument here rushing is then also "Lmao, let others play the game for you" ?

There are always more views than one. Buying items or paying someone (in whichever way imaginable) to rush you are both means to the same end: get to the fun part of the game faster.

Some ppl simply don't have the time or endurance to grind through difficulties over and over or find it boring. Others don't have the time, talent or luck to get rich by trading and mf'ing.

But I believe we can all agree that the fun part of D2, once you've done the grind often enough, simply lies in the endgame with a well equipped character. We all take shortcuts whereever and however we can. I boost my new characters with my wive's account and vice versa.

Is that "Lmao" worthy too ?

It makes no difference in what way you pay for a shortcut as long as you do it. Laughing about ppl who pay money for items or services and then getting or doing rushes yourself is just hypocritical IMO.

In addition to that I believe that we do not have the right to judge about the way others play games or use money or even riducule such ppl.

And one last point to consider .... some ppl who (private folks, not companies running hundreds of bots) sell items may actually need whatever coin they can scrape together. Not everyone is fortunate enough to live a life in luxury and Wealth. I know ppl who sell items who really need the extra money to make due. I would consider buying from such ppl a good deed. But that's just me.

My two cents ... flamethrowers go go go!

The difference here lies in the fact that you're PAYING someone to play (grind) the game for you. And my LMAO doesn't really lie with the people selling the stuff, if there's people stupid enough paying these amounts of money - who am I to judge how you earn your money?

To be honest, I was tempted to also put my

Shako I found Day 3 or 4 of D2R on eBay, could've gone for around 100€. But I rather enjoyed my first ever "valuable" item I found myself.

Voyager2k10 wrote: 3 years ago

Following the argument here rushing is then also "Lmao, let others play the game for you" ?

Thats what we call a strawman argument. You're taking something separate and attempting to make them equal when they clearly aren't. Several parts of the game become frustrating or boring, like parts of Act 2 and 3. And in D2 you are forced to play through the game 3 times in a row. So people like to get rushed through various difficulties or acts so they can continue the hunt for more items. The entire point of the game. Buying items undermines the entire point of playing in D2 since there are no raids, battlegrounds or dungeons. the endgame, or entire game, IS getting the items.

Voyager2k10 wrote: 3 years ago

But I believe we can all agree that the fun part of D2, once you've done the grind often enough, simply lies in the endgame with a well equipped character. We all take shortcuts whereever and however we can. I boost my new characters with my wive's account and vice versa.

Suppose that someone pays for equipment, so he has a perfectly geared character. What is left to do?
MF gear for other characters (such as exotic builds made for fun)? Why don't buy gear for them as well (or instead)?
MF for trade? Unnecessary, since one can pay with RM?
Help friends (rushing, Baalruns &c)? This is tedious - tele the entire level, one hit boss at the end and repeat.

The sad truth is that without real end game content (such as Median ubers), once you have a perfect character, the game is over.
PvP is an option, but it never gained much popularity.

the satisfaction in having that end game gear that makes you/your merc a Beast. Is, at least for me not speaking for anyone else, getting it. I worked for it, grinded, traded, mass cow slaughter. No judgements if buying the gear is your thing. Just saying to me, playing for it is more rewarding.

BillyMaysed wrote: 3 years ago

Voyager2k10 wrote: 3 years ago

Following the argument here rushing is then also "Lmao, let others play the game for you" ?

Thats what we call a strawman argument. You're taking something separate and attempting to make them equal when they clearly aren't. Several parts of the game become frustrating or boring, like parts of Act 2 and 3. And in D2 you are forced to play through the game 3 times in a row. So people like to get rushed through various difficulties or acts so they can continue the hunt for more items. The entire point of the game. Buying items undermines the entire point of playing in D2 since there are no raids, battlegrounds or dungeons. the endgame, or entire game, IS getting the items.

Not at all. To YOU playing through the game 3 times for each character may be tedious. That is perfectly fine and I wholeheartedly agree with you. But to others endless grinding for gear without anything to show for it may be even more than tedious. It may be quite frustrating. Getting off the Ground in D2 can be a very frustrating experience if RNGesus hates you. Taking a shortcut that is "in line" with your views is then fine while the person taking the real money shortcut to be able to keep up and go do the more fun stuff is pretty much "a stupid loser" ? To me that seems very judgemental, opinionated and a bit hypocritical. No offense intended.

As I said in my post, there are usually more views than one. Apparently this is where the biggest disagreement lies. This argument is very Black and White.

Not everyone considers getting gear the endgame. Some ppl just enjoy the gameplay and want to slaughter hell cows all day with friends, some enjoy pvp (which in fact was quite popular when D2 first came out and I believe it still is). Some ppl just want to get 1 mf character geared so they can actually participate in the "endgame" of getting items. Some ppl may simply enjoy experimenting with character builds but not grinding or trading for gear (which both can be VERY tedious and frustrating as we all know). Ok, that last groupd could just play offline and use edited characters but then ... how would you show off your latest creation to your friends ? By email ?

Try being a little less narrow minded ppl. There are other views than your very own and different ppl may value things differently. D2 is a gane that consumes your free time like no other. I think we all are painfully aware of this Not everyone has the time to spend hundreds of hours mf'ing and trading but maybe they are fortunate enough to be able to spend 100 bucks on a

Ber or 20 bucks on a

Shako or whatever. Are those ppl then not allowed to enjoy the game in a way they can ? Can those ppl then not be part of a community that simply enjoys playing the game, each and everyone for their very own reasons ?

I played A LOT of D2 in my life. I've sold items on ebay back in the old days and if I was short on money I would do it again. I am fortunate enough to be perfectly able to buy whatever I might want if I had to. But I am also fairly good at trading so I made my fortune "long" ago. If I hadn't though I would absolutely not mind paying ppl who can use the coin (this is important to me personally but matters not for the argument) to outfit a character or get an essential item or whatever so I won't get stuck at the tedious part. Keep in mind ... mf'ing is only fun and rewarding if you find something good once in a while. Would that then make me a bad person, a loser, someone to ridicule ?

Seriously, try being a bit more open minded and understanding for other ppls circumstances. Not everyone lives by the same values, views and principles you do and not everyone has the same amount of time to invest into the game as we all seem to have. That doesn't make them losers or bad ppl or whatever you wanna call them ... oh yeah, stupid was the term used I believe.

Peace!

I'm not going to digress and my post is only for technical purpose not any "ethic issue"

Here's what I saw recently as of early November (currency in US dollars)

Ist = 2

Vex = 8

Ohm = 15

Lo = 30

Ber = 60

Jah = 50

These runes have prices nearly proportional to the number of

Ist used to craft them, although generally no one would do that with runes higher than

Vex.

I remember the values are measured in the so-called High Rune (HR), where

Ohm is about 0.9 HR and

Lo for 1.1 HR.

Jah/

Ber is 2.3 to 2.6 HR or so. Generally speaking the values are like:

Ber>

Jah>

Sur>

Lo>

Ohm>

Vex>

Zod>

Cham>

Gul>

Ist

So you can interpolate their values.

In terms of gears, they don't keep values as well as runes. For example, in the first week after release a

Shako generally costs between

Vex and

Gul, but now it's between

Ist and

Mal. I think the reason is that runes may be consumed to make runewords, and sometimes their values are gone if a low roll occurs (like a low CtA needs

Ohm and

Ist to craft but will be worth much less than an

Ohm). On the other hand, gears will never disappear once found. With more and more

Shako being found, their values decrease.

I think this is getting blown out of proportions, no one said anyone was a loser for buying D2 items with real money. No one said we should ridicule them.
However we all agree that the idea of paying what most people consider a monthly paycheck just to get an Anni sounds crazy. If you are privileged enough to be able to afford that, you also have to accept that most people will consider that money thrown out the window.

I am sure plenty of people who played the game on the original release and want the nostalgia but have families and careers to attend to are happy to pay a dozen dollars to get their hands on a rune they are missing or a unique item, but when it reaches thousands of dollars I don't think it is disrespectful or close minded to call out that kind of behaviour. Especially in the mobile game/pay to win era where differences in income and lack of privileges are highlighting disparities in the real world.

@Peacku Thank you for your considerate post. If this was only about those crazy offers on eBay I would agree.

But this thread went into a much more general direction and "stupid enough" is enough of an insult in my book. "Lmao" qualifies as ridicule in this specific context. "Loser" was made up by me but you will agree that it fits the general vibe of this thread.

To be fair, yes $1000 dollar for an item is silly. Of course we all have seen these offerings. 20 years ago and now again in D2R. Though, at least *I* have NEVER seen a sale like this actually happen. Just like I have never seen a PS5 sell for $2000.

The offers are there of course. Scammers and Scalpers have existed since eBay was founded and they are in no way limited to D2.

I look at eBay D2R sales at least once a week because it is quite helpful to determine the value of some things, see which way runes go etc. And I can tell you that even slightly overpriced offerings will not sell. It's as simple as that really. In fact, most stuff will not sell at all.

It's a common eBay problem though. You only see the stuff that doesn't sell all the time. You don't see the items that sell fast. Unfortunately most ppl assume that those items that don't sell represent the average price.

Ppl seem much more determined to get a fair deal these days. These ridiculous offers never sell as far as I can tell and therefore those become much more exposed.

So what's left then ? Daddy who pays $20 for perfect WT's, $10 for a

Shako or maybe $30 for a full

Tal Set.

Is that truly so bad ?

One angle of the item buying topic I haven't seen mentioned is in regards to the PvP community. For those who may not be aware, there are quite a few people who only play D2 for PvP. These people don't really magic find or engage in much PvM activity. Therefore, the end game for them does not revolve around grinding for gear. All of the biggest real money purchases for items I have ever heard about were done by people buying them for PvP.

Many of the people who are into PvP on D2 are quite competitive. They typically always want to maximize every aspect of their character. Items are fairly important when it comes to performance. As a result, many players become very motivated to get the best items that they can. This is why high stat rare and crafted items become so valuable. People are not spending what they do on those items to give their tals sorc a little extra horsepower when they're killing

Pindleskin. It's all about spilling noob blood.

If you buy gear you're not a real gamer! fight me! *in game pvp only, this post does not condone real world violence in any way shape or form, unless you live close and want to box a few rounds* mwahahahahaha i'm gonna go kill some beef now. Nah, no lie back when i was 14 or 15 i spent something like 3.99 on ebay for a decent bundle of uniques, i remember a Lightsaber, 2 Bartucs, a P .08 vampgaze, and some bugged occy rings. I'm guilty of the occasional microtransaction on the poker and pool games i play on my phone, but going into the triple, even quadruple, digits for items is.....unique.

You have to realize some of these people have a ridiculous amount of money. Who donates 500usd to their favourite streamer?

When money is as abundant as they air you breathe or water in the tap and you don't feel like grinding, why wouldn't you buy it? The items in D2 most of all represent time. Can't earn more time or unspend time.

So in a way you buy time by buying the gear you want. We all do it. Tristruns, tombruns, ancients boost, baalruns, ancients, baalruns, ancients baalruns.

The way people here look down on item buyers is the same way some D2 purists look down on people who ask, receive, or give boosts. Because in their mind "this is how the game should be played". Just like what most people here are saying. "I feel like the game is about X. Anyone thinking and most importantly acting differently is wrong and in some cases pathethic."

I say let everyone enjoy it the way they do. It doesn't interfere with what I do, so why should I care about someone doending money even if I don't?

syllab wrote: 3 years ago

I say let everyone enjoy it the way they do. It doesn't interfere with what I do, so why should I care about someone doending money even if I don't?

If more and more players decide to pay instead of playing, it'll make the bots or other shady practices (duping) appear and thrive (since it's profitable to run them). We all know how unplayable original D2 with such cheats became.

With P2W PvP is even more unfair - it's dominated by those who can afford perfect gear, not who can play the best.