LLD101

[wfg-dude]

I don't know why people shy away from admitting they pay to play a game. They act as if not doing so makes you more elite or something. I've played World of Warcraft (for a short time) which cost me $15 a month. I also currently subscribe to Xbox online which runs about the same...not to mention paying $50 per game and sometimes a few bucks here and there to get new player maps or upgrades to the game.

So, Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo are the only non subscription MMORPG style games that seem to be popular these days. Warcraft and Starcraft don't have the uniqueness of Diablo in that with Diablo you have to build a character up to "killing" status. That is what makes Diablo unique... it is the only game or at least one of very few where you must build your character from scratch and you have about 1/10,000,000 chance of finding all perfect gear for your character on your own.

That is why trading was implemented. If I'm a sorceress and I find a sword it is practically useless to me and if you find an orb and you are a barbarian then it is practically useless to you...therefore we trade and we're both happy.

This, of course, spawned people actually selling virtual items online. Now, to anyone who actually goes out into the maps and tries finding things (mf'ing) you know the chance of finding a jah and a ber (for making the runeword Enigma) are astronomically LOW! Even running a bot (automated way of playing and mf'ing without having to do the work yourself) takes months to find those runes on your own.

So, how is it that every person on this site or any other owns an Enigma? They also all own a grief, an exile, a lastwish, and probably a hoto, cta, botd, etc, etc, etc.

Some could argue they found something really nice and traded for those items. These are teh same people that claim they found something so nice and so original that they happen to have 500 sojs on hand at all times.

So, here is the thread where you can be proud and admit you ebay to play Diablo. If you act pure then I'm guessing you are in denial. 99.9999% of everyone pays to play every game in one way or another.

I admit I've ebayed items for this game. For instance: I'm rolling spirits and insights on ladder ATM. If you've ever done this then you know it takes about 10 rolls (or more) to hit desireable mods. I'm currently rolling about 8 spirits and 5 insights = 13 x around 10 rolls = I need 130 or more Hel runes! Even when I ran a bot back in 1.10 I never found that many hel runes at the countess or anywhere else for that matter. So, I busted out my credit card and paid $.99 for each lot of 50. Some might think that is crazy...let me explain my reasoning. I realize you can find this stuff but it takes a minimum of 30-40 runs at countess to find a hel rune. Assuming you don't take breaks and don't use maphack then you are talking a couple hours MINIMUM to find ONE hel rune. I needed a minimum of 150 hel runes so we're talking over 300 hours of playing time devoted solely to finding hel runes. Not including the messages from friends to help them with one thing or another, transferring items you've found, fail to joins, temp bans, etc, etc, etc.

I don't know how you feel about that but I make a LOT of money per hour and I'd rather spend 300 hours dueling or chatting with friends or w/e... not mf'ing countess for a couple hel runes. Worth the $3 I paid to not be staring at the computer screen hoping to catch a glimpse of the ever elusive tower

I haven't paid for the majority of items I have...I've traded for high end stuff too. However, in some cases $$$ just makes more sense to me. In fact, I'd go as far to say that paying $$$ is smarter or more "1337" than saying you NEVER pay for anything...cuz to me that just makes you someone that likes working harder... not smarter. Or, in Diablo terms, a Noob!

I can hear your responses already... "I'm elite...I never pay" or "I find everything on my own or trade for it"

My response... ya right! Finding elite items takes FOREVER! Running a bot 24/7 increases your chances but assuming you DON'T bot... how often do you find elite items worthy of trade for huge Diablo wealth??? I can answer that question very easily... go try shopping a +holy shield war scepter and tell me how many days it takes you... assuming you even know how to shop one. If you can't even shop a holy shield scepter with gold in town...how am I supposed to believe you found a zod rune or an eth 4socket polearm , etc , etc.

Now, this goes both ways...I've also SOLD stuff via ebay as well. I've made over $50 last year. Not a lot... but I didn't put that many things up for auction. I prefer to save elite items to trade for other elite low dueling items.

How about you??? Your thoughts???

[Elusive]

HOLY ESSAY BATMAN

i know of several who buy/sell on east nl. myself included. i really dont have a problem with it because to me, currency is interchangeable.

[Weaj]

I personally don't pay for the items I have, I find it more gratifying when I find items myself, then again... I play way too much and sometimes I do wish I would buy things, Don't have a credit card is one problem but even so, I just don't have too much money, but I have the time.

[Dao Jones]

I must be one of those people in denial, because I never paid real money for an in-game item. I think in my case the reasoning was that I was just never a serious enough player to warrant even spending 3 bucks for 150 Hel runes (which is admitted a pretty good deal).

I used to mock eBayers back in the day, but Breakbeatz had a pretty good point when he was forced to defend himself (which he usually was) - he basically said "my time is worth more to me than my money". (Not sure if that's exactly what he said, but that's a reasonable summary.) At the time I didn't really pay it much mind, but in retrospect that's not an unreasonable perspective at all.

It doesn't work for me, because as an entrenched "casual gamer" I couldn't even stand mf'ing for more than maybe an hour once every few days, but if you're someone who is really serious about playing this game (and many LLDers are), it's practical from a cost-benefit perspective to cough up a few bucks to circumvent 100s of lost hours doing repetitive mf'ing.

I used to make the argument that "if you pay to play, why bother playing at all?", but I realize that I erred in seeing that argument only from my perspective. For me, the fun is in kicking around and "playing" the game. For someone like BB, the fun lies in building and perfecting a dueler. I'm an explorer - he's an engineer. I didn't need awesome items and he doesn't need to waste time playing the odds that he'll find them.

It's really just a matter of what you enjoy more. Some people enjoy finding that awesome, game-defining item on a lucky drop, while others would rather spend time doing something else. Both perspectives are legitimate. *Especially* when some people on here could probably build a pretty credible dueler with the money they make in just two hours' worth of work.

[breakbeatz2]

There's no good argument against an individual who ebays. Some people think that ebaying is wrong because it encourages duping, botting, and it's not continuous with the D2 fantasy world. However, you can't blame the individual ebay buyer for these problems.

I ebay because I want godly items and the money is very little to me. However, even if the money is significant to a person, they can should spend it how they want, and if buying D2 items maximizes their utility, they should do it.

A lot of people say things like "only nerds would rather have items than dollars," yet they have accounts full of D2 characters. If they truly believed this, they would sell their characters. Every person that doesn't sell their D2 characters is choosing D2 items over real money.

[Zolas]

I spent about $40 on a 08 visc, some 3/ar/lifers, and the name Taipei (My kitty)

[Kody]

i use to think ebaying was "noobish" lol but i forget what thread but breakbeatz explained it in a very reasonable manner and it changed my view of ebaying lol

edit: also i have yet to pay for anything in d2 as well

[Waramp]

the only reason everyone has a nigma, exile, fort, etc is because the small amount of hrs found have been duped into astronomical numbers, making them as common and cheap as a pgem. i personally have not paid any money for this game (other than the original d2 cd keys. i got the exp cd from my uncle). i find im doing quite well with the game too without having paid any money. the occasional friend quitting doesnt hurt either

[Thc-Matt]

Some of my buddiez buy alot of stuff from sites. One of my friends bought his whole zealer gear. I dont have a problem with it but i dont buy my stuff cause im always broke too many chicks drain my cash

[breakbeatz2]

The hookers sure add up huh?

[Roy]

[Waramp]

as me and my buddy dako always say in regards to ebaying: Beers over Bers

[breakbeatz2]

Spending money to maximize utility is econ 101.

[Grim04]

I've ebayed some small items when I played D2. Usually items like rerolling runes.

Most of my wealth came from farming .

[Roy]