August 1, 2011 by Paul Curtin
The Diablo 3 beta is set to start any day now. While Blizzard has yet to officially announce when the beta starts, there are many rumors speculating that the beta will be released today. Although you never know with Blizzard, they have released a ton of new information regarding the game, which means even if the beta isn’t released today, it most likely will be soon.
You can view a full list of new announcements on the official site here. But the most controversial of the new features has to be the newly revamped auction house that gives players the option to buy and sell items with in-game gold currency or use real life cash. One of the staples of Blizzard RPGs is wasting long hours (if not days or months) raiding in an effort to gain possession of a rare item. Blizzard has said that the auction house will work very similar to eBay and that they will take a small amount of money per transaction as an auction house fee.
The idea that anybody can just buy rare items off the auction house is sure to incite some nerd rage. However, the new auction house works both ways, so it should be interesting to see how smarter hardcore players use the system to profit and earn real life money.
