Class Popularity and it's impact on the item pool in AH der=0>

[nuhertz]

In trying to determine what types of items would be most profitable, or quickly sold (both important considerations), I think that class popularity will have some serious effects.

In most polls the barb comes out on top in terms of the favorite class, but in terms of "shared" main stats (STR, INT and DEX), the combination of two that share the same stat seem to have the highest percentages.

Here's a few of those:

http://tinyurl.com/diablo3p

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/top...625696?page=35

Here's what it means:
Class specific items for Barb should be more popular at first, as most people will play their favorite class first.
INT and DEX items should have a larger market as long as it's not class specific.

In the longer outlook though, won't everyone just have one of each character and then gear it?

Thoughts?

[Ayewyn]

I expect there will be a lot of alts rocking hand me downs until they hit level cap. I would think most purchases will be done for a person's main. As the main finds gear that other classes could use it will go to the stash, then get used in the leveling process. Keep in mind that the majority of players are not going to rush to inferno and play 6-10 hours a day. Like it or not we will share this game with a massive amount of casual players. That is good news though, as they are the most willing to spend money to make up for a lack of grinding, or just looking cool. So whatever is the most popular class may command a slight premium, but multiclass items might not do as well unless they have something that will be a massive benefit to leveling like +xp that they can use over and over again.

[nuhertz]

Interesting thoughts. That brings up another question. These casual players will likely be exactly that, casual. What kind of things do you sell to a casual player? Items they can't acquire themselves because of knowledge, or because of time investment.

Casual gamers are going to want to progress, and progression generally is tied to your damage, IE weapon. Are weapons going to reign supreme as the first item people purchase? I know it's usually important as I level to 13 for the first time on each of my beta chars.

[Karpalo]

Weapons tend to be priced bit higher than other slots.

Thing about so called casual players is that they look for upgrades where so called hardcore players aim for perfection. Since these casual players don't go around the world wide web daydreaming of BiS items they tend to value mid tier items higher than someone who has done their homework.

Then again the AH system is new addition to the genre so that might change the game a bit. That's something that needs to be accounted for.

What i tried to say is that other mans thrash can be other mans treasure.

[Ayewyn]

Well, as some have already said, they are going to look for the big obvious numbers first, high DPS, + to stat of the class, but I also think +xp gear will do well, because they will likely be familiar with buying XP boosts in other games. Just about every game with a cash shop has +xp items, and in D3 that means gear with that affix. The more savvy of the casual crowd will probably look for items with XP that could be used on any class, and uses the same set of gear with each alt. Maybe +gold and +magic find will also benefit from this as well, as maybe other cash shop games will also have +loot items. In other games +xp and +loot are timed buffs so they get repeat sales. We will have to rely on character level itself as what will drive the sales. Figuring out when most players will want to replace an old XP gear with a higher lvl req XP gear will be important if you want to go after these sales. I mean, you could just sell all you come across, but if you are going to try your hand at crafting you will want to know what level of players want what level of gear at what points in the game. Outside of +XP, +gold, and +magic find, I don't think there will be a huge demand for multi-class items from the casual players, and for class specific items it will all be down to how high that DPS/Armor # is, and how much of their class's pet stat it gives them. Anything more then that is expecting too much critical thinking from a player base that just wants to have fun.

[Stephane]

What kind of things do you sell to a casual player? Items they can't acquire themselves because of knowledge, or because of time investment.

If you want to sell an item because he dont have the knowledge about it yet you are in for a tough sell. Depends on what you really mean by knowledge though?

[nuhertz]

If you want to sell an item because he dont have the knowledge about it yet you are in for a tough sell. Depends on what you really mean by knowledge though?

By knowledge I mean they don't know how to acquire it. Diablo 3 is more transparent with what exists than ever, as you can look directly at someone's items, scour the AH, or obviously visit the website. The first two are certainly going to be the most common.

However, casual players won't know what a mlvl is, how it relates to a drop, and where to go for the best items. Therefore, knowledge is keeping them from acquiring the item. Make sense?

[Sooru]

Casuals tend to value things like crit% or crit damage bonus or IAS way more than the real value of those stats are. In case of crit, some people just want to see the big numbers fly. IAS also has a noticeable effect if you stack lots of it. Thus items with large allocation of some of these visible stats could very well sell for more money than it's value should be based on pure efficiency.

[Baalat]

high dps weapons and mf items
I am playing PoE as a "casual" and that is what I enjoy the most

probably an area of speculation could be PvP items (to saved them for later)

[Pheal]

Find the average level that people are at milestones in the game that could cause gaps. Get the best stuff for these gaps and sell. I think it's the best way to appeal to casual gamers. Then you check what sold, restock and shuffle.the.old.items for new ones since you only have 10 slots. Not sure it's the best way to make money tho since high end items will sell for more in the long run. You have 2 ways to play this. Uncertain but high profit (items) or low but steady profit (commodities).