The problem with D3 pre-RoS was a problem of frustration. Then, you were farming for gold to get the items you want off the AH. You weren't farming for loot yourself.

Now, with the AH gone, you are directly farming for the loot. It's a world of difference, and because (legendary) loot is account bound, they are able to increase the drop rate of good loot easily by a factor of 1000x. A typical person might only interact with some maybe 10-20 strangers online, in D2, the drop rate of certain items was so rare that even meeting someone online with that item was an achievement in and of itself. With the AH pre-RoS, they had to nerf the drop rate drastically to account for the AH trading of the best items.

Pre-RoS, you grinded for gold. In RoS, you grinded for gear. Very different. This leads to a totally different game with a totally different feel, RoS is now worthy to be a D2 successor.


Now, blid, I understand you don't like "grinding for gear" in general, the repetitiveness of clicking on monsters repeatedly, but you have to understand the itemhunt IS the game for people who like it. The constant goal to strive for that perfect piece of gear, 1 more stat point on it towards perfectness. The closest analogy to EE would be that I could claim that every reset is the same, it is the same "grab land repetitiveness, then stock, then destock", but the thrill is in the perfecting of your country, the constant goal to squeeze out that last bit of NW.


This is exactly what I feel about landtrading - the presence of the landtrading mechanic has warped the game from "competitive competition" to "cooperative competition" for the top 10 spots. It is no longer the same game, the feel is totally different, in the same manner that the presence of the Auction House in D3 had warped the game from "farming for loot" into "farming for gold". As a consequence, I no longer play on Alliance since 6 months ago.

I hope you totally get my analogy.