A big part of most RPGs is the in-game currency. It is what allows you to purchase gear and items and improve stats. At the same time, it is scarce, which is what makes grinding the game and earning in-game currency a big part of the experience. What happens when this scarce currency suddenly comes in abundance? Blizzard found exactly what happens when Diablo 4 players found an exploit that would lead to in-game trading shutting down.
After Diablo 4 players found an exploit to farm gold, it led to a massive rise in item prices. Subsequently, a mere crossbow had a bidding war that ended at 30 billion in gold, with Blizzard shutting down trading entirely!
Diablo 4 trading shut down after a crossbow was sold for billions
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It all started when the community found an exploit that gave them access to an ever-giving source of gold. When this gold began circulating among traders in the game, it did not take long for item prices to begin skyrocketing. The exploit was so effective that players had billions of gold in their inventory. For context, after a considerable amount of grinding, a million gold is still a big number. This is when the bidding war started.
Jeppe, a Discord user, posted an ad about a Diablo 4 crossbow being on sale. The bidding started at 150 million gold, as potential buyers jumped at the opportunity to get a strong weapon in their arsenal. Jeppe had the terms clear. If no one was able to match the top bid, the item would be sold after 10 minutes of the bid being placed. Buyers poured in and the number jumped to 1.5 billion gold in no time.
This is when the real spenders came in. The bids became unreal, as they crossed the 5 billion mark. Before long, they came to 10 billion, but there was a different problem. You see, Diablo 4 only lets you carry 9.9 billion gold on an account. However, one individual placed a bet for 12 billion gold, saying they had a friend carrying the extra gold. The bidding continued before reaching 20 billion.
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One bidder, named PoorGuy, offered 20 billion gold and another crossbow as a combo deal, or just 30 billion gold. While it was not made clear what deal Jeppe took, the deal’s value came in at 30 billion gold. Ironically, the player who had the winning deal was named PoorGuy.
What did Blizzard do?
As soon as Blizzard got wind of the exploit, they worked quickly to shut down trading. Moreover, they promised any accounts that engaged in duplication will face action according to the End User License players agreed to. This includes bans on players using the exploit. At the moment, there are no updates about when trading will resume.
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As for PoorGuy, despite winning a massive bidding war, they will lose out on the item as season 2 of Diablo 4 rolls around. Many players questioned why they bought an item for 30 billion gold only to lose it with the season update. Nevertheless, this trade will be immortalized among Diablo fans as the one that got devs to shut down trading.
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