14 DAY TRIAL // Diablo 3 has yet to receive its Real-Money Auction House but this doesn’t mean that players aren’t trying to exploit the current in-game gold Auction House, as a new exploit has apparently been found that allows players to dupe gold and easily reach billions of virtual currency.
Diablo 3 allows players to sell items and weapons via the in-game Auction House that, as of yet, supports only transactions in virtual gold.
While Blizzard is adamant that the system is secure, it seems that some players have uncovered a nasty little exploit. This vulnerability allows them to dupe (copy) the gold of players who placed a bid on items they have on sale.
Apparently, the whole exploit was showcased during a live Diablo 3 stream organized by some players, which quickly prompted others to try it out. After replicating the steps, many found themselves with millions upon millions of in-game gold in their accounts.
Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok has posted a few things on the Diablo 3 forums and said that while the exploit on the live stream was inconclusive, there was no real proof that shady things were going on.
“As far as we can tell the supposed exploit never worked, but we'll continue looking into it,” he said on the forums. “Yes, changing the system clock can change auction times, but that doesn’t dupe gold. It's pretty easy to see how much gold people have, and we have no indication anyone has/had that much.”
Blizzard will still investigate this potential exploit, according to the community manager.
“Yeah, I mean could be something funny is going on, we'll continue looking into it. This live duping on a stream is just clearly not credible, and people are trying to claim it is. We're fully interested in tracking down any issues, as always, though,” he said.
The Blizzard man also added that the flood of in-game gold wouldn’t affect the upcoming launch of the Real-World Auction House, where gold can be sold in exchange for cash.
“The amount of gold in the system won't affect the value of real world currency. You'd just need more gold to equal some amount of currency. We want gold to be worth something because we think it will create a better game experience, but the market will dictate its value against real world currency.”
Expect to hear some more official details about this Diablo 3 exploit soon.