DIABLOOOOOOO

You can't download all of Diablo 3 to your computer. You have a game client that is missing pieces, requiring Battle.Net to be able to fill in the blanks so you have a whole experience. This is an intentional design to help curb the problem of duplicated items and the crashing of economy that happened in Diablo 2. Without access to player saves, items cannot be hacked in. Because games require authentication through Battle.Net, you cannot dupe gold.

You can, however, arrange a batch of computers to stack Magic Find and Gold Find gear and farm pots and dead humans to quickly farm gold. You could, anyway, before the implementation of Diablo 3's most recent patch.

In an effort to stop the crashing price of gold (that blizzard will sell you on their Real Money Auction House), the droprate on items from environmental effects has been driven into the ground. Pots and Urns were once capable of spitting out rare items and piles of gold. Armor and Weapon racks used to house things of varying quality. The bodies of fallen heroes held goods for you to make use of.

These items all put out items affected by the Magic/Gold Find augments on items. They required no combat to skill or gear or even really level to pick up. The obvious answer is to patch out the items entirely, making it so you rarely find anything from any of them. Weapon Racks no longer carry weapon, despite the name. Armor Racks adorned with a breastplate will not vaporize when you get near them, providing nothing.

This comes in the very same patch that increased the cost of repairing your items. Not just on death, either. It isn't as though they "increased" the cost by making death carry a higher tax on durability, thereby making you have to repair more, thereby making you have to spend the same amount as usual only more often. They flatly tuned a sliding scale towards the 500% mark, so now dying once carries with it the same cost as having died four or five times. And it isn't just death. Reports abound of people looking for the high score on pristine equipment: You can repair your equipment to 100%, go and break a barrel or a jar, and have to spend up to 400 gold in repairing that single swing. You know, on a jar that no longer has a noticeable chance of dropping anything.

The whole thing reeks. If I paid money for this game, I'd be rallying on the forums like everyone else incensed over this.

That's not even touching the issues and shady area regarding the Real Money Auction House. That's probably for another time, though.