It just happened i bought a ring for 50.000g from the AH and never got it, it's in my log as "purchased", tho. Opened a ticket. Now i am scared buying stuff in the AH....
On a side-note: I think the game is SERIOUSLY screwed since all up to now (NM) there is no single item drop which is/was an upgrade or is even remotely interesting. ALL the items i got are basically from AH.
I can't, for the life of it, understand that this was ever intended that basically all drops are worthless...also..that elites etc. often only drop grays etc...i don't get it. The loot system is somewhat retarded.
Also..i am starting to wonder what actually happens if one hits 60 in NM..what comes AFTER 60???
In wow, you know once you hit 70 (or 80, 85 respective) the game actually BEGINS..but i have trouble seeing myself playing once i hit 60 - i mean, grinding for g and $ is all fun - but i think the fun will be rather limited since we cannot expect any new content etc. (as they officially stated)...and i don't think the avg. gamer will want to run the same, rather short game multiple times just for gold grinding?
(Also with making alts etc..i mean it's still the same game and after a few hours one basically saw everything.)
What do you do once you hit 60?
I'll go by points to give some of my thoughts.
1) The items you buy at the AH that end up being an actual worthy upgrade had to drop in somebody's game hehe. I know how it feels but then again Diablo 2 wasn't different by any means. Most of the worthy items I had in Diablo 2 were items I traded for from the D2JSP trading forums (since trading for worthy items in-game usually ended up as scams or stealing attempts, or prices were ludicrously exaggerated). Actually finding even half of the items you can equip by yourself as you play through any difficulty only depends on your luck of indeed just finding something good, it's possible, but probably won't happen any time soon. It shouldn't either, otherwise the game would become boring if everyone could actually find everything they'd need or want in no time, making the AH itself basically useless, and the game itself overall not addictive.
2) About item drops, their quality and the frequency of drops, and what mobs can drop, etc., it's all very much in line with Diablo 2's loot table and drop chances as well. How many times did I have to grind Mephisto for even just a decent item? Because usually he'd drop crap, and he's more than just some "elite mob pack", he's one of the Prime Evils for crying out loud, but then again, if he always dropped something "good" for your character, or something that would be an upgrade from a previously found item, what would then be the point of basically playing the game for a long time?
Once your character is geared up with pretty much the best items there can be with the best stats variations you can find on those items, then you pretty much stop playing that character, since the goal of a game like Diablo 3 (or D2) is to gear up to the best there is for that class or that build (or both). Well not that the "goal" in question is imposed by the developers of course, but most players playing D3 do impose such a goal on themselves, they do want to gear up with the best there is, usually anyway. If each and every single elite mob packs would drop at the very least a rare item, it would make the crafting system pretty much useless, and would make the game too easy (it's already quite easy enough as it is with just equipping blue items, it just takes a bit longer to kill mobs, that's about it).
You almost have to see Diablo 3 like an ambulant gambling game, with a nice GUI, a character to bash mobs with and lots of patience, plus of course being easily addicted by said gambling. It's gambling in the sense that launching the game and playing it (rather than just browsing the Auction House to buy items there) is a "risk", you spend time doing what you already know will happen (main quests, or even Events, since over time people will have seen all Events there is to play, unless Blizzard create new ones out of the blue as small updates over time), while expecting (or wishing) that as you play and kill mobs you'll of course find good items.
But you should know (rather than expect) that maybe 95% of the items you'll find will always be trash items, it's the nature of a game like this even if Diablo 3 specifically is more story-driven than Diablo 2 was, but that in itself doesn't mean that D3's loot table is that different, it's pretty much the same.
3) The "problem", if you think it's one, isn't the level cap, nor what you do "after that". You're wondering what you do after you hit level 60 in a game like Diablo, and that's the wrong mentality, in my opinion. With such thinking you'd be comparing D3 to an MMORPG basically, as you did comparing it to World of WarCraft. That's not exactly how a game like Diablo 3 works for the player. What Diablo 3 is, as I said, is a gambling game, with a very nice looking layer on top of it (some story, scripted events, dialog, characters, mobs to kill and some blood splattering thrown in). In World of WarCraft you usually have to "earn" your character's gear progression, and overall "importance" (in a guild, etc) over time by participating in end-game content and "earning" the loot you can roll on, etc.
It's different in comparison to Diablo 3, in the sense that D3's character gear progression isn't relying on the activity of a community and you being part of it as much as it happens in WoW. In D3 your character's overall "progression" is depending on your own interests since you have access to everything the game has to offer even if you keep playing solo by choice. I'm not sure if you can "progress to the top, or near the top" in WoW by remaining solo and not participating in general "end-game" content after you hit the level cap. So what you "do" in Diablo 3 after you hit level 60 is exactly the same as many thousands did and still do in Diablo 2 after they hit level 85+ and got to hell difficulty... they keep playing because they're addicted by the "gambling" nature of the game.
Now of course you "gear up" in Diablo 3, but you have the Auction House for that, you could literally "stop playing" after completing the game one time on Normal, for its story, just as much as you could stop playing World of WarCraft after the main quests are completed (I'd presume?) and you're then up to play end-game dungeons with raids and parties and whatnot. That's also the case with Diablo 2, you could stop playing after completing the game one time on Normal by just relying on the vendor items to "gear up" your character. There's no "definite goal" in a game like Diablo 2 or 3 that is "imposed" by the developer. The goal that can exist if there's one is one that the player himself imposes on purpose. If you want to gear up your Barbarian with a full set of Legendary items to do well in Inferno from time to time when you feel like it, then that's "a" goal, or "your" goal, but it's not "the goal" of the game.
There IS "the goal" in a game like WoW however, the goal is to reach end-game content, get in a guild (I guess) and progress from that point, and try to get "amongst the best out there". If in a game like WoW you instead impose yourself to NOT participate in end-game content, then you'd better just not buy the game to start with, so Diablo 3 is also different when it comes to that.
The gear progression in Diablo 3 comes pretty much from the "addiction" you have from playing the game yourself (excluding the Auction House). But with an MMORPG you often play not exactly because you're "addicted" to it, but because you're part of a guild (sometimes) or you want to interact with a community, keep "helping your guild-mates" in end-game content, etc. I mean if you're a good Tank in your guild and you can access and be successful in end-game content, you won't exactly stop playing the game completely after you gear up that character will you? I bet not, you'll keep Tanking for others, you'll keep participating in end-game content, you'll keep logging in to chat with your friends if nothing else. In Diablo 3 you can also make a "Tank Barb", but you don't have anyone "waiting" or "counting" on you, nor having a guild "counting on you" as the "main guild tank" to logging soon so that four or five other players can finally go to that dungeon because they needed a Tank to play and no other Tanks were online.
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So... yeah, you play a game like D3 as you see fit, there's no obligations or "daily quests" to do or any guild you have to be part of and help progress to compete against others. You play and you enjoy yourself while hoping that luck is on your side... OR... you leave the game, get to the main menu, get to the Auction House (if it works, that is), and "accelerate the process" of gearing up by buying everything you can and need. It was the same with Diablo 2, there was no Auction House, but there was D2JSP, and I was a member there, it was "the" unofficial place to trade and exchange items.
The principle remained the same, either you go to D2JSP for gear progression in Diablo 2 and accelerate the process that way, or you go to the official Auction House for that in Diablo 3, either way you just contribute to make the game easier for yourself, and that could end up making it boring just faster than it would have otherwise been but after a longer period of time.