i think people on the gold AH have totally lost it, i just searched for lvl 60 weps and there are some up with 2 BILLION gold buyouts a ton with onmes at a few hundred million
Yep, ridiculous huh?
It stems from the Gold farming bots, obviously. Now people assume that everyone and their moms farmed Gold 24/7 since the past three weeks or so using bots, so everyone must have 100 billion Gold, so anything selling for 1 or 2 billion is surely a reasonable price, right? Right indeed.... damn right.
That's why, I believe, that even those who say won't touch the RMAH won't necessarily be able to progress via the GAH anyway. Due to prices so high as soon as a single stat has a good demand that even a dead person would laugh at it. How can anyone could feasibly be indifferent to that is beyond me. The only people who could indeed never even LOOK at the GAH to start with probably quit D3 perhaps weeks ago when they first completed Hell difficulty and moved on to another game. Anyone with the slightest of intentions to stay playing the game in Inferno or stay playing until the PvP comes out will one day or another have to go buy something at the GAH. Good for those who won't "out of principle" but will still suffer from it anyway.
I could surely say like them that I wouldn't even touch the GAH either, ever, and just rely on self-found drops... that means they'll hit a wall soon enough, that's what I think anyway. Try to do that in Diablo II, without using D2JSP for trading, ever, not even in-game trading with other players. Just relying on yourself and your own finds? Really? I for one am using mostly items that I found myself, with by now three exceptions, my 2-handed mace, one ring and my chest armor. If I hadn't bought my 2-handed mace at the GAH (which probably dropped in Act II Inferno, just a guess) I would STILL be stuck with my previous self-found 2-handed axe from Act IV Hell that only had 600 DPS on it, and I would have to spend a day or two to get rid of the first Inferno New Tristram zombie horde? No thanks. That wouldn't have been a challenge, it'd have been a chore (to me).
The ONLY potential redemption (to some extent) will be the next patch, which supposedly allows most of the best stats on items, or generally speaking most of the best items period, to drop in Act I Inferno, although of course with a much lesser chance to drop there than compared to Act IV (but still has a chance nonetheless, contrarily to how it is right now). Only that patch could allow someone to possibly (on paper, but doesn't mean will happen "soon", could even take months anyway for all we know) progress on "his own" with self-found "good" items in Act 1, that would happen to be "good enough" to move on to Act II and finally not die in two shots from a Sand Wasp. If that's the case, then finally there might be a reason to keep "trying" and farming Act 1, but not farming it out of desperation, and rather farm it because you know there's a chance you might get something good there, something better than a 400 DPS Level 54 item for instance.
Seriously, it doesn't have to be a chore, it should be challenging AND fun, it shouldn't feel like a brick wall with the thickness of mount Everest unless you switch to a Demon Hunter out of obligation for actual progression and useful gear hunting in later Acts. Like Blizzard (and I agree with them), I believe that Act 1 Inferno feels about right for general Inferno difficulty, with perhaps some difficulty increase for later Acts, but MUCH lesser than it is right now. To me, Act 1 Inferno does feel "good enough" (challenging as it should be at times, AND fun). The ONLY problem with Act 1 Inferno is indeed the loot, not the difficulty per se. If the items that dropped in Act 1 Inferno could allow ALL classes and MANY builds to progress to Act II (as it should) then we wouldn't be bitching about anything related to gear progression, or progression in general in Inferno difficulty (seriously, Level 54 items in Inferno? Really? There's some limits, Blizzard).
So, yeah, the next patch might help the situation a bit, I'm waiting for it. If it doesn't help much (although according to the preview, it should, at least on paper) then I think I'll just move on and go back playing other games, pretty simple... but not before I can make around $60 from a few RMAH transactions, that's for damn sure.
Bring that patch, and we'll see.