Blizzard has suspended player trading in Diablo 4 “until further notice” due to a gold and item duplication exploit, and threatened players who used it with a ban.
The exploit involved one player initiating a trade with a second player, dropping the items or gold in the trade slot, then forcing the Diablo 4 client to close. From there, the player would log back into the game, with the items or gold reappearing in the player’s inventory while also remaining in the other player’s inventory.
In a post on the Diablo 4 subreddit, a Blizzard representative said the developer was working on a fix for the issue and will update the community once it has reinstated the ability to trade.
“Once that is done, we will continue to monitor this activity to ensure a healthy playing experience for all,” Blizzard said. “As always, any account that engages in gold and item duplication exploits will be actioned in accordance with our End User License Agreement.
“We thank you for reporting this exploit to us and your patience.”
In a follow-up post, Blizzard moved to reassure concerned players that those who “accidentally” traded with a player found using the exploit “won’t be actioned against”.
While Diablo 4 technically supports trading (players can trade Common, Magic, and Gold items along with Gold, Gems and Elixirs), it does not include an in-game auction house (Blizzard famously removed Diablo 3’s real-money auction house back in 2014 following backlash). Instead, players have taken to using Discord to find buyers for their virtual goods.
But the economy underpinning this makeshift market was left in disarray after some players used the exploit to bid huge amounts of gold on up for sale items. In one trade surfaced just before Blizzard’s clampdown, a crossbow was sold for an eye-watering 30 billion gold.
The Diablo series is no stranger to duplicaton exploits, and reaction to this latest removal of trading has been mixed, with some players calling on Blizzard to add proper trading support to the game so they don’t have to use Discord to find buyers.
The issue has also sparked renewed debate in Diablo’s nature as a single-player focused action role-playing game supported by ‘lite’ MMO elements such as partying up and trading, with some calling for expanded MMO features to add variety to gameplay, and others calling for a purely single-player only experience.
Perhaps Diablo 4’s biggest ‘gold sink’ revolves around the high cost of upgrading gear and rerolling item enchantments. Players will no doubt pounce upon any gold duplication exploit in order to skip the grind associated with this process, with Blizzard equally as keen to stamp it out in a bid to stabilize Diablo 4’s in-game economy.
Blizzard released patch 1.1.1 on August 8 and it appears to have gone down well after the disastrous prior update caused a backlash. Diablo 4 Season 1, which launched last month, is expected to continue into late October 2023. Blizzard has already released a lengthy roadmap and promised to continue addressing community feedback through Season 3 and beyond.
Diablo 4 was the best-selling game in June, and has maintained momentum despite its various controversies. For more info, check out our in-depth Diablo 4 Season 1 guide as well as our interactive map.
Image credit: Jeppe-O / YouTube
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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