Major item-duplication exploit shuts down trading in Diablo IV — again

Blizzard Entertainment has had to deactivate trading at the beginning of another season, again, to deal with an item duplication exploit that threatened to flood the game’s economy with tons of rare items and materials.

News of the dupe exploit seemed to originate from a livestream out of China where a streamer was showing rare items like Stygian Stones, which ordinarily command eight-figure prices in-game, being sold in bulk for a low-millions price.

Blizzard quickly stepped in and shut down all trading. Per Adam “PezRadar” Fletcher, Diablo 4’s community manager, trading was stopped “while we investigate a possible duplication issue.

“We apologize for the disruption and will provide updates on when we will have trading available again once we further investigate and identify any issues we need to resolve,” he added.

As Diablo streamer Rob2628 pointed out Wednesday afternoon, “[W]e [have] had a duple exploit ruin the trading economy every season now.”

Fans on Diablo 4’s official forums said they are getting tired of dupe exploits bringing down a common function of the loot-based game.

“When is this going to get fixed?” demanded one. “If you can’t fix it, then just diable it or switch back to D3 format. At least then you will eliminate the [real-money trading] that is rampant through the game that you guys can’t fix as well.”

The same poster pointed out that one of the aggravating factors in this latest duplication exploit is the fact that some materials (Stygian Stones, specifically) summon the game’s toughest bosses — bosses that deliver the biggest rewards when defeated. With materials flooding the market at rock-bottom prices, it’s a cheap way to grind one’s way up the Gauntlet Leaderboard, so the impacts reach beyond just wrecking the in-game economy.

As of the time of writing, trading was still disabled in Diablo 4, with no further word on when it might return.

Diablo 4’s current season, season 5 — the Season of the Infernal Hordes — began Aug. 6 and will be shorter than usual, making way on Oct. 8 for the major Vessel of Hatred expansion that was announced at Xbox Games Showcase in June.

Featured image via Blizzard Entertainment

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