The difference is before it was only the hardcore niche that bought shit off ebay, and it was done illegally so even less people did it because of potential risks.
Now everyone and their mother has the same access and it's legal. Which will FORCE everyone else to purchase shit for RL $$ in order to keep up with their friends who purchased shit. Which is exactly what blizzard wants to happen, since they make a cut.
Lets not forget that this will also make 10000 different Chinese farmers bot this game non stop to sell shit for $$. Which Blizzard wants as well, because every time they catch a Chinese farmer selling shit they can ban the farmer and keep the entire profits for themselves. Since the money will be held in escrow.
This isn't even an MMO. It's a dungeon crawler. How many bad directions can they take it in?
