See how several hundred Diablo 3 players took advantage of a gold duplication bug, making themselves filthy rich overnight and bringing the economy to its knees.

The Exploit
When Blizzard released Patch 1.0.8 for Diablo 3 it also unleashed a "coding error" that allowed a small number of exploiters - 415 accounts according to Blizzard's official count - to duplicate gold via the real-money Auction House.

Blizzard understandably avoided explaining in full detail how the exploit worked to avoid additional players from trying it out, but now that the loophole has been closed there does not seem to be a lot of danger explaining what transpired.

The Slanted succinctly recaps the exploit process which reportedly led to trillions of duplicated Gold:

"The patch-bug was simple enough, increasing the allowed stacks for in-game gold within the auction house from 1 million to 10 million. Making it 10x less expensive than it was before. Then all a player had to do was cancel a gold auction, and they would get 2X the amount listed and double their money for nothing," said The Slanted's John Stewart.

Aftermath
The gold duplication exploit wreaked havoc on the fragile balance of the Diablo 3 economy. Exploiters suddenly had all the money in the world to purchase anything and everything on the Auction House. Players who sold items ended up having trillions of Gold, but because there was so much Gold being created inside the economy, the value of Gold tanked to near-zero.

Blizzard Response
Within hours of the Gold duplication bug going live, players flagged it to the developers who quickly shut down the Auction House. But those precious few hours were enough time for the economy to disintegrate.

Blizzard had the option of rolling back the server back to the point before the Gold duplication bug arrived, but Blizzard decided against rolling back the server. It opted instead to correct each involved account, considering that the actual duping transpired only across 415 accounts.

Blizzard said it did not want to punish the rest of the community with a prolonged server downtime or delete the progression innocent players have made since Patch 1.0.8. A server rollback would have wiped out the levels and achievements players have made with their heroes, as well as any rare Bind-on-Account item craft.

In what it described as "targeted audits and account actions" Blizzard is confident that it can retrieve most of the duplicate Gold that was created and poured into the economy. As of its latest report, Blizzard has recaptured 85% of this excess Gold.

Of course, the solution is not without its critics. Many are calling to punish those who indirectly took advantage without actually performing the exploit, such as those who sold items - such as gems - to dupers and received billions in extra profit. Blizzard just might go after this lot after rounding up the exploiters. Although with the way the developer has worded its communications since the exploit, don't get your fingers crossed.

Gold is king is Diablo 3, and for anyone wanting as much of it as they can, they ought to look into the barbarian class. It has a ton of great strengths that make it ideal for grinding mobs and picking up a ton of extra money continuously and almost without effort. So what's the best way to build a barbarian for gold farming? Let's take a look:

Primary: Frenzy (Smite)

For your primary skill, you'll want Frenzy to blast down tough mobs quickly and without effort. It's a great Fury builder and with Smite, you'll be able to survive encounters easily.

Secondary: Whirlwind (Windshear)

Whirlwind will be your AOE bread and butter move to use when you have enough Fury. It dishes out a good amount of AOE DPS along with increasing your movement speed. Pick up Wind Shear with it to make it a cheaper attack when facing large groups.

Action Bar 1: Battle Rage (Bloodshed)

Keep Battle Rage up constantly to give you a decent flat increase in damage and crit chance. Make sure to add Bloodshed for added AOE damage.

Action Bar 2: Sprint (Run Like the Wind)

To make gold fast, you'll have to run fast. Use Sprint to close in on enemies quickly and Run Like the Wind to dish out even more AOE damage.

Action Bar 3: War Cry (Bloodshed)

Dishing out a ton of damage is good, but if you're stuck waiting for health regeneration between each fight, then you're moving slower than you need to. War Cry will increase your survivability considerably and getting Bloodshed will even allow you to heal faster.

Action Bar 4: Wrath of the Berserker (Insanity)

Like Battle Rage, Wrath of the Berserker is just a great cooldown to use when you've gathered up a ton of enemies or are facing a few particularly tough ones. It'll increase attack speed, movement speed, dodge, and crit chance. Make sure to use Insanity for the added damage.

Passive 1: Bloodthirst

This is another great self-healing ability that'll let you minimize downtime between fights.

Passive 2:Inspiring Presence

This adds some self-healing along with making your shouts last longer, which means that fury can be spent on damaging attacks.

Passive 3:Unforgiving

Keeping your fury up is key to making money as a barbarian.

Passive 4:Superstition

This is both a great damage reducer and fury generator.

The above skills give you everything you need to make gold: mobility, survivability, and AOE DPS, but feel free to change things up a bit based on the type of situation you're in.

The Diablo 3 team is looking to increase the utility of gold by adding more appealing gold sinks such as more crafting recipes sold at the vendors. Vanity items are also being mulled, such as character costumes and other avatar customization options, that could convince the player base to continue earning and spending gold currency.

Gold as a valuable commodity
Developers feel that right now Diablo 3 Gold is seen strictly as an auction house currency, but they want to diversify its use and inflate its value among players.

"We frequently discuss the Diablo economy, as we want players to feel that gold is a valuable commodity, useful in ways beyond just the auction house," said Diablo 3 game designer Travis Day in a new itemization developer journal. "Ultimately, we want to provide players with things that they are excited to spend their hard-earned gold on."

The most recent patches have made it easier than ever for players to accumulate millions of gold, and some who have had their fill of auction house items already do not know what to do with their ever-rising gold stacks. Some fans have proposed tax mechanics to be implemented to deal with the excess gold in the market, but Day said "we don't want out of control inflation, but we also don't think that taxing players is the proper approach."

New vanity options
Day said crafting recipes for Marquise gems and Archon armor which were introduced in January are just the start of a campaign to expand the available gold sinks in Diablo 3. Soon, players can look forward to buying more vanity options.

"We want to explore include providing players with vanity options or potential ways to differentiate themselves from their friends or other characters (i.e. character customization options in terms of gear). We are also exploring ways to make crafting more exciting by adding not just more ways to make appealing items, but also introducing ways to modify existing items," said Day.

Fan reactions
Fan reactions on the official feedback thread have been fairly positive, noting that Blizzard has been listening more to their player base with these changes.

But some have also pointed out that the vanity options and other additional gold sinks might be still be months or even a year away from going live. Blizzard seems more concerned - at least for the next Patch 1.0.8 - with adjusting mob density and quality-of-life improvements to multi-crafting and auction house comparisons.

Gold seller impact
Blizzard's promise to create more exciting gold sinks is good news for Diablo 3 gold sellers. More gold sinks multiplies the need to accumulate gold, and grind-averse players will have more reasons to buy it. Current customers will also be compelled to stock up more frequently as they spend gold on a lot more items, gear, upgrades and customization services. The roll-out of the new gold sinks though could take some time, and so will the positive impact on demand.

Diablo 3 will be coming to the PlayStation 3 (PS3) as well as the console platform's newly unveiled next-gen successor, PlayStation 4 (PS4). This is expected to trigger fresh demand for Diablo 3 gold as potentially millions of new players flock to the action rpg.

PS3 and PS4 versions
In a press release over the weekend, Blizzard Entertainment said that both the PS3 and PS4 versions will be based on the core PC game and will carry all its defining features, including Paragon levels, the Infernal Machine event, Monster Power, and Brawling, among others.

The Diablo 3 developer also assured console fans that the PC game will be optimized for both consoles. "This version is also being tailored with customized controls, a new user interface, and a dynamic camera perspective to provide an awesome Diablo 3 experience for PlayStation gamers," said Blizzard.

The PS3 and PS4 versions will also be able to support single-player and multiplayer modes.

"Players will be able to wage war against the Burning Hells on their own in single-player games as well as team up and destroy countless demons with their fellow Nephalem in multiplayer games. For multiplayer, players will have the option to choose between four-player online (complete with matchmaking) and four-player local co-op modes for their couch-based warfare," said Blizzard.

Demo playable version and release date rumors
Blizzard said it will debut the PS3 version during PAX East, which is scheduled on March 22-24 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Attendees will be allowed to play test the PS3 version using handheld controllers.

There has been no final release date set for either console version, although with the PS3 version already having a playable form, fans are speculating a release by the second half of 2013.

Capturing console player base
Blizzard Entertainment is hoping to capture a chunk of PlayStation 3's console player base. As of November 4, 2012 there were more than 70 million PlayStation 3 units sold. Attracting just a fraction of this huge market can boost Diablo 3 sales way past its current 12 million copies sold mark.

Reinvigorating the Diablo 3 Gold market
Diablo 3 gold sellers are naturally excited at the prospect of new customers purchasing their farmed virtual currency. Opening up the game to the vast console market might be able to arrest the declining prices and demand for Diablo 3 gold.

Last November, Diablo 3 gold stood at $0.34 per million gold but has now dropped to half that price to $0.17 per million gold based on the MMOBUX.com price comparison index.

Examiner.com's Simeon Cortezano also observed that Diablo 3 players have not been as active as when the game launched. Xfire statistics show Diablo 3 logged hours is hovering at 9,324 hours per day compared to the 130,000 hours per day recorded back in the release month of May 2012.

Uncertainties remain
Diablo 3 gold sellers though should be mindful of a few risks that could stymie the market's resurgence.

First, there is a possibility that the PC and console games will have separate servers. Diablo 3 gold sellers which operate mainly on the PC will not be able to sell their virtual currency stock to the console fans. Second, console players might not familiar with the idea of purchasing virtual currency as PC players. Gold buying is a phenomenon more marketed on the PC, and gold sellers might have a harder time marketing their products to the console crowd.

Could the addition of new sinks be the answer to the current flood of Diablo 3 gold currency?

That's the hope of Diablo 3 fans after Blizzard introduced in the public test realm (PTR) a new tier of account-bound Marquise gems which will each cost millions of gems to make and re-socket, as well as an expensive new Archon Armor recipe.

Marquise Gems
In the latest PTR Patch 1.0.7 notes released in January 15, Blizzard said a Marquise gem will require 20 million gold, 3 Radiant Star Gems and 1 Demonic Essence. Marquise gems will provide a unique stat based depending on which item it is socketed.

Marquise Emerald
- Weapon: Increased Critical Hit Damage by 110%
- Helm: +33% Extra Gold from Monsters
- Armor: +62 Dexterity

Marquise Topaz
- Weapon: Melee attackers take 2200 per hit
- Helm: 33% Better chance of finding magical items
- Armor: +62 Intelligence

Marquise Amethyst
- Weapon: Each Hit adds +700 Life
- Helm: +19% Life
- Armor: +62 Vitality

Marquise Ruby
- Weapon: +150 Minimum and +150 Maximum Damage
- Helm: Increases Bonus Experience by 33%
- Armor: +62 Strength

Unsocketing Marquise gems will also cost 5 million gold. The steep gold costs associated with Marquise gems could and the fact that they can only be created at the Jeweler paired has encouraged fans that Blizzard is getting serious with combating gold inflation.

Archon Armor Recipe
In the same January 15 PTR patch notes, Blizzard also said that a new chest equipment Archon Armor recipe will be sold by Squire the Peddler for 1.5 million gold each. It will be iLevel 63, have 6 affixes, account-bound, and will have four variants "each guaranteeing a fixed core stat which will have the highest range available in the game."

With the steep Diablo 3 gold costs associated with the new Marquise gems and the Archon Armor recipe, fans expect Blizzard to finally make a dent in the fast-rising inflation.

"There really needs to be a bigger gold sink out there," said Diablo 3 forums user Tyrant in a fan thread worrying about Diablo 3 hyperinflation. "For a number of new players seeing items worth over 500 million is just crazy."

"If you had read the patch notes you'd see they are doing just that with the new gems and BoA crafts," replied user Shiroro.

Some fans have started to complain though that the costs are too high.

"Does anyone else seem to think that [the costs] are a bit high," said forums user Ezcompany who believes that Marquise gems tantamount to a big tax.

"It is a tad high I think but they are making an attempt to drive the cost of gold back up. The only way to do it I'd to have a lot of gold sinks. Unfortunately it needs to happen, but they could probably come up with something better than 5 million to unsocket," replied forums user Soeurdelune.

Blizzard themselves have said that these gold costs are subject to change and might be tweaked before making it into the final version of Patch 1.0.7, so the costs will likely be tempered given enough fan resistance.