[slurgfest]

It was terribly frustrating to farm bosses in D2 over and over again for days just to get a piece of equipment that put one on parity with others.

Meanwhile, you can go buy it from Chinese gold farmers for a few bucks... pretty clear something was wrong with that.

[intended]

True - not everyone bought from them though. In your case, it sounds like you are talking about PVP more than PVE progression. D2 may have had hacks/issues/farmers - but it was more fun.

The AH here though assumes that having to buy from chinese gold farmers was an issue which everyone faced, and now makes the AH an issue for everyone to face.

People may complain about Craiglist or a Bloomberg terminal, but at the end of the day, they still use and love them. Similarly people may complain about D2, but they still loved it.