It’s taken Blizzard over ten years to develop the sequel to Diablo II and today the Diablo III developer announced details about a controversial new in-game auction house feature and new beta details for fans of the series.

The goals for the beta test will be to the game’s hardware and client infrastructure and gather some feedback from the community. All regions will be eligible for testing, starting with North America. In order to be considered as a Diablo III tester you'll need to create a Battle.net account and then select the opt-in option for beta testing.

All 5 of the game’s character classes will be available for testing. Additionally, Blizzard is adding a new auction house to Diablo III that will also be available during beta. The new auction house will allow players to list items that they find in the game and sell them for in-game coin or real-world currency. Blizzard won’t be selling items on the auction house, so all microtransaction sells that do occur will be done so by the players. Once an item is sold, players have the option of applying the cash to their Battle.net account or collecting the actual cash by sending it to a third-party account.

Players are already voicing their concerns over the new auction house feature and the impacts that it could have on the game. Blizzard reps have taken to the forums to defend the feature, but it's clear that some people are not happy about it.

What do you think of the sanctioned selling of virtual goods? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

Sources:

Diablo III Beta Announcement

Diablo III Beta FAQ

Diablo III Auction House Announcement

Diablo III Auction House FAQ