Originally Posted by Zycamzip

I have seen so many people posting how they expect to make money, and it's because of this, that I don't think there is going to be a sweet spot to make money.
Traditionally, when a new game hits the market, it's 1 month before the low income countries start to pour in and make money on the game.
With Diablo 3, we are seeing a shift in focus, where the players themselves are going to try to get in on the action. It's because of this, I am anticipating a sweet spot of only about 3-7 days. I also anticipate that only those who pre-order and get in the game early, will be the ones that make the money. With so many people expecting to make money in the game, I am guestimating that about 3-5% will make money, with the remainder either pushing (breaking even), or losing money. There is going to be a ton of people who will try to tell you there is money in the game, and that we should buy their guides, but I just dont expect anything to be too profound.

With sandboxes and emulators already out, I would also assume that some bots are already in the works. Blizzard will of course try to use heuristics and known program hashes, to determine who is botting, but overall I would expect a market crash, within 3 months.

One thing to keep in mind when trying to make money in D3, is that once you hit the level cap (level 50 in D3), then all that's left is to make money. Traditionally speaking it takes 2-4 days to hit the level cap for the first time.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that the products themselves aren't really tied to anything physical.