InBlack wrote on May 8, 2012, 07:29:

Quinn wrote on May 8, 2012, 06:20:

Orogogus wrote on May 7, 2012, 17:24:
As an extremely casual player, I've always wondered -- what was the point of making you identify stuff and repair your gear? Did they test it without these things and players's brains just rejected a game that let you keep hacking away without ever going back to town? Or do some people find the restock and repair parts fun?

Good question. I'm a lover and a hater for those features. With them, they can give me the sense that it slows me down. Without them, the game is that much more simple and motivations to take a town-break -- which can actually work for immersion -- is next to none.

Also, the identifying feature gives peaks of interest. This, in effect, keeps your interest as a whole up. You may think it's a useless feature, but I can be quite certain even your curiosity wakes you up from a Diablo-autopilot when an unidentified object drops.

The answer is quite simple really, its all down to the economy. I imagine that the rarest items will be very very expensive to repair. (I hope at least some are indestructible) Since gold will be a valued comodity, they have to invent some gold sinks with which they can keep inflation in check.