I noticed that the previous ladder reset (last December?) was really nice, with good items still being pretty rare at 1-2 months after the reset.

I now noticed the ladder has reset 1 month ago so I thought I would return, but even the highest runes are almost worthless at this point... does this mean that people are botting again, or what gives?

yesn't

the people are botting since ladder was starting, so the price does not go up anymore ;D

You're not getting rich off shakos and hotspurs.

It is true, botters have already ruined the market.

And although i agree that botters, dupers and cheaters does ruin the experience, i would still suggest to return.

If i was to make another suggestion, do NOT buy items from botters. Be very careful and only buy from people that do not offer truckloads of high end items, and learn to play the game without needing every last piece of high end build items. The game actually becomes much more fun that way.

And play HC! That increases the gameplay value as well!

Judging from your post you are here for an income. From this point, the game is dead, you will not make any serious money unless you are a mass botter or a duper.

In this case PoE is a preferable bet. D2 only for pvp and sentiment

i like that post and totally agree with it

Pretty much this. Play the game if you enjoy it. I still found a fair number of people still willing to play through at least Act 1 / 2 Normal and you may find a few stragglers here and there who will walk the game in pubs.

Hc has mass botters as well.

I don't know what you mean by worthless.

I got back like 2 weeks ago. Rune prices are still double what I remember (but ladders used to last a year iirc).

Why does it matter what stuff is worth in fg? If anything lower prices are better so you can buy a tals sorc or whatever for cheap.

When I quit in 2012 or so, a non ladder high rune was 3fg. Ladder ones were like 30fg maybe. And Anni prices are insane now.

There are few human players. But the robots are like Walmart - lower prices help everybody.

Heck i managed to get an um in a game because the runner didn't want to pick it up. I buy back decent stuff from vendor NPCs that aren't "perfect".

There are plenty of poor people on bnet who want your low end mf finds.