Diablo Immortal does not convince the players
Last week, Blizzard officially released Diablo Immortal. The game, announced in 2018 and initially intended only for iOS and Android mobile devices, was also ported to PC in an open beta version. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan: the players have in fact decided to reject the game on Metacritic, with a decidedly bitter review bombing for the Irvine development team. The most criticized aspects? Obviously the microtransactions, but also some Blizzard game design choices.As reported online, at the moment Metacritic the iOS version can count on a good average rating from the specialized press, with a good 79 out of 12 reviews. However, users have rejected the title, so much so that currently the average rating is equal to 0.6. Gamers have complained about various aspects of the game, from microtransactions (which apparently have their own weight within the game) to gacha mechanics and excessive grinding.| ); }
Obviously nothing will prevent Blizzard from reworking some aspects of Diablo Immortal and most likely, once the launch period is over, it will be possible for the development team to concentrate on the most criticized parts. The PC version is also in open beta, a sign that it will probably take some time before we can see any real changes. Obviously always looking forward to Diablo 4.
Can Blizzard Fix 'Diablo Immortal'? Do They Even Want To?
Diablo Immortal
BlizzardOne of the biggest frustrations about the current situation with Diablo Immortal is that it’s not a bad game. In fact, it’s a very good one in many ways. At its core, Diablo Immortal has phenomenal gameplay that translates the core of the series to mobile in a way that is far more fun than I would have imagined. The visuals, UI, campaign are all stellar for mobile, and in many ways, this is the Diablo MMO that fans have always wanted.
The problem, of course, are the pay-to-win microtransactions, which range from pop-ups after dungeon clears trying to get you to buy bundles, or shelling out $25 for a singular Rift run to guarantee yourself 10 legendary gems for a chance at powerful five stars, when free players have essentially zero chance at doing the same. True endgame builds are not based on grinding, but paying, thousands, tens of thousands even potentially a hundred thousand dollars, to max out.
MORE FROM FORBES'Diablo Immortal' Doesn't Sell Gear, Because Legendary Gems Aren't 'Gear,' Says DirectorBy Paul TassiWhat I’m wondering now are two things:
Unfortunately, it sure feels like the answer to both of these questions is “no.”
While yes, it’s true that Diablo 3 had its own legendary gems, a much more straightforward system involving rifts and chances at upgrades with each run, the new gem system here designed around monetization is so elaborate and labyrinthine that I just don’t know if there’s any going back. Upgrading gems to unlock the full potential of gear, socketing gems into other gems to increase overall “resonance” and power. It’s too much to simply carve out and replace with a D3-like system at this point, not to mention it’s the entire monetization core the game is built around.
Diablo Immortal
BlizzardThe alternative, then, it to provide players with just…more free stuff to at least go the Genshin Impact route where players can save up currency to get what they want. But even then, the bad system remains in place, and we’re so far from where we need to be that it’s hard to believe. This is a game where you’d need hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of legendary crests to pursue high end upgrades. The game currently gives you…three a month. They would have to start giving away freebies multiplied by a factor of a hundred from where they currently are to even make a difference.
And even then, that may not be enough. There’s currently a streamer playing Diablo Immortal spending $25 every dungeon for 10 gem drops until he gets a 5 star. He’s spent $7,000 so far, and has gotten zero.
There is some perfect world where Diablo Immortal sold nothing but say, cosmetics, and had Diablo 3’s straightforward endgame involving hunting legendaries and set gear in (free) rifts and easily finding and upgrading legendary gems, but I think that ship has sailed.
This all leads to the second question, whether Blizzard even wants to fix the game. The unspoken truth here is that Blizzard made this game mainly for Asian audiences where mobile, pay-to-win gacha games are much more accepted than they are in the West. If Diablo Immortal can attracting a paying audience there full of superwhales, Blizzard will likely be fine with taking the reputation hit (another one) in order to rake in tens of millions in dungeon loot box revenue.
And so far, we’ve heard nothing from Blizzard, despite all this backlash. Higher ups working on the game like Wyatt Cheng have done nothing but defend it, before falling silent the last few days. There have been no apologies to fans, no announcements of any changes. While I suppose that’s possible, and we get some sort of “we listened to you guys!” changes, I think Blizzard is waiting to see how the current setup performs abroad. And even if changes are made, it’s just hard to believe they’ll be anywhere close to enough, given the state of the game right now.
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