Diablo 4: Blizzard reveals the details of the microtransactions

Diablo 4: Blizzard reveals the details of the microtransactions

Diablo 4

The Diablo 4 promotional campaign continues. As we get closer to the end of the year, it seems more and more likely that Blizzard will announce the release date of the new game in the series. Waiting to find out when this will happen (some sources speak of a possible announcement at The Game Awards), the developer of Irvine continues to disclose details on the title that we will face, and today we return to talk about microtransactions, a topic very dear to everyone. users, especially after the debut of Diablo Immortal, heavily criticized for this very aspect.



According to the words of Blizzard, announced in a recent post on its official blog, Diablo microtransactions 4 will not be tied to the PvP component. Unlike other games, in fact, the title will allow users to buy only cosmetics. There will also be no prize boxes: all items that can be purchased in-game will be immediately visible to players. “If a player buys something, he should only do it because they want to do it, and not because they feel compelled to do so,” the words contained in the Blizzard blog post.| ); }
Diablo 4 will be available starting in 2023 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and of course PC. At the moment the game is in the testing phase, with an alpha intended exclusively for friends and relatives of the developers. We look forward to an announcement regarding the release date, which as mentioned above could arrive towards the end of this 2022.




‘Diablo 4’ Is Much More Of A Live Service, But Blizzard Swears It’s Not Pay-To-Win

Diablo 4

Blizzard

Diablo 4 has continued its tradition of lengthy developer blogs, and this time around, this one seems specifically crafted to combat all the Diablo Immortal pushback, and the D4 team seems determined to separate itself from the mobile game and all of its gacha, p2w trappings.


This blog is all about seasons in Diablo 4, and what’s very clear is that even though season exists in Diablo 3, they are going to be even more involved and heavily focused on in Diablo 4. In short, Diablo 4 is going to be much more of a live service game than ever before. The blog details all the kinds of things you should expect from seasons in Diablo 4:

  • Large meta refreshes and balance patches
  • Quality of life improvements and polish work
  • A new “gameplay feature” each season and new questline
  • Live events, which are limited time offerings that may last a weekend, whether that’s a new combat encounter or a “strange peddler” who arrives, which sounds to me like Destiny’s Xur.
  • The “Season Journey,” a carryover from Diablo 3, which is a long list of time-limited challenges with rewards for completing them, and rewards for beating them all, which ends in “an extremely difficult encounter with an especially deadly foe.”
  • The Season Pass, and Blizzard wants to be very, very explicit about what it does or does not offer.

    • The season pass is split into free and premium tiers, but there is nothing in the premium tiers except cosmetics, or premium currency which will buy additional cosmetics in the microtransaction store.


    There are boosts in the pass, like a seasonal boost that accelerates XP gain, but those are in the free section of that pass. And while like most season passes you can pay to skip tiers, you cannot buy your way into those boosts early, they must be unlocked through in-game milestones only as you play.

    Destiny 2

    Bungie

    The blog post then dives deeper into the item shop, once again attempting to prove that there’s nothing fishy going on here. The shop sells what are essentially just skins for use in transmog for your character. No power gains, you’re not fishing them randomly out of loot boxes. Nothing like that.

    They even go on to say that no, the “best looking” skins are not exclusive to the item shop, and they believe that the coolest armor and gear in the game is from…the actual game.


    But fundamentally the point is there is literally no place in the game where Diablo 4 is selling power directly. Not through items or gems, not even through boosts or paid season pass perks.


    At this point, I have to admit they are saying all the right things, and I cannot find any tricky wording or things they might try to sneak by players. I genuinely think they’re just committed to selling literally nothing but cosmetics, and at least attempting to make those cosmetics not the only place cool looking gear is acquired. There’s really no other way to read what they’re saying here, as they’re being pretty explicit and direct.


    It’s the exact opposite of what we got from the Diablo Immortal team, which hid vast swaths of the monetization system before launch, and used semantics to dodge, like how they weren’t selling “gear” because extremely powerful legendary gems in gacha loot boxes were not “gear” since they didn’t occupy an item slot. I don’t see any of that kind of deception here. And trust me, I’m looking.


    I hope it’s as straightforward as they’re claiming here. If so, that would be a stellar start for a game I am very much still looking forward to, despite Blizzard’s shenanigans elsewhere.


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