Diablo 4 developer Blizzard has spilled a few more beans on the game's live service elements. With the action RPG set to launch on PS5 and PS4 in just under a month, it makes sense for the studio to clarify how things will work once we're in the post-launch period.
First up: Blizzard has reiterated that microtransactions will be limited to cosmetic items only. The official press release reads: "Building on top of the hundreds of armor and weapon styles players can unlock in the game, the Shop serves to offer players even more diverse cosmetic options. Nothing offered in the Shop grants a direct or indirect gameplay advantage, only cosmetics that will be on rotation periodically."
The developer's been stressing this point for ages, but that hasn't stopped cynicism from creeping in amongst potential players. Here's hoping that Blizzard sticks to the plan.
Then there are two additional topics to cover: seasons and the battle pass. Seasons will kick in soon after Diablo 4's release, with each season adding "a new gameplay feature and questline that introduces new characters, challenges, legendary aspects, meta changes, and quality of life improvements". Basically, it sounds like seasons will act as big content updates.
As for the battle pass, you've got free and premium tiers. Everyone gets access to the free version, but buying a 'premium pass' "will allow players to unlock Premium Currency for the Shop used to purchase seasonally themed cosmetics". Again, Blizzard stresses that premium currency cannot be spent on anything that impacts gameplay.
Does all of this sound reasonable to you? Save your Diablo bucks for the comments section below.
[source news.blizzard.com]
Comments 16
Call me skeptical but I suspect the pay to win items will start to appear once all the review scores are in. Happens time and time again and it won't change.
Any idea if the battle-passes are time gated? I really don’t like the idea of buying something and only having 10 weeks or so to finish it. Much prefer the Halo MCC model.
Can’t wait to pay out the nose for ****in blue lol
It's only cosmetics, where have I heard that before..
@Smash41 I'm 99% sure that will be the case, either it's happening right away after the reviews, or a couple of month later when most people already bought the game.
@Shstrick They're tied to the seasons, which will be quarterly. (As far I know!)
Sorry Bliz, I just don't believe you anymore. I'm going to give it at least a year before jumping in, if at all.
I'm not one for leaderboards and PVP so pay-to-win doesn't impact me one way or the other.
What i'm most concerned about is item drop rate.
The devs stated in the video released the other day, that the legendary items were "raining from the sky" in the Beta, and this will be reduced in the server slam to reflect the actual game... here's hoping they don't reduce it too much, like they did in D2R, making it far too grindy to be enjoyable. Farming for months just to (maybe) find the necessary items for 1 build is not my idea of fun... In D2R I can play single player and mod the game to increase the drop rate a bit more, but there's not gonna be such an option in D4 afaik.
@Shstrick they are most time limited yes, usually 10-12 weeks then the next one begins with in a 2 or 3 week window after the end of previous season
Waiting for the Complete Edition with all available DLC, patches, and of course the not yet-but-maybe-we-listen-to-our-fans-and-make-a-solo-off-line- story-mode patch.
Mhhhhhmm check please!
I highly suggest you look at the actual transcript or a more transparent account of what was stated regarding the live service elements. I don't know why push square is glossing over this but the battle pass absolutely does have Buffs baked into its tier progression systems so therefore just by way of being able to have more tiers to progress through if you pay money, that is essentially pay to win especially since you can pay for tier skips ad well. Whether you like it or not experience Buffs that are purchased through a currency earned via completing seasonal tiers to buff things like experience gained is a form of pay to win.
Not that really any of that nonsense matters because I think the people that play games for the battle pass content don't care anyways. it's just an addiction model just like a slot machine but still I mean this is essentially a tale of two games is what they're saying. it's just essentially a free to play grind enticing pay to progress faster type system with a single player story tacked on as well. so they're going to do both they're going to have the whole live service time gated battle pass seasons BS along with also charging for DLC to further whatever narrative content there is.
Which is what it is and fans will eat it up regardless, but still at least give the full story PS.
So just to reiterate here push square is simply stating what the devs describe regarding microtransactions being cosmetic only strictly for the premium seasonal pass currency. With the other two seasonal passes one free and one purchasable, there is also another form of currency in which you use buy Buffs to progression.
Considering what they did with Immortal.....I don't believe them
I dont care i'm still buying it...
@KundaliniRising333 Maybe try to watch their latest stream. Because experience Buff is free tier rewards for all players and are tied to progression level in game. Skipping tiers at first lvl doesnt give any buff, only cosmetics. Before you state facts, maybe double check.
Why is it still called "micro" transactions? They are rarely micro and sometimes over a hundred €/$/£. These should be called macro-transactions. Or theft in the case of a full price game that also happens to include another type of theft, aka battle pass.
I seriously doubt that is all they are doing. That's just what is going to be there at launch. I expect worse things within a month after the reviews have dropped. I also suspect that no matter how bad we think this is going to be, it's going to be worse.
I stopped trusting Blizzard years ago. Most of the original talent and the ones who cared have already left.
@PinkiePieAddict @wiiware @Smash41 We seriously need to start holding these companies accountable for these shady practices and sue them more often/stop them from doing it again.
They aren't untouchable, we the players do have some power.
@PSXDave No offline story mode is a hard pass for me, not interested in multiplayer or forced always online.
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