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In yet more Diablo 4 live service drama, developer Blizzard has been accused of "malicious design" by fans for the apparent shocking ease with which the game parts players from their hard-earned money, whether they intended it or not.
Streamer Rurikhan took to Twitter (or X, if you prefer) to share an example, which is pretty damning in its own right. When bringing up the Season tab (to check Season of the Malignant progress, perhaps), the default cursor selection is always on the "Activate Premium Pass" button, and there is no confirmation warning, meaning that careless players (or those coming off of a 12-hour grind session) could easily find themselves out of pocket. Strong language warning!
Streamer Rhykker stopped by the thread to school us all, teaching us the term "dark pattern", which is when a UI element is designed to trick you into clicking on it. To our eye, Diablo 4's current situation fits that definition, but the good news is that a fix is on the way.
In a reply to Rhykker, Diablo 4 community lead Adam Fletcher said: "Just had a powwow with people on this post stream. We have a temp fix in the works that will at least ensure the cursor isn’t defaulted there and will instead be defaulted on Season Journey."
It hasn't been deployed at the time of this writing, and Push Square was able to fearlessly verify Rurikhan's account in a stunning piece of investigative journalism (accomplished before coffee was even ingested). Indeed, no confirmation or warning is given before payment is processed (but we do actually kind of need those XP buffs).
Did you pick up Diablo 4's Premium Battle Pass? Did you mean to? Let us know what you think of this latest twist in Blizzard's live service story? Throw money into the comments section below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 62
Seems like it was purposefully done. And no confirmation?! When has that every been the way things are done?!
I refuse to support Blizzard. They’d have to change things up big time before I would buy anything from them
Is this how it works on PS5? I feel like every game I've played takes me to a playstation checkout screen to make in-game purchases..
Meanwhile, Bobby Kotick is laughing at all the poor people who don't make 200 million dollars per year and consider the battle pass too expensive.
Why do people link their credit cards to their accounts? Ofc it's easy to part money from a dummy when you make it so easy.
Not defending Blizzard at all. They are scum, but people need to stop being so gullible.
That was actually funny LOL. The position of the button, the purchase button was selected by default, no confirmation needed for purchase. Blizzard is ***** up.
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@zhoont can confirm, was the case on my PS5 a few hours ago anyway
@zhoont I think this was PC, and it’s one of the many reasons I prefer playing on consoles. Much harder for a game to disguise purchases in a way that you don’t even realize they happened.
That's scummy, and just a simple one button press?
Shame on Blizz.
On the other hand, if you try to continue your normal game there is new pop-up window saying "you don't have season character and to play season you need to create new one, continue anyway?"
You know what this a load of nothing. You can clearly see that battle pass tab. Its the largish bright red rectangle in the bottom left of the screen so if you tap on it once it takes you to the various different price brackets where they are laid out for all to see. I cant see how you can activate one of the tiers without button mashing. Maybe if people actually use their loaf and pay attention then these stories will disappear. Who can i blame for something thats of my own doing so i dont feel like a muppet?
I'm not surprised, Blizzard's games and actions over the last years have clearly shown that they have not respect to the consumer, have no problem screwing the consumer and that they lost their passion for video games but for some reason people still buy their games.
If they fix this, I'm sure they will make it up by ripping off their brainless customers in another thing and ofcourse their customers will keep falling for it.
And just to double check before i leave for work. Yes that tab is high lighted but there is no way i can purchase anything from the battle pass without being taken to the confirmation check out screen. I'm not a fan of these things and i'm not impressed blizzard implemented this in light of the previous auction house drama in diablo 3 but are we going to start blaming devs for all the people that sleep walk through life and make decisions without thinking?
@Nem Whilst I haven't had to yet,if you want (for example),to buy additional PS Plus on one of its rare PSN discounts,you have to have a credit/ debit card linked to your account.
Found that even before the tiered revamp,as I ended up picking up a couple of ps plus subs from brick & mortar stores before they removed them from sale! Something to do with needing enough credit for auto renewal services as Anti virus/Security suites,VPN's etc.,do similar thing!😕
But not even popping up some sort of confirmation/warning is the sort of thing that sadly seems predictable from a publisher that has Bobby Kotick as a CEO!🙄
@Northern_munkey To be absolutely fair...you really shouldn't have to be vigilant in your own home, on your couch, while you're winding down after a long day. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to expect to be able to wind down in your own home, but maybe I'm just too old, and remember that from a bygone era, I don't know.
@Constable_What i agree but is it really fair to blame blizzard when people just dont pay attention to what they are doing? I agree things need to be better but when does a lack of common sense become a tool to levy the blame at somebody else?
I expected nothing less from scum.
Bro! Broooooooooo!
I'm suprised that after all the things Activision-Blizzard has done in the past few years, especially to their own employees, there's still such a massive mainstream support for their titles.
This incident isn't suprising at all, and it will be swept under the rug, and ABK will continue to rake in the profits.
@djlard I don't understand the issue there - they made some content and they want people to play it. And you can play the season for free.
The game's whole design is maliciously aimed at selling MTX, battle passes and so on. It's economy and balancing is geared towards additional purchases after your initial £70.
This whole thing amuses me so much. The amount of people who argued with me in the run up to the release of this game denying Blizzard's true nature.
Some people just enjoy multiple black eyes I guess.
Thankfully POE2 is coming soon and most gamers will jump ship.
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Definitely Dark Pattern design, it’s cynical and deliberate, there isn’t even an argument here.
Having pushed two (or more) steps forward they will now take one small one back. We’ll still be worse off that we were in the past but it will seem like progress. An age old tactic to pull the wool over consumers eyes and slowly get their way. Dirty tactics.
Seems like most of you didnt get a point of issue. Issue is not buying Premium pass, but to activate it.
If you ha e purchased Deluxe or Ultimate edition, that game comes with 1x free Premium pass included. For example you can choose to not use it for 1st season and keep for 2nd or even later. But it Season menu tab there is that same Red button to activate it by using that Token and it does it without any confirmation. You cant BUY season pass with one click, but you can activate it with one click and thats what is happening for those with Deluxe and Ultimate edition owners
@Northern_munkey I don't know if it's entirely fair to blame Blizzard, but I know for a fact that ABK intentionally designs their upsell front end so that you cannot ignore it, and that it's harder to decline buying content than it is to accept buying it, and that if you have any free tokens for anything in the game they are designed with the intention to NEVER allow the user to consider the commitment by way of something like a "Are you sure?" message.
I have a career QA testing games. Upsell front end is always always ALWAYS the highest priority. They will even hire outside help from other industries to help design a front-end that "fosters player engagement". It's optional, true, and as a player you can't fully abdicate responsibility for your actions, but its blatantly apparent how manipulative it is, and if you follow the industry, or work in it, it's very apparent that it is 100 percent intended to be this way.
To all the Nobel laureates in this comment section, asking people to use their "loafs", brains etc. the problem is not that you can one click buy it without confirmation (you can't), but that you can accidentally one click activate it once bought. The button for that (the default UI option) is placed right next to the one where you check your progress in this season (which you will do frequently). In this case, the streamer has already had the Premium Battle Pass(he bought the ultimate edition of the game), but was saving it for next season, as he did not have the time to put in the game right now. Again - the "activate" button requires only one click(no further confirmation), is the default UI option, and is placed right next to another button you will be pressing frequently. This is a disaster waiting to happen. I bought the game at launch and really enjoyed the campaign, PvP and helltides, but Blizz have consistently been tangoing the game one step forward, three steps backwards.
Blizzard have become scam artists...no one Microsoft wants them and Activision so badly...
@Northern_munkey
I agree. People always have to find someone to blame for their own mistakes. Today's culture is all about blame and entitlement.
Sure the design could influence people activating things accidently but only if they are careless. It's poor design by Blizz for sure, it needs addressing and it should be highlighted as a problem by gamers, but if someone does activate the BP that's their own fault for not paying attention.
We all know companies like Blizz, EA and MS couldn't give a fig about us and we are just open wallets to them so always be on your guard playing their games.
@riceNpea "so always be on your guard playing their games."
Doesn't that contradict the point of playing games?
Oh Blizzard.
The saddest thing is that marketing counts for so much in this industry. A dev team or publisher can utterly trash its reputation with the hardcore audience (people like us who go on gaming news sites, play tens of games each year, etc) and it doesn't matter, the game will still sell like hotcakes off the back of a few flashy trailers.
They should update the design so you automatically purchase the premium battle pass after clicking New Game.
I can't believe people still link their credit cards to PSN. I stopped after the big PS3 hack.
@msvalle not when money is concerned, no.
Nerf your barb, nerf your sorc, nerf your wallet?
@StrickenBiged that's clearly not true because if games relied on hardcore fans like us they wouldn't sell anywhere near enough. They rely on sales from the masses not the informed minority.
I'm not sure how I have managed to play the game for so many hours without spending a single additional penny on cosmetics or unwanted additions. I wonder what the difference could be? Literacy? Lack of a sense of unwarranted entitlement? "Hardcore" gamers are always whining about something stupid: Blizzard doesn't really care about them, nor should they.
@Nem Obviously this doesn't speak for everybody, but I have mine linked to my PSN account because I have the PlayStation credit card. You get Sony Reward points in the US for using it on PlayStation purchases.
I like ruri, but no. I have not accidently pressed it, but I also don't check the stuff that often. And I play with controller, so maybe that has an effect. Blizzard catches a lot of flack, most of it deserves, a lot still over blown, but I can't agree with ruri or anyone else on this one.
Calling bull on story if you buy anything you Have to confirm on xbox. Soon as you see story off twitter you know its going to be weak story
@Submarinex1 it's not buy, it's activate Battle Pass.
@Gunnerzaurus they also speak outrage. Cyberpunk sold millions but the outrage forced them to offer refunds.
Glad they are getting this people need to stop supporting these type of devs in order for things to change.
@Marquez But I'll play it when I want, not when they want. If they wanted to make content they should let it in game permanently.
@riceNpea That's another way of saying what I said, yes.
@djlard That’s not how seasons work though, is it…
@Gunnerzaurus the outrage led to what happened legally. Outrage got Battlefront 2 lootboxes changed. Outrage has got FIFA lootboxes banned in some countries and look at legally in others. Outrage can work too.
@StrickenBiged no its not. He had ALREADY bought the BP. He may have been saving it for Season 2 or something as he didn't want to activate it.
He didn't but it with 1 button press, he already owned it. Activating it is one button press.
@MattBoothDev what are you talking about ? Maliciously geared towards MTX, how so ? It'd not shoved in you face, not even close, the current season is free to play, and saying the entire game is geared towards paying more is ignorance, anything that is purchasable is cosmetic that's all, Affects literally nothing about the game, nor required to progress.
@Marquez yes, that's why I don't care seasons... and whole season concept...
@riceNpea why people crying like they lost money then
@Submarinex1 exactly
Stop giving sex offenders your money. It's seriously that easy.
@Robocod Here we can just use paysafe/paypal to buy ps store credit and you can buy the ps+ subscription.
You only need a credit card if it's recurrent. I do believe it will try to renew itself if you have the credit, so i would just cancel it once i bought some time.
But yeah, psn doesn't have my card details.
@Nem Must admit haven't checked out the PayPal option,but worth considering if that's the case!🤞🤔...haven't gotten a ps plus extension since it went digital sale exclusive...been annoyed at other store fronts that do the same thing, (looking at you Norton's!). Handy to hear other's psn tips,thanks!
@Uromastryx because all games with MTX are balanced towards purchases, not fun.
"Smoldering Ashes" can been exchanged for blessing, which been give an edge and are gotten via the battle pass system.
Any full priced game with microtransactions, digital currency and other free-to-play mechanics like the battle pass, are HUGE red flags and should be avoided.
They ARE shoved in your face. We're on an article page about how the option to buy with no confirmation is the default cursor position, causing unintended battle pass purchases. How much more in your face can you get?
I mean no offense or ill will by this, but your defense of this is part of the problem and why we will never rid ourselves of these BS practices without government regulation.
@MattBoothDev it looked like I was defending it over all there but I'm not, especially blizzard.... I have a problem with MTX that give an actual playing advantages, such as weapons and level boost, I care not so much about cosmetic mtx, , but remember it's their money and some people want the boost because they can't have time to progress like other people, but want the see more content etc.amd others just want a cool lookong character
Overall yes MTX are scummy practice but unfortunately they are here to stay.
Even regulated they will still exist. Sadly the the gaming gen we live in
It's surreal how the makers of Diablo and Diablo 2 and Starcraft, who hit success with D4 at launch could then just turn the whole thing into a predatory nightmare like one of those Korean MMO devs. I don't know how it's even possible to fall that far.
Though it's also just the sad state of gaming. More and more it's starting to feel like a dying hobby.
Thats pretty obvious skulduggery! Im glad they have been called out on it, but I dont find it suprising.
I had reluctantly forbid myself to buy the game as I feel very strongly about the mistreatment of devs thays well documented. But I love Diablo, so it takes some will. Hearing this type of thing makes it easier for me 😊
Why do ppl don't see that button? I just curious. I clearly see that but really, no one see? And one thing, I don't link money ever so that is safe for me.
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