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Reaping the live service whirlwind, Blizzard is in yet more hot water with Diablo 4 players after it was realised the popular action RPGs Battle Pass only pays out 666 Platinum upon completion, in keeping with the title's hellish marketing. This is not enough to purchase the next Season's Battle Pass or any cosmetic item, with the cheapest costing 800 Platinum (thanks, IGN), which is pretty wild when you stop to consider.
Blizzard's move breaks with long-held (at least, in terms of the relatively recent phenomenon) live service norms; in games like Fortnite and Call of Duty, players hardcore enough to complete a Battle Pass are normally rewarded with enough premium currency to grant them access to the next. This is just sound business sense, as ideally, you want your super users busily engaged with your game, not calling you out on Twitter and in forums.
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The Battle Pass, which runs for $10 USD (or your local equivalent), was already the course of some controversy, with players claiming the game's maliciously designed UI was resulting in unintended purchases. But we stand atop the shoulders of giants; Diablo 4's self-inflicted season of discontent really began on 18th July, when the developer decided to nerf its player base's hard-won builds into the ground.
What do you think is going on with Blizzard's live service plan? Hoard you Platinum and get yourself something nice next time in the comments section below.
[source ign.com]
Comments 49
Blizzard are doing everything in their power right now to show people how NOT to support a game after release. I did buy Diablo 4, but I haven’t yet played it and with the way things are going, I don’t think I’m going to bother for the time being at all.
The patch that nerfed everyone was like 7 days ago. Not "weeks back." I know we move faster than ever nowadays but holy hell, y'all. Get some perspective. Or facts.
@Bionic-Spencer You really showed 'em!
I'm about 200 hours in and haven't felt the need to spend any real money.
@Bionic-Spencer Blizz has your money already, so I doubt they really care whether you play or not.
Yup, bought the premium edition that included. The battle Pass. And it's lackluster and a big disappointment. I'm. Pretty much some with it TBH... What a let down
Dear Microsoft,
please finish the purchase of Activision Blizzard and keep them to yourselves.
Sincerely yours,
PS Community
@MFTWrecks My bad, have updated. Ease up on the rest, though, would you mate? No call for that here
@Khayl Agreed (but note the resulting typo: "a weeks back")
“Blizzard’s move breaks with long-held live service norms…”. Does it though? Because the same thing is true in their Battle Pass for OverWatch 2. Hell, you don’t even get the premium token in the Battle Pass. They dole it out in Weekly Challenges. And even if you complete them all, you still won’t earn enough currency for the next Battle Pass. So this isn’t a surprise.
@GrisGris Classic, haha. Serves me right for not being specific enough in the first place
It's Activision Blizzard, is anyone surprised at this point?
@Stevemalkpus I think so, yeah. Overwatch is Blizzard as well, so that would make sense. There are other outliers as well, but I don't think that makes the statement incorrect?
@Khayl You linked to your own article from a week ago outlining the changes and were still wrong about the facts of the matter. Sorry you were held accountable to the barest of minimums for your job.
@MFTWrecks, I didn't ask for an apology, mate; no need for one. I owned up to my mistake, so not sure what you're really after. For the record, I probably wrote 100k words on the subject in the last two months, which occasionally results in my thinking an update came out several days earlier than it actually did. Like you said, lets try and keep things in perspective
@Czar_Khastik lolz that's a nice one but I'd still like crash bandicoot games
@Drago201 I didn't think that through haha. Honestly, I would also like some new Crash and Tony Hawk but considering their business decisions who knows how would these games turn out now.
"Hey, do a kicklip! Oh, you can't? Ah yes, you must buy the Premium Skater Pass in order to do that."
Remember people desperate on copium when this game released? I think it's time for everyone to acknowledge that the good ol' Blizzard we knew and loved is dead.
@Czar_Khastik I can definitely see tricks being dlc in a Tony hawk game that is so sad 😞 😔
@Drago201 That's true and definitely possible. But to be honest, I don't care anymore. Good old games still exist and I pop those old copies in my PS1/PS2 from time to time without the need to download a patch or pay to play.
Paying for cosmetics is one thing but paying to grind for cosmetics? How did this ever take off?
@Czar_Khastik word I've turned my phone into a ps1 ps2 psp vita gamecube wii gba ds emulator and it works great all the way up to 1440p 60fps and the extra storage for these newer phones makes it easy to keep all these games installed
Battle passes and microtransactions have no place in full priced games.
Well i cant argue with this one. There is not enough platinum doled out to cover the entrance fee into the next season (1000 plat.) At least warzone had enough cod creds to cover theirs although it was a lengthy grind but thats what you invested your time in right? What really makes me lmfao is all these people who have been on activision/blizzards case for what seems like an eternity now for scummy,shady practices and worker violations etc,etc but still buy the games and then start all over again. Look just dont buy anything by them again and move onto the next company you dont like. Its that simple.
@HeeHo i agree with you but then you are taking away a mechanic that some gamers actually like. You do have the ability to choose not to purchase them. Now the way that EA uses this is just promoting gambling and that really has no place in games especially games that are more desirable to children.
@Drago201 That's awesome! Also, that's the most preferable approach since you're having entire system libraries upscaled on a single device. On the other hand, I like collecting physical games and playing them on original hardware. I just like that old aesthetic, browsing through the games manual, placing the CD in its drive and then playing with wired controllers.
The point is, whether it's physical media or emulation, retro gaming goes hand in hand with modern gaming and it's also a breath of fresh air going back to these titles because to me, although the graphics can't compare to modern standards, the fun factor is most of the time even greater than in todays titles.
@Czar_Khastik I sold all my stuff from before ps4 cuz of moving and not having room and I've been pretty much all digital since 2018 I've only bought kingdom hearts 3 and ff16 in physical since than
Yet another article reminding us how scummy ABK are. Wonder what series that will ruin next.
@Drago201 That I can understand. Physical media takes up a lot of space. I have my collection in plastic Ikea boxes which I currently have stored at my moms place. When I move to my apartment in a couple of days I'll take some of those games with me.
Regarding digital, I have a big PS Plus collection (400+ games) but I never seem to download and play these titles. I always browse through my physical media and play some of those games. It's just a matter of preference, I guess.
I played until level 63 or so. Got bored. Ill wait a year until i try again. Lets see the state of the game then.
Right now it is not in a good place imo.
And the crap they pull with nerfs and battle pass shenanigans is just icing on the cake.
@Czar_Khastik congratulations on the new place. I have a Massive ps collection ad well all those free games from + and wut I bought I'm at like 470 something I'm a big single player gamer + jrpg's and lots of indies I got a 4tb hardrive with a lot of ps4 games attached to my ps5 at the moment 😎 😀
@Drago201 Thanks man! That's a lot of games and a lot of hard disk space. I just hope it's not an SSD because a 4TB model would cost a fortune!
I'm also a big single player gamer who used to pour hours in jrpgs. Nowadays I have less time, so I pop the occasional arcade racer or a 3rd person adventure. And you reminded me that I started playing Trails in the sky on my PSP and need to finish that.
@Czar_Khastik nah its a hard drive and ur just playing sky I've already played them all replayed the crossbell re-release this year and have been playing ff16 and trails into reverie in tandem and I 100% things gotta do all side quest 😆
With Actibkizz Is this malicious or incompetence? I think it's the former, that takeover money clearly isn't enough for these greedy people.
@Czar_Khastik I buy loads of retro games on modern consoles. Most recently completing every contra game in the contra collection! You don't necessarily need all the old gear to play retro games.
Antstream arcade has just launched on console too. 1300 games for £79.99.
Are these games made for fun or to drain gamers pockets? 🥲 Give me a Megadrive or SNES game any day when gaming was just that!
@Drago201 Wow, playing 2 jrpgs at the same time, kudos for that. But yeah, I'm a bit slow when it comes to actually completing the games. But as long as I complete them, it's fine by me.
@themcnoisy Buying retro games on modern consoles is the most convenient way to enjoy them and yes, you don't have to have the old gear. It's just my personal preference to play them on original hardware if I can. The whole retro setup is what gives me extra pleasure when playing these games. But of course, it's not important how you play them, it's that you enjoy them.
Very glad I waited now, I loved the beta and definitely want to get it at some point. However very glad I'm missing the teething issues and I was also conscious of the greed systems applied to Diablo Immortal, you can't teach an old dog...
Crack Dealer Pass
@Splat I've notice the best cosmetics seem to be geared toward the Necro class I played Druid the cosmetics suck lol
I own Diablo 4 and play with my partner. It's a lot of fun. The main problem is that you always sense the "live service" air hanging over the whole experience. To even start the game, both of us had to log in to Blizzard, use a code, then link accounts. It was about three to five minutes for each of us, but playing a dark fantasy and being immediately prompted to "log in and enter this code" is a huge mood killer. A damn shame, too, because I think we both enjoy the cinematics and general underpinnings of the game.
who cares about that crap.
i mean....the skins arent that great so far, and they cost waaaaayyy to much.
Your character is so tiny on screen. why spend so much on such little visual difference. To see it in the main menu ?
@Stevemalkpus I mean, it is a live service norm. Fortnite, Apex, Pubg, Activision's own COD, fighting games that have BPs... they all allow players to earn enough for the next BP and usually a bit left over people can save up for cosmetics if they want. They should've gotten trashed for the OW2 BP as harshly as they are for D4. If they were maybe they wouldn't have done it again with D4. Guess they thought they could get away with it since there wasn't a massive backlash for OW2. Blizzard is showing everyone how NOT to do live service.
The Armor obtained from the Premium Battlepass isnt great at all. The only thing that's really any good is the Horse Armor right at the very end of the Battlepass. it's all very bland
@Northern_munkey The loot box thing is overblown. People buy packs of sports/magic/pokemon/etc. cards having absolutely no clue what they're going to get and we've never referred to that as "gambling" in the sense that it should be regulated like a casino. How bout people take some responsibility and teach their kids what it actually means to buy something like that, and the likelihood they'll get what they're after? How bout we stop blaming companies for parents stupid enough to allow their kids access to their credit card? People just want to put their parenting burden on others because of the common misconception that since they have kids their problems are more important and everyone should help them. Its no one's responsibility to make sure their children aren't making frivolous purchases but their own, and parents expecting others to do it for them are setting a horrible example for their kids.
@Northern_munkey They are testing out the water next station COD.
@Vega37 How about just don't let us gamble and let us buy what we want. I will never understand how this generation can be this clueless and defend these practices. Atleast I hope you are young or wow you are even worse. And those are worth something in the long run these crappy gambling DLC are useless next year. 😅
It’s a crime that this game is getting so much attention with articles (even if most of them highlight why you shouldn’t play it) and an actual game of the year contender, Remnant 2, get’s forgotten about besides a questionable review.
I highly recommend people play Remnant 2, made by a developer that clearly loves gaming themselves and it shows.
It has 666 Platinum in it which is 66.6% off the next season pass, which means you only need to buy a fivers worth of Plat instead of a tenner's...Which might make future season passes more palatable, maybe... providing you finish all the ranks needs for max plat.
@Flaming_Kaiser I'm probably older than you kid. Don't get stuck in generalizations or assume everyone from a particular time period thinks the same. I don't think lootboxes are ideal but the idea that they're predatory because people are stupid enough to buy them expecting something great each time is ridiculous. If they were the only way to get anything that would be different, but they're not. People actually enjoy them, entire streams are dedicated to just opening boxes/card packs. The only people complaining are parents who let their kid have access to their bank account, and I have no sympathy for fools.
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