Blizzard is a company notorious for inflicting microtransactions on its player base, a hell Diablo 4 players have been enduring for a while now. But the company's latest overpriced aesthetic offering goes so far beyond the pale that we can't help but admire its outright brazen nature. For just $30, the asking price of many better games, you could own the Dark Pathways pack, which changes the colour of a player's portal.
As you'd expect, the announcement went over like a ton of bricks, and we can't imagine how this idea got greenlit. Worse, the portal skins included in the Dark Pathways pack (Tempest Gate Portal, Transit Artery Portal, Netherworld Threshold Portal, Wildroot Way Portal, Warpath Portal, plus 1000 Platinum) are locked to a specific class type, meaning anyone foolish enough to pick it up would be stuck with the associated colour regardless of preference.
Sadly, as pointed out in the comments section, the first paid mount introduced in World of Warcraft made more money for Blizzard than Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, and that's why microtransactions like this exist. Even our heroic attempts at ridiculing the practice will only draw the attention of more whales and kick off a fresh feeding frenzy; thus, the sorry cycle continues.