Players going into the newly launched Blizzard title Diablo Immortal shouldn’t waste their time maxing out their characters. While the free-to-play title is also released on PC, it is primarily designed for mobile devices. When being compared with the other games in the series, Diablo Immortal allows players to explore dungeons at a slower pace than usual and upgrading characters comes with a steep price tag - or longterm investment of time.
Even though the dungeon crawler RPG is free-to-play, it does focus heavily on microtransactions for aspects like surpassing a level cap to progress deeper into the story. Lootboxes are heavily relied upon as certain gear becomes useless and under-leveled, making it a necessity for players to perform well in areas such as dungeons. In-app purchases such as these may be considered normal by mobile players, but to those playing Diablo Immortal on PC, it may be surprising.
In regards to players wanting to fully max out their character in Diablo Immortal, they might want to reconsider as in order to do so would cost them $110,000 for a single character. Once players level up, they have to wait for a certain amount of time to pass in order to keep gaining levels; however, it can prove to be a really tedious process. In order to get around this, a system has been implemented where real money can be used to skip the wait and keep playing.
Microtransactions Have Negatively Impacted Diablo Immortal
Microtransactions have always been a controversial issue in gaming, especially in free-to-play titles, but in cases such as this one where the title heavily relies on it, that is what causes a public outcry. With Diablo Immortal being delayed until 2022, a lot of fans had high hopes for the title and a majority have been severely let down. This has led to players figuring out how much it would cost to max out a character - and for F2P users, this could mean having to wait about a decade.
This highlights a growing problem with microtransactions and pay-to-win mechanics in so-called F2P games. $110,000 is a ridiculously steep price to max out characters, and requiring an investment of almost 10 years for free-to-play users is equally preposterous. Unlike the Diablo Immortal closed alpha, which was highly praised, the game has taken a completely different direction in terms of what it’s set out to accomplish. Players can still find some enjoyment, but it requires countless hours to be spent in-game. Unfortunately, it seems as if Diablo Immortal has given up on quality and instead is primarily concerned with milking money form its players.
Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.