Diablo 4 to feature microtransactions

[kail]

Think of it like this.
You bought a sandwich off the menu.
Turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo.
But, you also want cheese.
It's not part of the menu item, it's an additional item.
Do you NEED cheese? No.
Do you WANT cheese? Yes.
So, you pay a little extra for cheese.
Others may not pay extra for cheese.

That's what a cosmetic micro-transaction is: extra cheese.
If you want it, you pay for it.
Capitalism.

In almost every restaurant, they offer w/e extras they have for a little cost. Could be extra cheese, meat, etc. If you are not satisfied with the base product for the price, that is one thing. To expect the restaurant to add w/e you want at no extra cost is frankly unreasonable.

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lol no it isn’t. It would be a win/win if we got it for free. You know like before games used to be. Crazy fucking idea though I know.

And lose out on potential content that could be paid for be whales? Wouldn't call that a win for anybody except for those who are really into cosmetic collections.

[Beefhammer]

And if that’s the case then do tell me why the same time between these patches? You’re grasping at straws bud. It took them just as long when they had no money as it did when they had money. Not to mention your own point is killing your argument. If it’s all thanks to other games successes then boom we got WoW, HS, and OW2 soon so no need for any microtransactions ever in D4 for the exact reasons you stated

WC3 and WoW were giant boons to the company whether you want to believe it or not. Good chance 1.10 never happens or is just another bug fix patch if WC3 never came out. Same thing for 1.11 and WoW. WoW basically funded the development on D3, SC2, OW, HS, HotS, and continued support for older games. Today it is much easier for games to be 100% self supporting through monetization, hence seeing it in all Blizzard games post WoW.

You can opine all you that Blizzards big money makers didn't help support old school games but you'd be wrong. Funny how all patches prior to 1.10 were small bug fixes and minor changes. WC3 launches and his a strong hit, and content is added to D2. WoW hits it big and a much bigger patch huts D2. D3 stops it's monetization and the second expansions is cancelled. You'd have to blind or obstinate not to see it.

[Karlz0rz]

Think of it like this.
You bought a sandwich off the menu.
Turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo.
But, you also want cheese.
It's not part of the menu item, it's an additional item.
Do you NEED cheese? No.
Do you WANT cheese? Yes.
So, you pay a little extra for cheese.
Others may not pay extra for cheese.

That's what a cosmetic micro-transaction is: extra cheese.
If you want it, you pay for it.
Capitalism.

No, cosmetic micro transactions would be like all of that, but the cheese comes in different colours.
You still get the cheese, but you can pay 1 dollar for a rainbow collored cheese that tastes exactly the same.

In your example, you are moving away from cosmetic, into actual "advantage" in game.

[Malacrass]

And lose out on potential content that could be paid for through MTX

This is my favorite argument, by far.

It's like people are in a abusive relationship with Blizzard or something. Paying for the dinner, the concert tickets and the taxi home, while watching another guy sleep with their date after. He paid for the fancy lingerie after all and she needs the support - otherwise there might be no next date at all!

I'm scared of how many people accepted MTX in what 2-3 years?
It's not convenience or cosmetics! You have to make baseline game suck donkey ass for microtransactions to work.

If that's the pace at which masses accept bullshit we are all fucked =/

Thankfully it's not as bad as this thread here suggests. MTX is either accepted or not based on the quality of the game/brand, and if there are other forms of monetization used alongside. I don't hear people complain much about MTX in F2P games, especially if it's about cosmetics.

And for those who would like to just shut up everyone who is skeptical about MTX: Get used to it. Because once you play the [MTX equals content] card, people will expect exactly that and will contrast each cosmetic release to whats available through ingame achievements. A constant struggle that comes naturally with more than one monetization method.

[Triceron]

I can understand why people is angry, but honestly while i don't like MTX it's just how things roll now.

No amount of "boycott X" or "but companies should do Y" will work. Shouting, complaining, petitions won't work. That's how economy works, if you can sell something at 50$, why selling it at 35$ and losing profit for no absolute reason? The only thing that works is not buying that stuff as a whole segment of customers. Until that happens, then you're going to get whatever scammy system to rake more money from games.

There's also the fact that games have not scaled up with inflation as one might expect.

A game could easily have cost $60 back in the day, and still costs $60 today. That price hasn't changed, and if reflecting inflation should cost roughly $100 today instead. Yet no one would think of buying a $100 game today, that is ridiculous, so companies need to find other ways of increasing revenue.

Also, box pricing doesn't work in China, where there is a culture of having games free to play and paying through MTX is a norm. Diablo has to have a business model that makes sense.

[Beefhammer]

No, cosmetic micro transactions would be like all of that, but the cheese comes in different colours.
You still get the cheese, but you can pay 1 dollar for a rainbow collored cheese that tastes exactly the same.

In your example, you are moving away from cosmetic, into actual "advantage" in game.

Assuming the cosmetics are different colors of already in game cosmetics. We do not know this.

[jakeic]

Think of it like this.
You bought a sandwich off the menu.
Turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo.
But, you also want cheese.
It's not part of the menu item, it's an additional item.
Do you NEED cheese? No.
Do you WANT cheese? Yes.
So, you pay a little extra for cheese.
Others may not pay extra for cheese.

That's what a cosmetic micro-transaction is: extra cheese.
If you want it, you pay for it.
Capitalism.

It’s more like a restaurant advertises a cheeseburger for $10, replete with fantastic pictures of a burger with melted cheese, only for you to pay that $10 to find out you get a hamburger, if you want cheese you need 150 of something called Burgerbuckers (not a legal currency and is completely worthless) which you can only buy in 250 increments, the smallest amount costing an additional $5.

[Coldkil]

It’s more like a restaurant advertises a cheeseburger for $10, replete with fantastic pictures of a burger with melted cheese, only for you to pay that $5 to find out you get a hamburger, if you want cheese you need 150 of something called Burgerbuckers (not a legal currency and is completely worthless) which you can only buy in 250 increments, the smallest amount costing an additional $5.

And that would be even a better deal since you pay 5 + 5 for the burger with extra cheese and have still 100 Burgerbuckers left. Maybe you'll get an extra sauce with them.

[Beefhammer]

And that would be even a better deal since you pay 5 + 5 for the burger with extra cheese and have still 100 Burgerbuckers left. Maybe you'll get an extra sauce with them.

And we have no clue if there will be any in game currencies to be used to purchase cosmetics. My guess is there will not be any. They seem pretty set on the tone of this game and having a Diablo bucks style currency doesn't seem to fit that.

[Coldkil]

And we have no clue if there will be any in game currencies to be used to purchase cosmetics. My guess is there will not be any. They seem pretty set on the tone of this game and having a Diablo bucks style currency doesn't seem to fit that.

Yeah, i agree and it's just better this way. PoE shop has this jkinda crappy points conversion where you spend 10 bucks for 100 points, you can get the stash you want for example and you're always left with some spare change. I'd just prefer they put prices on stuff and i'll buy whatever i want.

[Fencers]

Naturally. Gaming crossed a threshold years ago and there is no putting the genie in the bottle ever again.

I judge a game poorly based on the type and expense of MTX, not for having MTX.

[Beefhammer]

Naturally. Gaming crossed a threshold years ago and there is no putting the genie in the bottle ever again.

I judge a game poorly based on the type and expense of MTX, not for having MTX.

I just don't care if they are there or not, nor how expensive they are. I will play a game and completely ignore them. Even in free to play games.

[RH92]

I don't really care, it is just a business. Nobody holds a gun against my head to buy shit I don't want, so why bother?

[lordlosh]

Let me tell you something:
Mortal Kombat series for example.
With previous games, the game fully died in a year and a half or two. This was the cycle and then new game of the series comes out. Whether Injustice or MK.
And this is with 1 DLC which you paid for.

What they do is they decide to make MK11 a game that they will support constantly and the cycle of the game will be longer. This is their word and they said the only way to do so is to put MTX and to pay for the extra characters and contents.

I see plenty of people here complain about Blizzard won`t give them the so call "full/entire" game, but they will cut some part and put it as MTX. Tho this is ridiculous statement, what MK11 do, so the DEVS to constantly support the game and give new content and so on:
With MK11 base game you get like half roster. So should we accuse the Devs they didn`t gives us the full/entire game, but cut big part of the game, so they can earn more money?
There is plenty of MTX, but as well you paid extra for Shao Khan, and he was with the game release, but not include in base game, unless some "edition" of the game. Then you have to pay for Shang Tsung, for Night Wolf, and then DLC with 3rd variation, the list goes on with characters like Terminator, Sindel to come out, Joker and so on. You also can just buy Kombat Pack for "better deal".
This is just for characters/3rd variation. And you have other MTX, like skins and so on.
Tho there is plenty of great skin for free, you need to grind for them.
But i know what i`m buying i was okay with it. I don play some character, so i don`t buy some of them and i don`t complain.
For the money they get, we receive constant support, balance and new things in one of other form.
And you still need to pay for PS+ in order to play multiplayer, and this is for server support.

In Diablo you get a free server, MTX are entirely optional and everyone benefits from them, even the guys that will spend 0, because they will still get the support and future content, thanks to the guys that spend at MTX.

This is how things works.

[Beefhammer]

Let me tell you something:
Mortal Kombat series for example.
With previous games, the game fully died in a year and a half or two. This was the cycle and then new game of the series comes out. Whether Injustice or MK.
And this is with 1 DLC which you paid for.

What they do is they decide to make MK11 a game that they will support constantly and the cycle of the game will be longer. This is their word and they said the only way to do so is to put MTX and to pay for the extra characters and contents.

I see plenty of people here complain about Blizzard won`t give them the so call "full/entire" game, but they will cut some part and put it as MTX. Tho this is ridiculous statement, what MK11 do, so the DEVS to constantly support the game and give new content and so on:
With MK11 base game you get like half roster. So should we accuse the Devs they didn`t gives us the full/entire game, but cut big part of the game, so they can earn more money?
There is plenty of MTX, but as well you paid extra for Shao Khan, and he was with the game release, but not include in base game, unless some "edition" of the game. Then you have to pay for Shang Tsung, for Night Wolf, and then DLC with 3rd variation, the list goes on with characters like Terminator, Sindel to come out, Joker and so on. You also can just buy Kombat Pack for "better deal".
This is just for characters/3rd variation. And you have other MTX, like skins and so on.
Tho there is plenty of great skin for free, you need to grind for them.
But i know what i`m buying i was okay with it. I don play some character, so i don`t buy some of them and i don`t complain.
For the money they get, we receive constant support, balance and new things in one of other form.
And you still need to pay for PS+ in order to play multiplayer, and this is for server support.

In Diablo you get a free server, MTX are entirely optional and everyone benefits from them, even the guys that will spend 0, because they will still get the support and future content, thanks to the guys that spend at MTX.

This is how things works.

People just like to bitch. They are overly cynical and love to selectively be outraged when it is convenient to them. I have no plans to buy any MTX in any game but totally understand why they are there. People can say what they want about Activision and shareholders, but the reality is each game made these days that plans to have longevity and constant support needs to be monetized somehow independently of how much money the company overall makes.

You can argue that it is not needed when Blizzard makes a 20% profit margin. But then you would need to argue against corporations being public, which is a completely different argument. As of now, Blizzard has three goals to meet. One, make games people want to play. Two, sustain them through monetization. Three make enough to support their games and hit budgeted goals ActivisionBlizzard asks of them. Pretty hard to do without monetization.

So, I ask the whiners, what would you guys suggest Blizzard to to make enough to support their games and meet their profitability goals set from above?

[Soimu]

Cool...So Ill be walking around in ratty linen underpants and a metal bucket on my head.
Why...

In any case, saying "just cosmetics" nowadays is like that guy who says "just the tip". Before you know it, you are screwed. I bet my neck you will be able to buy power or certain QoL features only in the shop. Maybe not now, or at launch. But its going to be there.
Most likely, improve your chances of upgrading a legendary gem by 50% forever! 500 coins in the shop. Buy 400 coins for 1€

just like wow , at first it was just some charity pets and next bam there were mounts that should have been ingame (WOD mounts), xmogs , animations for weapon echants, level boost, toys, etc

[lordlosh]

People also don`t understand how much of salary programmer or dev takes or the position that are above these. And let me be clear they rightly earn every penny. To work with your mind is a hard thing. I`m a programmer myself and know how hard is it.
You have a team with probably 50 member on it, and positions like:
Game Director
Producers
Game Developers
Software developers
Server/Netcode folks
Community
Art and Game Graphics
Video, sound, and Cinematics
Q&A
Marketing and Localization
And probably many more.
Let said their average salary is around 15k(in reality its probably a lot more)
If the whole Diablo team for example is 50 men there you have 750k monthly. Which for a year is 9mil.
Lets said they work on the game for 5 years. Firstly the company get zero income, they have cost firstly for salary and they also have expense for the game, for the ads, for the cinematics, and all kind of stuffs.
So the guys at the top of the company that took the big decision, they need to plan very carefully, because they first invest and then after a lot of years the income will come. And that income need to cover huge cost, salary, bonuses and as well bosses salary/big money.

And lets said all is done well. You have made great profit, but the profit is like "one time" only. I mean you just sell the base game, there won`t be much future income right. But you will have cost, for servers, for support, to add new content and stuff and you still need to pay salary. And you still need to plan the future, because that profit will expire at one point, and even if its that much more, why would a businessman throw money away for support, salary, future content and all that stuffs for simply zero income. This is how you are going to bankrupt a company.

So in terms for them to continuously fully support the game and add new stuffs(which will mean for them to spend more on the game), they will need a business/monetization model.
Their choices are this:
monthly fee
MTX(that needs to generate)
Some kind of a paid DLC lets said every 3 months or so.
And of course the big money from expansion, but you also need to invest heavy in there too, and that as well will cost a lot of resources and time. And you still need to keep base game alive, which is also resources ....

Let`s be perfectly real here, whatever method Blizzard had been chosen people would complain about it.

[Coldkil]

Let`s be perfectly real here, whatever method Blizzard had been chosen people would complain about it.

Yeah, that's very likely true

However there's a real reason to be worried about microtx systesm - we don't see many "fair" one around, lootbxes are cancer all over the place and players are just both fed up with them and worried about the impact they have on gameplay and game support. Too many times we've dealt with games designes around people spending loads of money for additional stuff and that's crap.

Blizzard is in a good position, since it's all after the bad backlash that happened with EA SWBF2. They have examples of what players tolerate and what not. They know cosmetics are generally seeing as good and PoE which is a direct competitor has a definitely fair monetization system (with all the pertinent critiques and shortcomings).

They have the chance of making something truly good. If they go wrong, it's all on them though.

[drbatman]

bcuz blizz is making this game for house moms to play on their iphones through facebook app

not sweaty basement neckbeards like u

Infracted.

[Beefhammer]

bcuz blizz is making this game for house moms to play on their iphones through facebook app

not sweaty basement neckbeards like u

Infracted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscdPA6sUkc

At the 44min mark Brevik mentions they had the mom test for Diablo. Everything had to be simple enough for Diablo to be played by his mother.