Oh Blizzard, how you have fallen (Diablo Immortal).

[schwarzkopf]

New artwork for Diablo:

[Mic_128]

"Trap"

How dramatic.

How is it not? They lure you in and do whatever it can to keep you there while attempting to drain your wallet.

[dwarven]

How is it not? They lure you in and do whatever it can to keep you there while attempting to drain your wallet.

Yeah, the game is 100% a trap. If you play for free, the experience sucks. If you whale it, you really have to whale it. A bad experience all around unless you happen to be a millionaire.

[KrayZ33]

It would, it just won't bring in whale money. You see, selling a game at a premium will earn you a lot of money, but ActiBlizz wants all of the money. Literally all of it. EA is shrinking to the size of a pissant in the horizon compared to these assholes.

I'm not sure if it would actually work.
Not with the mobile market being what it is, a lot of bullshit low effort games that a single dev can dish out in a month.
You'd have to start a "new market" and new style of advertisement, and no one wants to do that considering the easy money is just around the corner.




A bit offtopic, but related to the game.
What irks me most is that this game has probably the *finest* character and weapon models Blizzard games have ever seen.
They could monetize the shit out of that instead of RNG lootboxes disguised as dungeon chests you buy a premium for to open.

I also remember that "Do you guys not have phones" guy saying that in D:I you won't be able to buy gear with real money.
A "funny" way to be correct. You can only buy "gems", which are the actual carrier of power in this game. I'm sure it that was not "intentional" to frame it like that when people asked that question

[SinR]

Still trying to figure why Immortal wasnt an expansion for D3

[Elim Garak]

Don't worry, its just the mobile game right?

Doesn't D3 have an in-game store? Or wow?

- - - Updated - - -

Still trying to figure why Immortal wasnt an expansion for D3

You can't play D3 on your phone

[Mysterymask]

Doesn't D3 have an in-game store? Or wow?

Actually only thing you can buy in D3 with actual cash is the expansion and necromancer

[Elim Garak]

Actually only thing you can buy in D3 with actual cash is the expansion and necromancer

Well, I hope whoever gets that position adds some more stuff to buy in D4 store.

[Kumorii]

Well, I hope whoever gets that position adds some more stuff to buy in D4 store.

Probably cosmetics + mounts. As per most games.
Maybe a season pass.

[Biomega]

Doesn't D3 have an in-game store?

Only in China. It's disabled in the West.

[Elim Garak]

Only in China. It's disabled in the West.

Interesting, why is there no outcry about the fact that Blizzard treats them as second class to the Chinese?

[Mic_128]

Still trying to figure why Immortal wasnt an expansion for D3

Because making a fancy slot machine is more profitable.

Well, I hope whoever gets that position adds some more stuff to buy in D4 store.

Why the hell would you want stuff from the game you just purchased locked behind a store instead of included in the thing you purchased?

[Mysterymask]

Interesting, why is there no outcry about the fact that Blizzard treats them as second class to the Chinese?

Actually back in mop there was cause they gave china a special raid difficulty just for them

[Elim Garak]

Why the hell would you want stuff from the game you just purchased locked behind a store instead of included in the thing you purchased?

What makes you think I want that?

[chiddie]

Don't worry, its just the mobile game right?

The store is not an issue per se (did you really think D4 wouldn’t have had a store?), it all depends on what they will sell.

[Nymrohd]

Still trying to figure why Immortal wasnt an expansion for D3

It's a prequel. It tells a different story and builds up to D3.

[Lolites]

They certainly aren't like 90's game developer we all fell in love with.

ofc not, they addapted, if they didnt they would "die" simple as that... if you think no blizz games are better than what we got thats you opinion, but i tend to disagree...

[chiddie]

Hit Level 60 yesterday. Login today.
Played 3 Battleground. My team clearly has disadvantage.
Don't feel like to do the daily, the shadow contract/assembly. Logout. May never touch it again.
I was hoping to spend the $300 in my battle.net balance. Guess not on this game.

Anyone who thinks Diablo Immortal is a good game is clearly not a true gamer.
This game gives so little reward per hour's playtime.

Even for a whale, he is forced to grind for a few things.
When he sees how little the reward is, he may give up.

I highly doubt it can be worse than WoW but I will see with my eyes when I’ll be there too.

[Jerot]

Doesn't D3 have an in-game store? Or wow?

It definitely wasn't a "key component" of their "seasonal content strategy". And neither got regular updates within the span of 3-4 months. (A diablo season)

The most generous interpretation of this is they want to pull a PoE. But that would require them to actually update their games with new content on a semi-regular basis. Not just once every 1-2+ years. How that content centers around the store though?

Realistically it probably means a seasonal battle pass and a new handful of cosmetics released every 1-2 months.

The cynic in me says they want to push more small paid expansions, as that makes more sense to call "content". New classes, dungeons, quest areas, bosses, legendaries. Basically what other ARPGs add in a season for free, but monetized.

Not immediately jumping to P2W as someone seems to suggest I am. But I don't think it's totally out of the cards. It's clearly acceptable to some degree in a significant portion of their titles. The exceptions have been the heavily PvP oriented ones (other than DI) like Starcraft, HotS, and Overwatch. And the mainline Diablo games have never been big on PvP.

I highly doubt it can be worse than WoW but I will see with my eyes when I’ll be there too.

WoW had things to do pretty much 24/7. There was a limit on dungeons, raids, and dailies, but you could always grind something.

Pretty much every meaningful resource in DI has a daily cap. Your legendary and regular gem finds get a boost for the first couple you find per day and then fall off sharply. Events that drop materials and regular gems stop dropping them after the first 2-5 clears.

Even if you find new gear upgrades, they require a higher paragon level. Your paragon level is tied to the server level. If you are below you get a boost, if you're above you get increasing penalties until it becomes impossible to level. This increases 2 per day.

Battlepass progress has a weekly cap. Gambling is capped, crafting is capped.

Your primary source of upgrades are legendary gems, and your access to free crests is limited. One a week from bonuses, a couple of 1-off rewards, and 1 a month from hilts. Your daily rare crest will give you materials to craft a 1-2 star gems every couple of days and fading embers will amount to another 1-2 star gem per 1.5-10 months. So about 13-14 gems a month.

Once you max out a 1-star gem, which requires finding 6 copies. 1/13 every 1-star roll. Lets call it after 6 months of daily play to be generous. You can then spend 1,000 eternal orbs to upgrade the item its socketed in to "awakened". Which can then be upgraded with even more legendary gems.

You can PvP as much as you want though?

[Biomega]

Interesting, why is there no outcry about the fact that Blizzard treats them as second class to the Chinese?

There was. Many D3 people wanted the shop, hoping it would finance more content updates (and also wanting to buy things like extra stash space).

But that ship sailed years ago, it's ancient history by now.