How would you want to pay for Diablo 4?

[Battlebeard]

Anyone who's got a brain should want this - provided the microtransactions are cosmetic/convenience only.

You need to give companies a reason to invest into their product for the long term. Buy-to-play works for for games that you play once or twice, and then shelve for the next 10 years to revisit every now and then (like big single-player RPGs, think Final Fantasy etc.). Diablo is not such a game. It needs regular content to change up the immensity of the loot grind, and regular content (of quality) only comes with regular revenue. Having cosmetic/convenience microtransactions in the game is one of the best ways for players to get to that kind of model, since it doesn't really impact people who don't care for the extras, but gives people who do something to play with - all the while providing the company with both the incentive and the revenue to keep pumping out content that keeps people playing.

Where it becomes a problem is if the microtransactions are NOT limited to cosmetics/convenience, and include content or power.

The problem is that they tend to get greedy though. Take Overwatch, a collector want to collect ALL of the cosmetics. But there are so many of them that it's unrealistic to ever get all of them unless you play 1000 hours or pay, and what you have to pay for it all is crazy expensive. I rather have a subscription with everything avaliable.

And it gets worse when they make time limited cosmetics, that people need to get fast if they ever want it. They can put any price and people buy it. :S


But Diablo 3 worked fine without either micro transactions or a subscription. There was the game, the expansion and the necromancer pack.

Sure some people argue the "lack" of endgame is cause the game doesn't generate enough money, but the thing is, Diablo 3 was a huge improvement over D2 (in a modern gaming way at least) and the people at Blizzard never imagined they be competing with Path of Exile. The game is simply not designed to be bigger than it is, you have to make a new game from the ground.

So Diablo 4 could be the game, a few expansions and a few extra packs like the necromancer for D3, would work fine.

[Biomega]

The problem is that they tend to get greedy though. Take Overwatch, a collector want to collect ALL of the cosmetics. But there are so many of them that it's unrealistic to ever get all of them unless you play 1000 hours or pay, and what you have to pay for it all is crazy expensive. I rather have a subscription with everything avaliable.

And it gets worse when they make time limited cosmetics, that people need to get fast if they ever want it. They can put any price and people buy it. :S

How is this an argument? Because 1 in 10,000 people are collectors that want EVERYTHING, we should shift the entire business model of the game? When it is in fact whales like that who support the rest of the players who don't spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars? What?

But Diablo 3 worked fine without either micro transactions or a subscription. There was the game, the expansion and the necromancer pack.

I think we might differ on what "worked fine" means. People have been decrying the maintenance-mode content drought of D3 for literally years. You apparently don't mind.

[oland138]

I picked other. I wont mind paying for expansions.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I think we might differ on what "worked fine" means. People have been decrying the maintenance-mode content drought of D3 for literally years. You apparently don't mind.

Yeah because probably some of the original game systems didn't pan out too well(Talking classic not RoS that did extremely well).

[DaHomieG]

I'm honestly baffled at the fact that people really think D4 is coming anytime soon. D3 isn't even that old. If you look at the pattern, there's an 11 year gap between Lord of Destruction and D3. Granted, obviously they're not going to make Diablo fans wait another decade for the next installment, but D3 itself isn't that old and has only had ONE expansion.

At this pace the only logical thing to do would be to have another expansion and focus on improving D3.

[taishar68]

I'm honestly baffled at the fact that people really think D4 is coming anytime soon. D3 isn't even that old. If you look at the pattern, there's an 11 year gap between Lord of Destruction and D3. Granted, obviously they're not going to make Diablo fans wait another decade for the next installment, but D3 itself isn't that old and has only had ONE expansion.

At this pace the only logical thing to do would be to have another expansion and focus on improving D3.

I don't think an expansion would work well for D3 at this point; if they hadn't had the DI debacle last year, maybe, but nothing less than a new, and good, Diablo game will satisfy the masses and be successful, imo.

Personally, I'd prefer a sub structure if there were consistent content updates, but the start has to be robust as well. That commits devs and fans to the product, like WoW. If not I think a one time fee with micro transactions along the way would work best. Cosmetic or QoL only, of course. This season coming up offers you a chance at more stash tabs...but you have to beat the season to do it. Stupid. Should have had them as a shop item...people would for sure pay a few bucks for more storage.

[Thirza]

Virgin sacrifices.

[Battlebeard]

How is this an argument? Because 1 in 10,000 people are collectors that want EVERYTHING, we should shift the entire business model of the game? When it is in fact whales like that who support the rest of the players who don't spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars? What?


I think we might differ on what "worked fine" means. People have been decrying the maintenance-mode content drought of D3 for literally years. You apparently don't mind.

Why do you think it's 1 in 10000? I figure it's about 1 in 3? Personally I don't understand why anyone would NOT want everything. Humans are ambitious creatures, we want it all!

[Biomega]

Why do you think it's 1 in 10000? I figure it's about 1 in 3?

You think 1 in 3 people will want to collect literally EVERYTHING cosmetic that exists in the game?

Yeah, okay.

[naeblis495]

i don't mind dlc as long as it get meaningfull uptades ( aka not +1000% damage to a set , those "updates" are garbage) like more classes , cosmetics armors and spells , maps ect

those d3 devs really take us for fools by taking months for those kinds of update

[Miyagie]

I trust Blizzard to monetize fairly and realistically, and that means something different than it did 10 years ago.

"Buy once, never even be tempted to spend again" is essentially dead in AAA space. Especially in publicly traded AAA space.

If you want Blizzard quality, expect to fund D4 regularly, or that someone next to you is doing so using options you are likely welcome to ignore.

The game cannot live on box prices and expansion prices unless those expansions are like... maybe annual. Likely more often than that if that's the model they go with.

So yeah, I'll buy it. I expect a box purchase. If I get into it, I'll likely spend regularly. The options will be there. Bank on it.

What is Blizzard quality ?
WoD and BoA was a joke, Diablo 3 Vanilla was a joke, Hearthstone meta is a joke and Overwatch and HotS was outdated before the release.
The last good game Blizz made was the Diablo 3 addon and that only sold 6 million times so they killed the franchise.

[Omedon]

What is Blizzard quality ?
WoD and BoA was a joke, Diablo 3 Vanilla was a joke, Hearthstone meta is a joke and Overwatch and HotS was outdated before the release.
The last good game Blizz made was the Diablo 3 addon and that only sold 6 million times so they killed the franchise.

If you actually believe all of that then there's no reasoning with you. Enjoy your life.

[Battlebeard]

You think 1 in 3 people will want to collect literally EVERYTHING cosmetic that exists in the game?

Yeah, okay.

There is a difference between will and if they actually go for it though. But I believe the desire to collect is bigger than you think. Gamers are completionists, in one degree or another. You want legendary gear in all slots, don't you? You wanna complete all acts in story mode, don't you? And to want all cosmetics is just the next step, that I think alot of people actually are interested in.

[ophion1990]

The most realistic one would probably be B2P with microtransactions that aren't P2W. In other words, transmogs, pets, banners,... maybe stash space, so kinda like OW. Though I'd expect a fair amount of stash just for buying the game, granted that even D3 was lacking in that regard.

All games Blizzard has released since SC2/D3 have had continues transactions, even D3 got DLC with the necro and initially had the RMA, SC2 has the co-op commanders and whatnot. I really don't see them do the "buy once free forever (until the next expansion)" model at this point.

[Coldkil]

All games Blizzard has released since SC2/D3 have had continues transactions, even D3 got DLC with the necro and initially had the RMA, SC2 has the co-op commanders and whatnot. I really don't see them do the "buy once free forever (until the next expansion)" model at this point.

If such DLCs are actually expansions or offer small chunk of content for small price, i'm fine.

I'm against microtx even cosmetics only until they make possible to also farm them ingame.

EDIT: i'm perfectly fine with PoE because the game is F2P. We can discuss how much we want about "but you need stash/currency/extra tabs" but even counting all of them you're paying for the same price of a current AAA game and still you get all content for free.

Hence it's doable.

[Vorkreist]

I won't pay for D4 because it won't compete with Poe. It will most likely be the same garbage like D3 only a bit more elevated.
The designers of all past great blizzard games are long gone and the design direction for casual retarded crap is the norm for quite a while now.

[Beazy]

At this point, I don't. Blizzard could never catch up to PoE now. Blizzard should stick to videos like on the front page of this site right now. Thats really all they are good at these days.

[Coldkil]

At this point, I don't. Blizzard could never catch up to PoE now. Blizzard should stick to videos like on the front page of this site right now. Thats really all they are good at these days.

That's basically the reason why Blizzard said the next Diablo would be something different. I think they also realize the ARPG scene is dominated by PoE and an handful of other titles, so they need to distinguish them from the others.

It will still be an action arpg with an hopefully fast-paced gameplay/combat. Nier:Automata style, but with actual deep character building/customization. Couldn't care less about story since Diablo is all about hordes of demons and loot.

[avitush]

Buy once, free forever.

I'm also okay with a cash shop in this situation as long as you can only buy cosmetic stuff (titles, Santa Claus costumes, etc) that doesn't give you an advantage over other players.

[Coldkil]

Ah, a not e that seems to be misunderstood by a lot of people - "buy once, free forever" to me includes also expac/DLCs. I'm fine with 60 bucks initial price and a 40ish every 2 years or so for expansions. I'm also fine with a cosmetic store like PoE (but excluding the statsh tabs that imho should be included for free or as gameplay rewards) in addition to these costs because of every reason we know.

I don't want it to be a subscription game or have it riddled with lootboxes/microtx that are just a mean to keep investment to the minimum and revenue to the max.