D4 MTX: Would you still play if...

[Cthulhu 2020]

EDIT: Since people are apparently having a hard time reading, the poll is asking what you would do if the hypothetical of the situation were true.

Given Blizzard's recent tragedies, I look at every single release with incredible skepticism. Diablo IV looks incredible. But when they say that the cash shop will be focused around cosmetics only, my first thought is,

"And you'll be able to sell those cosmetics to other players for in game currency, which can then be used on the in game auction house to buy powerful items, and Blizzard's excuse is that it's not 'pay to win' because you're buying gear from other players, while being disingenuous about the fact that you will very likely be able to sell cash shop stuff."

Every Blizard game is heavily monetized now, and the above is how WoW is monetized, and it's how they make excuses for WoW being "not pay to win". But everyone sees past it.

So my question is, if the above is the case, will you still play?

[Biomega]

This is pure speculation.

I don't think any Blizzard game that has cosmetics for cash allows you to sell them to other people in game. To suggest that this would suddenly be the case just to circumvent the p2w restriction on a technicality seems at best paranoid, and at worst actively disingenuous.

We don't KNOW for sure, but it seems incredibly unlikely.

Also I believe that last we heard about item trading, they said it wouldn't be a thing for the top-tier items at all; i.e. even if you COULD convert money into items by such a roundabout way, it wouldn't be the most powerful stuff.

[arkanon]

Given Blizzard's recent tragedies, I look at every single release with incredible skepticism. Diablo IV looks incredible. But when they say that the cash shop will be focused around cosmetics only, my first thought is,

"And you'll be able to sell those cosmetics to other players for in game currency, which can then be used on the in game auction house to buy powerful items, and Blizzard's excuse is that it's not 'pay to win' because you're buying gear from other players, while being disingenuous about the fact that you will very likely be able to sell cash shop stuff."

Every Blizard game is heavily monetized now, and the above is how WoW is monetized, and it's how they make excuses for WoW being "not pay to win". But everyone sees past it.

So my question is, if the above is the case, will you still play?

MTX does not equal P2W - there is sometimes overlap, but not always. As usual on this forum, the options are not fair at all.

- I will play even if it is P2W
- I will not play if it is P2W, but dont mind a cosmetic only cash shop
- I will not play if there are any MTX at all

What im getting at is MOST players i know dont mind if a game has a cash shop that sells SOME cosmetic items, so long as the items in game are comparable. But not a single one of those people would buy the game if it has any form of P2W or gating behind $$$ at all.

[Mysterymask]

Today on how do I rile up MMO Champion

Say the M word mention Diablo throw p2w and you got a good ole fashioned mega shit post guaranteed at least 50 pages

[Snowfunk]

What a garbage clickbait thread....

Wild assumptions about P2W, a poll with 4 different options of "no".

[RobertMugabe]

Given Blizzard's recent tragedies, I look at every single release with incredible skepticism. Diablo IV looks incredible. But when they say that the cash shop will be focused around cosmetics only, my first thought is,

"And you'll be able to sell those cosmetics to other players for in game currency, which can then be used on the in game auction house to buy powerful items, and Blizzard's excuse is that it's not 'pay to win' because you're buying gear from other players, while being disingenuous about the fact that you will very likely be able to sell cash shop stuff."

Every Blizard game is heavily monetized now, and the above is how WoW is monetized, and it's how they make excuses for WoW being "not pay to win". But everyone sees past it.

So my question is, if the above is the case, will you still play?

That would 100% be an issue for me in a multiplayer focused and truly competitive game. For example this would suck in WoW.

But for Diablo, I really don't care and I am surprised that apparently so many people care. Surely I am not the only one who played Diablo 3 completely on my own and mainly for the story? Then once I was done with the content, I was done with the game and moved on.

Was Diablo seriously ever such a huge community game? If so, I haven't noticed it at all in all those years until now lol.

[Arainie]

Oh give it a freaking rest will you.

[MoanaLisa]

Since the poll is garbage I'll just say that if I can kill demons for a while and not spend any money doing so, sure. I will definitely play it.

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Surely I am not the only one who played Diablo 3 completely on my own and mainly for the story? Then once I was done with the content, I was done with the game and moved on.

No, not the only one. I still play it when a new season rolls around. The combat engine is a marvel and the game is a pleasure to play. I likely clock all of two or three hours a month with it except for a little burst of a few hours when a season starts. Nonetheless, when I boot it up, it's fun for what it is.

[Kumorii]

I will play the game if I think I would enjoy it. Which I think I will ATM. Then I stop when I get bored. I don't dabble in trading be it player to player or mtx.

Not gonna boycott a game because others want to make a statement. Same as I don't expect others to do the same for me.

Also the poll is a bit biased.

[Mamut]

No matter how big and expensive the shop would be I still will play it without spending single dollar in it. And your poll is pure garbage.

[Zoibert the Bear]

The absolute fucking state of this site.
You are free to do as you will, just know someone, somewhete, hates your guts.

[Cthulhu 2020]

It is a speculative thread. Thus why the poll answers exist under the speculation that it's true.

But the people who are saying that this hypothetical is highly unlikely or just won't happen... we've got some bad short term memory in here.

And if you don't care if you can buy cosmetics in the shop, sell them for currency, then use that currency to buy gear, and just wants to slay demons, that's fine for you.

But I'll go ahead and bookmark this thread. I'm not saying it will happen, but I'll just smile and say "told ya so" if this or something similar happens.



(Also, let's not rehash what you "think" pay to win is. If you can use real life money to buy gear, even if there's an "extra step", it's pay to win.)

[Nymrohd]

I'll say this. I don't play Diablo to be competitive. I play it to slay demons. I still play D3 occasionally because I just find it relaxing. If D4 has good gameplay and a lot of content, I'll play it.
On the P2W element I don't think D4 will be p2w. I also think there are several levels of p2w. Diablo Immortal has a major progression system that you can't ever participate meaningfully without paying; that part of power progression is not just p2w, you need to pay to even play it. Meanwhile WoW has rampant boosting. If you are willing to pay you can get just about everything in WoW. But never at the same speed that the best raiders can get. So if the p2w element simply lets you catch up to what everyone can do if they grind and are good players, I don't mind it.

[Cthulhu 2020]

The absolute fucking state of this site Bli$$ard

Fixed that for ya. *Dusts off sleeve*

[Makorus]

Recent tragedies is a plural.

There has been one.

Also, I literally couldn't care less about pay to win in a PvE game as long as the game isn't designed to only be played with spending money. Didn't give a shit about being able to buy crafting resources in Dead Space 3, didn't give a shit about being able to buy Praxis Kits in Mankind Divided.

Because I didn't even notice they were a thing.

[Cthulhu 2020]

And your poll is pure garbage.

Went back and highlighted the important bit, because apparently reading comprehension on this site is an all time low.

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There has been one.

BFA, Shadowlands, Diablo 3 was absolute garbage until Reaper of Souls, and for most people, completely unplayable for the first two weeks of launch, Diablo Immortal, Warcraft 3 Refunded, Lawsuits.

I guess our definition of "recent" might be slightly different, but Blizzard has been firing a lot of blanks the last 10 years. For every success like Overwatch or a well received Hearthstone expansion, you've got two dumpster fires. Their track record is sketch.

*Counts on fingers* I might be bad at math, but that sounds like more than one tragedy.



Anyone who looks at Blizzard's 10 year track record though, and says they absolutely will not add a way for players to buy gear (even in a roundabout way) is deluding themselves. That's not saying they absolutely will. But the DNA of their monetization schemes is on every game they make.

[Makorus]

Went back and highlighted the important bit, because apparently reading comprehension on this site is an all time low.

- - - Updated - - -



BFA, Shadowlands, Diablo 3 was absolute garbage until Reaper of Souls, and for most people, completely unplayable for the first two weeks of launch, Diablo Immortal, Lawsuits.

*Counts on fingers* I might be bad at math, but that sounds like more than one tragedy.

And how are BfA, Shadowlands or Diablo 3 (a game that came out 10 years ago and near enough everyone who worked on it doesn't work for the company anymore anyway) in any way relevant to D4 being pay to win?

What's next? "Will Diablo 4 be incredibly racist because Vanilla WoW had terrible server issues at launch?!?"

[Biomega]

Here's a poll:

Do you think this thread's poll is biased?

1. Yes
2. Absolutely
3. Totally
4. Very much so

Let's see where we go, I'm excited to see the great diversity of people's opinions on this!

[Kumorii]

Went back and highlighted the important bit, because apparently reading comprehension on this site is an all time low.

Problem isn't understanding what you wrote. Problem is that your answers doesn't reflect opinions people might have.

People will take the ones that vote "I don't care if it is" as if they support it. Or at least that's the inference people can make.

Think most will play as in they don't let that sway their enjoyment of a game even of they don't like mtx or p2w aspects and take no part in it.

It's hard to make unbiased answers when doing small polls though. Unless the question is very specific with little nuance to it.

But I'll go ahead and bookmark this thread. I'm not saying it will happen, but I'll just smile and say "told ya so" if this or something similar happens.

Will you come back and do the same if you are wrong?

[Cthulhu 2020]

People will take the ones that vote "I don't care if it is" as if they support it. Or at least that's the inference people can make.

I don't work in inferences. I work in plain English. If someone has fun with the game and never engages in MTX, who am I to take away their fun? I personally have nothing against individuals choosing how to spend their free time.

I have only ever been against the steady march of normalizing more and more invasive MTX. Is there a weird gray area where people paying into a system encourages companies to do it more? Yes. But I eagerly await the day our government adds regulation for this. Loot boxes are already illegal in many countries, and D:I rifts are glorified loot boxes.

I am against companies continuing to make such games. Yes, perhaps I should have put in two options, "I'll still be playing the game, AND I'LL BE WHALING THE SHIT OUT OF IT" or "I'll play but I won't engage in MTX", but it's a bit late for that.

It's hard to make unbiased answers when doing small polls though. Unless the question is very specific with little nuance to it.

Fair assessment, more fair than anyone else in this thread has given. But I understand that some might have a visceral reaction to thinking that a numbered Diablo game might be monetized similarly to how WoW is.

Will you come back and do the same if you are wrong?

I'll post a picture, with my face blurred, of me eating a hat if there is absolutely no way for $$$$ to become gear or some other form of player power. Even if there is an extra step or two (i.e. you buy a cosmetic, sell it to another player for whatever D4's platinum is going to be, then buy gear/gems/power) it still counts though.

Given ActiBlizzard's track record of the last 10 years, I'm feeling pretty confident. Putting my odds at at least 50/50.

EDIT: And to clarify, no, I am not counting buying gold/platinum from third party websites. I am not counting people "gifting" item codes then being traded in game money. I am counting any method through Blizzard's official means, including the game, the launcher, and the official website.