Diablo Immortal’s infamous microtransactions debacle has really scarred Blizzard’s image in front of the fan and rightfully so. With that in mind and with Diablo 4’s full release, players are wondering whether the same shady pay-to-win practices have also made it into this game. Let us find out.
Currently, there are no pay-to-win mechanics and practices in Diablo 4. The team at Blizzard has gone out of their way to ensure that this approach will be avoided. The in-game shop and the upcoming Season/Battle Pass are strictly limited to cosmetic items and nothing more.
Let’s take a detailed look at the monetization scheme being practiced in Diablo 4 and whether the game can be considered pay-to-win or not.
Monetization in Diablo 4
Pay-to-win is a nefarious technique often employed by developers in the free-to-play genre. It has slowly started to creep into the paid-game world as well.
This is when systems allow players to cut corners when it comes to progression. Essentially anything that can be purchased with real money that speeds up or directly influences the “power grind”. This is no good in our books since it benefits only the whales out there and not the dedicated player putting in hours of their lives.
Taking Blizzard’s own Diablo Immortal as an example, it has pay-to-win up the wazoo. You can pay money to boost your levels, get powerful gear, and paywalling certain content that hinders progress. It is gaming and greed at its finest, or better yet ugliest.
Are there Pay-to-Win Mechanics in Diablo 4?
Right now, Diablo 4 doesn’t have any pay-to-win mechanics in place. The only thing you can buy in the game using real money is the premium currency called Platinum.
Using the currency, you can only buy cosmetic items in the game. The Shop only has certain armor/cosmetics bundles for each of the classes and other items like mounts etc.
These items have no direct impact on the gameplay and power but are just for show. One can argue that the prices quoted in the shop are abysmal. However, it is up to you if you want to put on that bling.
Blizzard has gone out of their way to showcase and compare the skins you can purchase to the ones you can get for free in the game. It is not like you are getting exceptionally better design by paying since the free stuff is quite amazing as well. Paying only gives you certain bragging rights! Other than that, your wallet is very much safe.
Pay-to-Win in the Future?
The game’s director Joe Shelly has said you will not be able to pay for power in Diablo 4. That’s great to hear considering he is the driving force behind the project.
As you most likely know, Diablo 4 is a live-service game which means the team will support it with frequent content updates. Shelly also mentioned that a dedicated team would be working on Diablo 4’s post-launch content delivering up to four Seasons a year.
How will these seasons work and how they will try to poke your wallet is yet to be seen. We have some information though.
With Seasons comes Season Pass as well. They will arrive in both Free and Premium Tiers. These passes are expected to be added to the game in July this year. We can only rely on Blizzard’s statements on these passes for now.
Season Pass – Free
This will run alongside the various Seasons as they’re deployed. The free tier will unlock as players engage with that season’s content which according to the team, is more ambitious than ever featuring all-new gameplay, quests, challenges, meta changes, and quality-of-life improvements.
Additionally, the free tiers of the pass will provide a gameplay boost that will make leveling up the character players create within that season easier. According to the team, there is no way to unlock more boosts or boost at a faster pace by spending money.
Worth noting is that you can purchase tiers from the season pass but there is also a level milestone tied to any of the boosts. So while you could theoretically purchase the entire thing with real cash, until you reach a certain level you won’t be able to activate those bonuses. Players will have to do some modicum of work to level up.
It’s mainly aimed at players being able to purchase individual season cosmetics without progressing through the entire pass which they may not have time to do so.
Season Pass – Premium
The premium tier will provide no in-game power or advantages over other players. According to the developers premium rewards focus on aesthetics only.
Providing value in the form of cosmetics and premium currency which can be used at the in-game shop. Premium-tier cosmetics will be rooted in the theme of that season which is why players will get both cosmetic items and premium currency.
Nothing too dubious from the looks of it for now.
This is the current face of Diablo 4 in terms of pay-to-win mechanics. The team has made it quite clear that their intentions are not to satisfy players with heavy pockets. They remain loyal to all players regardless of wallet size.
With that said, take all of this with a grain of salt since live-service games have the tendency to go for your money. Hopefully, it stays innocent in the future and nothing that riles up the community would be just fine.