author: Miriam Moszczynska
Ban Diablo Immortal; Community the Game Out of Reddit
Players want Diablo Immortal banned in a subreddit dedicated to the series. The community is sick of the posts and doesn't want to hear about this game.
A lot can be said about Diablo Immortal, but players prefer not to mention it at all. In a thread about the game, there was a suggestion that all posts, both critical and flattering, about Diablo Immortal should be banned.
Firstly - microtransactions
I think everything has already been said in this topic. Diablo Immortal may be a F2P game, but the amount of microtransactions packed into it is overwhelming and some of the items available in the store make the gameplay much easier.
Thanks to youtuber Bellular News we know that maxing out characters in Diablo costs over 110 thousand dollars (although you can also buy a boosted account). What's interesting, yesterday another footage from the creator appeared, also concerning the title from Blizzard.
As it turns out, his previous video did not cover all the microtransactions available in Diablo Immortal and after reaching level 47 it only gets worse.
The pushy monetization is clearly driving players away from the title. These players, as part of their opposition, not only uninstalled DI, but also tried to convince the rest of the community to do the same.
Secondly - threat
User Al3xqcs pointed out in his post that the fact that the game is riddled with microtransactions is one thing. The fact that the game may pose a threat to some users is another matter.
"As I wrote in the title, I don't know how many people in this thread will agree with this, but the game is banned in several countries for one reason and not another [in Belgium and the Netherlands the lootboxes available in DI are considered gambling - ed. note]. There are probably a lot of teenagers reading all these posts. I don't think that banning Diablo Immortal in this thread would be unjustified, after all, the point is to protect people susceptible to the monetization system until Blizzard changes it."
As we know, microtransactions are associated with proper techniques to get the players to spend money. In a nutshell - the game is almost a textbook example of pay-to-win.
Thirdly - it's an abomination
If you have read this column, you probably know that Diablo Immortal is not so bad at all in terms of gameplay. It has its pros and cons, just like any other production. However, what hurts the community around the game is the fact that it is not quite a Diablo game.
"Diablo Immortal is not a Diablo game. It's a simple mobile game extracting money from players while wearing a shell of Diablo," wrote lixia.
"In reality Diablo Immortal was NOT created for fans of Diablo. Blizzard did try to target it (e.g. by putting it on BNet) to Diablofans, but ultimately Immortal was created exclusively for mobile gamers. It uses a lot of assets borrowed from Diablo III because it's basically just a port that was redesigned for mobile," wrote ToothlessFTW.
It has been repeated many times and probably will be repeated more than once - the veterans of the series are not the target of this game. Not only is it a mobile game, with a playable PC port, but Immortal combines the hack'and'slash, gacha and MMO genres. In other words, it's grind, money and multiplayer. And for fans of the series, that doesn't sound like another installment of Diablo.
Too many posts
Player outrage is understandable, although in the comments under the ban proposal for Immortal there were also many comments saying that the game can be banned for peace of mind.
Some players do not feel the inner need to be reminded of the dangers of DI and are simply fed up with the constant complaining. So a ban for posts about the mobile abomination in the series could satisfy not only those who demand some sort of justice, but also those who just want to play.
