Maxing Out a Diablo Immortal Character Costs Over $100K
Activision Blizzard's Diablo Immortal, which was released a few days ago, is still on the lips of many gamers around the world, mainly due to its microtransaction model.
As the latest work of Blizzard Entertainment is a free-to-play game, the players can play it for free, but also make optional purchases through microtransactions. Although this approach is quite common these days, Diablo Immortal has perhaps gone a step further than most fans expected.
Recently we reported of the fact that numerous users criticize the developer for the multitude of microtransactions that the new hack'n'slash offers. According to the YouTube channel Bellular News, the game's unique monetization system is designed in such a way that full character progression becomes extremely expensive.
Cat in a bag for 100K
According to Matt and Michael from Bellular News , the crux of the problem lies in the fact that Diablo enables players to purchase so-called Legendary Gems. They are one of the three pillars of character progression in the game, along with regular equipment and XP-based character levels. These gems enable us to go beyond what is possible with standard progression.
The hosts have calculated in their video that full character progression would cost, with the current game economy, $110,000. Interestingly, Legendary Gems are not even guaranteed loot for paying fans, as they are only randomly awarded when we purchase a pack of Legendary Crests.
The developer's clever tactic
Furthermore, the youtubers have stated that the whole system is intentionally convoluted so that a regular person playing for free would take about 10 years of game time to max out a character.
Although Diablo Immortal became a hit worldwide after the release, if the above calculations turn out to be true, they might tip the scales and the fans, already frustrated by microtransactions, will give the developer hell.
Finally, we remind that Diablo Immortal was released a few days ago on PC, Android and iOS (on the former platform in open beta tests).
