How are microtransactions (as usual) ruining the Diablo Immortal experience in just under a week?

Diablo Immortal has a serious problem with its microtransactions. It is well expected that a free-to-play title will have microtransactions so that developers can recoup the costs and maintain sustainability.

However, these microtransactions can become quite problematic if they include pay-to-win elements. Unfortunately, the latest addition to the Diablo franchise seems to have just that.

When the game was in development, it had been reported that there is no direct way for players to strengthen their characters through payments. However, the reality seems different, as players can directly buy legendary crests, which reward legendary gems. These gems come in different rarities, and the rarer they are, the more they improve the players' gears.

What makes the entire situation grave is that to guarantee themselves the best gems, players will have to spend a lot of money. Also, the entire system is a gacha, and the best gems have low odds of coming out of the crests.

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Diablo Immortal's microtransactions could bring forth its end

The initial reception of Diablo Immortal is quite positive, as the core gameplay is quite solid. It retains some of the big positives from previous games, such as allowing players to farm different loots. These are some areas where the game shines, and there are no two thoughts about it.

That is not to say that Diablo Immortal does not have a major problem with the way microtransactions work in the game. The whole problem starts with the way players can obtain legendary gems and how little of them are available without spending. While the Empowered Pass offers a few, most of them have to be bought using real money.

The problem does not end here, as the legendary crests don't guarantee 5-star legendary gems. In addition, there is a gacha that players will have to withstand. The existing pity system guarantees a 5-star legendary gem at 50 tries, and $100 brings only 45 crests.

A recent calculation has shown that it will take nearly $110,000 for a player to max out their character in Diablo Immortal fully. Of course, this is the worst-case scenario, but there's no way players' good luck will reduce that amount.

This creates a terrible situation for the game as it potentially upsets both groups of players. Free-to-play players have no way to even remotely compete with those who will spend money in the game. No matter how hard they grind, players who spend real-life money in the game will always be ahead in building up their characters.

But things aren't that simple for those who might choose to spend the game. A Diablo immortal player will require a substantial amount to get their hands on a single legendary gem. Getting all will cost a fortune, and barely anyone will be able to afford such expenses. So it is quite clear that spending some amount on Diablo Immortal will be as good as spending nothing, which puts spending players in a dilemma.

Based on the gameplay alone, the game has the potential to survive and thrive. However, those aren't the only sides of the game, as there's a terrible microtransaction system. So, irrespective of the gameplay, the microtransactions will bring the game down.

This has happened with several titles in the past. Even a game like Lost Ark, which gained a lot of ground once, has now gone down in popularity due to some of the Amazon Games' decisions.

Unfortunately, Blizzard also seems to be heading towards the same path as many have criticized the in-game monetizations. Only time will tell how much of a furor it will cause and if players will give up on Diablo Immortal.