The warlock class is a disgusting cashgrab - and not in the way you think

Console Discussion
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You force us to link our consoles to our Battle.net account…

If I purchase this on PC, I should be able to play this content on other platforms, not have to pay $27 USD over and over again.

I should have expected it, as for years Blizzard has been notorious for grabbing every dollar they can out of your wallet.

There is no reason AT ALL why my account is linked, on both PS5 and Switch 2, with this content purchased for D2R that I should not be able to play it.

Be better. Yes, I know I’ll get cringelords rage-baiting this one, but I stand on business, and you rage-baiters are pre-emptively wrong. This is terrible a business practice.

Edit for clarity: Even if you create the character on PC and try to play the same character on console, it will prompt you to purchase again - not allowing you to play your character.

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Incorrect, it has not much to do with Blizzard or the expansion.

Consoles live and are “locked into” their own network to a certain degree, Blizzard provides online service via their network called battle.net. To be able to play on Blizzard’s network, you need to “connect“ your console account - Microsoft in my case - to battle.net. But everything else happens on the Xbox network, you can only play with Xbox users in my case, etc so this enforced link is just identifying you on the game’s network and required like it or not.

The other misunderstanding is that you think you purchased a game, you probably just purchased a right to play a game but you don’t own it and games have always been platform specific even in the 90’s!

You can question the price tag on a DLC, sure that is something we all have different opinion about. But what you should be questioning instead why we don’t have cross play for instance, or worse: why do we have to pay subscription to console providers just to connect to Blizzard’s battle.net network and alikes. Why we all have to buy everything via the console’s store? I cannot even get v-bucks from the vendor or skin? Because console manufacturer wants its cut… Consoles are sold with mass loss, they get their money back via services and you have to accept this, like it or not.

At the end of the day this is a business, not a charity so every single one of them will charge us wether we like it or not.

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Explain cross platform to me? Besides this is a server side issue.

If you surveyed 100 players, you’ll get 5 people who think like you, and 95 that agree with me on this. It’s a terrible business practice by every single conceivable metric.

1/10 bait, go away.

Edit: Just to hammer home the point that this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about - cross patform DLC is actually the norm. From fortnite to Borderlands to minecraft.

100% a blizzard problem ignoring the actual industry trend.

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It works like this for almost every game sadly, and it has to do with how licenses are handled in the gaming market. However, Blizzard has the option to put Diablo on “xbox play anywhere”, so they could at least combine the PC and xbox console license together, if they want to. That license question is what prevented me to pre-order games a lot of times, because I don’t know which one I’m gonna want in the future.

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Edit: Sorry for that, was reading on my phone and got a browser glitch. Yes, I’m in absolute agreement with you.

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This has nothing to do with the Warlock DLC.

You have to buy the game separately on every platform. Buying it on pc doesn’t give it to you on all the consoles. This is the same for pretty much every game out there.

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No, read the thread, I’ve provided multiple examples where you’re entirely wrong.

Why are you defending this? You only benefit from the industry norm. This? This is them intentionally going out of their way to lock you out to force you to pay twice.

You buy DLC on any game, Fortnite, Arc Raiders, Minecraft, hell even Microsoft store with play anywhere, you get that DLC on your platform of choice. Period.

You’re just a shameless shill.

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the one guy may be telling the truth doesn’t mean that it isn’t full of bologna and you must have a short memory i bought it on the XBOX and carried over to PC

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I did, you just did not read my post carefully.

This is just an unwarranted assumption, just like everything else you claim in your post. I am in the software industry, I write code and have experience dealing with vendors and their distribution platforms like stores.

I am not defending Blizzard in any ways, I am just pointing out that your post is anger fuelled venting without much practical background.

In short: cross platform DLC is not industry standard, period. 3 games will not make it although I have not even bothered verifying your claim for those you mentioned in your post.

The industry standard is that you purchase the license within the platform’s ecosystem where they take a revenue cut (often ~30%):

  1. Control licenses through their own store
  2. Do not automatically recognise purchases made on competing platforms

Yes, some games tie DLC to a publisher account rather than just the console store but:

  1. Premium currency often does not transfer.
  2. Certain platform-exclusive items don’t transfer.
  3. It depends on agreements with Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo.

Why it will unlikely to become standard… ever?!

1. Platform Revenue Sharing

Console makers want their store cut. If DLC bought on Steam worked on PlayStation, Sony would lose revenue.

2. Licensing & Contracts

Some DLC includes licensed IP (music, characters, brands) restricted by platform agreements.

3. Technical & Account Infrastructure

Older games especially weren’t built with unified account systems.

4. Platform Policies

Historically, Sony in particular resisted cross-play and cross-purchase (though they’ve relaxed over time).

Thanks for reading my post carefully.

1 Like