Can I please have Micro transactions in D3 (hear me out)

General Discussion
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I tried collecting up all the pitch forks and torches before starting this thread, hopefully we can get a meaningful conversation going before the Mob finds them and burns everything down.

Asking Blizzard to implement micro transactions in D3 might sound like the ravings of a madman but I think there could be some amazing benefits for everyone involved. Diablo 3 is an old game at this point and I don’t imagine makes Blizzard much money these days.

I feel the active D3 community suffers because of that. Without a revenue stream for the game, there’s no reason to employ many people to maintain the game or the servers. The fact that we still get seasons/updates amazes me sometimes to be honest.

To my mind, to get a better D3 experience, some sort of revenue that would justify a larger dev team, more server power etc. is better for all involved.

So what are we actually talking about here? What kind of micro transactions would make sense and remain palatable to the customers? Here’s my thoughts:

  1. Cosmetics
  2. Class skins
  3. Pets
  4. QoL options

Cosmetic Options
These would not include options that must be farmed like Cosmic Wings. It would be an insult to the people who spent time time to follow them.

New and different wings, banners etc. that you could purchase for your character.

Class skins
Being able to buy new skins for our characters would be awesome if you ask me. I’ve been playing the same looking toons for 10 years now, a change would be welcome.

Pets
Easy enough, pets in the shop that you can buy if you’re really into them. Again, unique pets that aren’t a reward already that players can earn.

Quality of Life
The list of quality of life options could be enormous. An example from someone else on this forum was a pet that would pick up items for you, ie gems, DB’s etc.

I understand that the idea of paying for anything is distasteful to many people. There is a strong vibe of ‘we should have all this anyway AND it should be free’. And hey, fair enough but the reality is that we’re not getting this stuff for free. From one view it might be irresponsible for a company to invest the time, effort and wages involved in creating such content with no revenue coming out of it.

For many, Diablo 3 is a hobby and spending a little money on a hobby makes perfect sense to me. I’d happily throw some money Blizzards way if they would come out with a couple thing’s I’d like to by to better enjoy my hobby.

What does the community think? Are there other micro transactions you’d pay for? Would it be worth it? Would we get a better gaming experience over all if Blizzard made some money off D3?

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I would rather they just spent time on D4 making sure the new game doesn’t suck.

Preferably without DLC-ing and P2W-ing the game to death

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I wouldn’t mind the first three options (Cosmetics, Class skins and Pets) although I doubt they would put the resources to implement. I would definitely consider buying some skins or banners depending on their look.

As for the QoL options, I believe this would create a disadvantage for players that do not buy the QoL changes. Having a per that picks up DB’s or Gold Items and such would make rifting much easier and players that do not buy the pet/pets would definitely be disadvantaged.

I believe it’s worth the discussion, but I’m not sure it will even be seriously considered.

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As long as you can’t buy power, it’s fine whit me. But! I have a feeling that what we would spend on stuff, in D3 MT shop, would not only go to the D3 team. It would contribute as a universal income, gathering up every penny from any source, and then management will decide where to put more, where to put less money.

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Agreed, generally speaking that is how companies work :slight_smile:

That said, additional revenue being available to be devoted to D3 would still exist.

Same. That’s why all of my suggestions specifically avoid any sort of ‘pay to win’ option.

I totally get that. For me it’s a situation of: ‘I 100% understand where you are coming from and yes it would’t be totally fair for everyone and I don’t care’ :smiley:

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Well these things have to be desireable. As long as the price is right on the Pick everything up pet and would worth it, I guess every one would buy atleast one. That being said, if there would be multiple designs.

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I understand where you are coming from, but your argument is that D3 playercount has dwindled because it doesn’t have constant support, due to no revenue stream. I would counter that with 2 points.

  1. They stopped making expansions for it, and lets be honest, they did so because they want to work on a new Diablo that hopefully pleases a wider range of fans than D3 did, since it drove many people away and is not in a great place to receive further expansions.

  2. Witcher 3 (among other single player games) has over 60,000 concurrent players on steam alone right now and while that is higher than usual, it is still often one of the most played games on Steam. Is it because of microtransactions? No. Is it because it is still supported heavily? No. It is because the game is so good, that people want to play it. Again and again. Diablo 2 is the same way for me. Starting over is just a blast. I could be making my 1000th sorcercess and I am still having a blast starting over.

In short, while I am sure they will have microtransactions (not that I support it), I hope they just do great expansions every 2 years or something. Do that with some support/updates and they will sell like hotcakes, as long as you make a game that is fun, true to Diablo, and doesn’t have any garbage practices that result in your game being run through the mud. Take a look at Battlefield 2042. Biggest disappointment in recent memory and getting absolutely trashed on Steam reviews, other places online, and a play count that is not exactly great right out of the gate.

EDIT: My brain read this as D4, using D3 as an example. My bad.

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Your points are valid! I have to say though I never contended that player count is down :wink:

I was thinking more like the server issues we have seen lately, buggy seasons, lack of policing cheaters etc. My idea is to generate revenue from the existing community by giving them something to buy that they might actually want.

PS: Witcher 3 is my all time favorite game!

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Ah, I misunderstood this line

“I feel the active D3 community suffers because of that.”

I thought you meant the community suffering in terms of player count. That makes more sense, though player count feeds into supporting the games servers/bugs/updates more often than not.

I don’t think you have to worry about revenue being generated and/or Diablo IV being updated, unless they totally botch the game with some stupid practice. I would be surprised if they didn’t have microtransactions for cosmetics and expansions for bigger updates.

PS - Witcher 3 is awesome. it is my most played game on Steam. It is not perfect, but still played through it twice in a row back to back when it came out, doing basically everything there is to do in the game. Played it again since then and will play it again when they update it with Raytracing/other enhancements this year. Anyway…back to Diablo lol.

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Microtransactions is fine as long as it’s only for cosmetic items, if it gives gameplay advantages is the root of all evil.

That said I don’t see it ever being a thing in D3, the game is on its last leg and I don’t see any valid justification for adding it at this point.

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But…money. Isn’t that a valid justification for anything? :wink:

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I have a hard time seeing the implementation of the system earning more than it would spend.

Class skins for example, your char is decked in gear, you only see the gear anyway so that would be a pointless purchase unless it actually changed the shape of your char which would be a fairly massive undertaking as every piece of gear would have to be adjusted to fit the new frame.

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Plenty of things I would pay for:

Extra stash tabs
Pet that picks up everything
A mod that figures out your actual DPS during gameplay

that sort of thing, but it is most likely just too late in the game for these kind of programming resources to be spent.

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If the money goes for things like adding new areas, new end game content, actual communication by the Dev Team, better balancing, etc, then ya I am all for it, otherwise adding MT’s would just be a cash grab.

Hard no. Complete deal breaker. It would be the end of my D3 career. Microtransactions should not give players an advantage in the game. Keep it to cosmetic crap.

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If such had been around when I started playing, or soon after, I’d be more for it but I have now gotten in my rut and want to “earn” pets and other cosmetics (if they ever drop, which they won’t.) Feels to cheapen the season journey if I can just buy the reward.

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The game sold 30m+ units. The money is already there, Blizzard just chooses not to reinvest. Nothing about introducing microtransactions promises they’d change that strategy.

Remember kids, there was a time when video games used to launch as completed products with bonus content earned through gameplay. While we may have strayed from this concept buying up token lines like games are more expensive to make or that continued revenue will help things churning, the reality is that these always benefit the producer more than the consumer. Expansions were where meaty content dumps justified an additional price, and while these may exist in part here and there, breaking things down into DLC or cosmetics rarely reflects the same level of care and depth.

Basically, players haven’t been torch and pitchforking enough, as we’ve steadily been seeing the predatory practices of mobile games bleed elsewhere. Encouraging yet more will solve nothing.

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It could be an option in the transmogs list, at the mystic?

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Well, it is a fact. Games nowadays having budgets of 100+ million dollars is not really rare.

That said clearly a seller will try to maximize profits.

The amount of work would still be the same though.

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Some studios mistakenly bloating their budgets isn’t the consumer’s fault. That said, there are also exponentially more gamers now than 20 years ago. The inability to find recent gen consoles in stores partially reflects that, scalpers and covid influence, aside.

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Yeah, entirely certain Covid and the resulting lack of components is the by far biggest reason behind that.

But yes, gaming has become a much larger market the last 20 odd years.