Diablo 4 can't have ANY microtransactions

These are single player one play though ( 2 or more if you are super fan) games.
You know what they did not provide also. Updates.

People are comparing a live service that is design for content update to one off experience game now……

Some People here seems to want D4 to die a quick death, or secretly PoE supporters.

A live service game without update is going to die very soon. This is not 2001 where D2 had no competition.

It’s maybe a matter of taste but I hope that cosmetics will be not for items but for other stuff like the look of skills, additional skins for your summoned skeletons or sth. else whatever. But I don’t like the idea in a diablo game to change the look of items at will. Just destroys item identity. At least, hopefully one can’t transmog uniques.

Sure thing… how much you willing to pay to get the full experience? $99? $129? Maybe even $199? Seems to me I was paying $49 for games back in the 90s. And while everything else has doubled(or more) in price since then, games have become relatively cheap. Companies have come up with some interesting ways to get money out of wealthy whales so that us minnows can enjoy the game without breaking our wallets. Now Diablo Immortal is crap on a sheite sandwich as far as monetization is concerned, some other games have done it right. Lets hope they stick to their words and only provide the bare minimum of MTX in D4. And everybody needs to stop acting like this is something new to Blizz. Seems to me WoW has had MTXs for awhile now. Pets, mounts, cosmetics, etc.

You are missing a big component.

We are not juts getting a product in D4.

We are getting a product , as well as update to it, so it stay fresh.

A recurring income is needed to sustain the latter.

And optional cosmetic that you can choose NOT to get is win/win, for everyone. You are free to spend money, dev get stable income source , everyone get more regular updates.

If PoE doesn’t have MTx , and just sold as a 69 or so buck game. It will be as dead as Buffalo wings you just ate by now.

My bad, I meant DI has crap monetization, not D4. Companies need to make money so they can give us more stuff, free or otherwise.

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BIG CORPORATE - executives decisions based on statistics, math and focus on money (new Blizzard, etc.) = alienating core clients, slowly deteriorating but with fast results like annual money growth etc. which pleases shareholders. Then again there is no added value so companies like this are living beacause a) there is none other company with same product b) big wealth in society (no recession which tests core pillars of the company) therefore most of the companies lives and survives

BIG CORPORATE - executives decisions based on human intuition, ideas, originality, new approaches without repetition (Blizzard North, Valve, old Apple etc.). They are focused on principles = slower grow but the grow is more stable within longer periods of time.

But the risks are big on both sides because no one knows what is going to happen and what is going to please people. But sometimes you’re on the jackpot - Diablo brand, WoW brand, Jobs and his approach etc.

Just pick yours. Then again don’t forget you are responsible for jobs, families, other lives … yours including.

That is life.

you would, just as stupid as yours.

We tried going the little finger way. We tried letting games only sell cosmetics and be fine with it. Then i look at Diablo Immortal and caught myself going: “Ah well, it IS a phone game”. That’s when i realized it, It’s been normalized in my mind, well no more.

I’m fine with paying a subscription fee of 5-15$ a month to play the game. I’m NOT fine with them selling a pink mohawk for my barbarian for 4.99$ and then pink rabbit slippers for my demon hunter for 3.99$ and a unicorn staff transmog for 7.99$. Hell, if you want, make it more appealing to subscribe. “You pay 10$ a month and get access to all these transmogs for the duration of your subscription.”

I’m so freaking done with gacha mechanics, with genshin or immortal trying to milk 2000$ a year outta me.

Do ya’ll remember World of Warcraft’s initial monetization? Look at it now.

Enough is enough.

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Pretty sure it’s just me doing that.

I do want the game to die as soon as all the content has been experienced. Otherwise we will continue to beat a dead horse like we are with D2 and D3. I played D2 and experienced all the content and tried all the classes, the end, shelved 2002. D3 same thing. I wasn’t going to be duped into playing seasons with the same content for fake internet points for all eternity.

It goes without saying that a live service game without updates will die quickly. How about making a full game with an amazing experience so we can move on to the next game? Instead they will drip content after long periods of time annoying the playerbase. A lot of D3 players were hungry for content, never got it, but we were expected to keep playing. Eventually, people got fed up. Do you really want your players to leave your game like that?

I don’t trust Blizz to update the game with meaningful content.

I would rather finish the game and shelve it. Wait for an expansion or the next Diablo game that adds a lot of content while I enjoy other games. Nobody likes to be strung along.

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Yet, time passed and the company got bigger. More competition showed up. Things got more expensive all around.

One time box sales just don’t cover it all any more.

iD did a phenomenal job with Doom and Doom Eternal. I second what you said. I feel Elden Ring also did something similar with providing an overwhelming experience to the player in terms of content. It’s a different situation mind you, but same type of deal where you really got your money’s worth.

That being said, I’m 100% with D4 having microtransactions, as long as they are just cosmetic and don’t affect the gameplay at all. In fact, I think it’s necessary and just better for the longevity of the game. We all saw what happened with D3. Player base fell out, and interest dwindled, which led to a lack of budget and faith in the IP in general. D3 should have gone close to 10 years like SC2. It only ended up being like 3 years (2012-2015) before most people were done with it.

If cosmetic microtransactions helps them generate revenue and keep the game alive with new expansions and improvements, then do it. This sequel NEEDS to be successful. And Blizzard needs it to. Out of all the Blizzard games in the last 5 or so years, this one easily looks the most promising. Probably the best looking product since WoW Legion or Overwatch.

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“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Pogo Possum 1970

Blizzard answered to us. Customers asked for it. They begged for it. They paid through the nose for it and asked for more. Even today they make excuses for it to justify their gullibility. It’s not just whales either the majority of the money comes from ordinary gamers. Customers were frogs pleading to be boiled.

“Just like my Uncle Charlie used to say, just before he sprung the trap: He said, "You can’t cheat and honest man! Never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump!”

― W. C. Fields

Then you can pay for the game then quit.

Rest of us that want to play the game for longer than a few weeks can support them via MTX, expansion, so they can continue to update the game.

I for one, wanted the game to keep being relaxant until D6.

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Understand that this route only makes more money for the greedy , lower quality games, half finished games, and games that use predatory tactics. Sure we can just release part of the game for full price, and update it later for more money.

Update the game with Diablo 5, then Diablo 6, 7 and so on…

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Well get ready to lose your bet then, because they have clearly stated that there won’t be any p2w in D4.

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They also could be lying straight to your face. It’s not the 5th time it’s happened.

It would also save us a bit from the endgame madness and having to be a E-Sports simulator every game nowadays seems to have to be, with platformer like combinations of keys 0punched in the same 12 seconds format. :stuck_out_tongue: Like there is only one type of skill possible …

Endgame tends to be a blight on the RPG elements of an ARPG and I never even saw it reasonably done in any MMO until now, where it did not bleed the RPG out of the game completely and only loot hunt was left and even that tends to be strongly just more of the same. Now nothing wrong with action endgames for those who like them, but make your own games and do not corrupt franchises that were about something else and beloved for that. Not only Blizzard is guilty of that, just look at Dragon Age 1 and Dragon Age 3 by Bioware, one was great, the other just crap in the end for a RPG, cause it was no longer a RPG, but changed to include other players forgetting its core.

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While I would also prefer to get cosmetics and additional stash space by playing (like in D3), if we have to get these through microtransactions (like in PoE), it would not be the end of the world.

That’s just not true. There ate plenty if one off games that have no monetization. But they also have no content added until an expansion or DLC is added for an extra charge. Game as a service offer regular cintent updates, hence the monetization.

One could argue that box sales alone are enough to cover costs, byt development costs are always rising and being part of a publicly traded company, bottomnline growth is expected, so monetization has to happen.

Then as a company enter the fray and tell people why your game has to be more expensive and what you give players extra for that or even just inflation. Bring out D4 as a really great innovative ARPG and I bet you people will pay USD 100 for it and as soon as players people trust start gushing over the game, more and more will buy it for that USD 100 if they believe the game is worth it. (Ofc. it would be the psychological 99.99 and not 100 , Blizz is not stupid :stuck_out_tongue: )

If you have faith in the quality of your product, a lot is possible. As long of course if that faith has any basis and indeed delivers the experience your players want. One of the great manco’s of D3 even if it is an enjoyable Action game and even attracted new players, it did not give Diablo players on the whole the experience they wanted.

Like I said before, Blizzard North team also was playing around turning D3 into an MMO and I suspect even they would have gotten serious backlash over it, remember the core Diablo fans also did not rush over to play Hellgate: London and support it despite the name of the dev. :stuck_out_tongue: