In a new developer blog, Blizzard has gone to great lengths to reiterate something it has already said: devil 4The monetization of will not include any way to purchase power or gameplay perks.
In extremely careful and definitive language from product manager Kegan Clark, the blog explains how Devil 4 it will be monetized (beyond the sale of future expansion packs). The in-game store will only sell one thing: cosmetic upgrades for your character.
There will also be a Battle Pass-style Season Pass, which is updated along with the seasons of the game. Season Passes will have a free tier and a paid tier, but again, the paid tier will only award cosmetic items or premium currency that can be used to purchase more cosmetic items in the store. Clark explicitly and repeatedly rules out the sale of anything that affects the game.
This deliberate message is surely the result of the controversy that has engulfed immortal devil. The mobile game, co-developed with NetEase and released earlier this year, is well done, but has drawn consternation over the deceptive and exploitative depths of its monetization, which effectively locks the drop rates of the game’s most powerful items and makes that the cost of maximizing is prohibitive. Blizzard is clearly interested in trying to prevent devil 4 being tarred with the same brush.
But, although the language of this blog is probably a response to immortal devilthe reception of, the same is unlikely to be true for the game’s monetization design. A similar controversy over the real money auction house included in Devil 3 at launch it taught Blizzard that its players would not accept any monetization of Diablo’s prized in-game items in a premium main release. immortal devil is an exception that was developed with different markets in mind: mobile platforms and Asian countries, where players’ expectations are different. It wouldn’t have occurred to Blizzard that it could get away with a $60 release on PC and console aimed at hardcore fans.
Nevertheless, devil 4The store and Season Pass represent significant changes for a major Diablo, and the community is likely to be keeping an eye on any details of his operation that come up.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the free tier of the season pass Will offer improvements to the game. These are defined as “things that make the journey of leveling up a new seasonal character more streamlined”, for example a boost that speeds up the rate at which XP is gained.
“We want to make it clear that players cannot unlock Season Boosts faster through purchases; there is no way to unlock more boosts, or boosts at a faster rate, by spending money,” Clark said. This is worth emphasizing, because Will it will be possible to speed up your progress through a season pass by purchasing the next level, in the traditional way. But gameplay boosts will be locked at the character level, so there will be no shortcut to get to them. And, since they are awarded exclusively for free levels, they will be awarded to all players equally.
All other Season Pass rewards, free or paid, will be cosmetic. Some will be exclusive to the season and will reflect your theme. It will be possible to accelerate your progress through the Season Pass by focusing on the Season Journey, a series of achievement-style objectives that will be familiar to you. Devil 3 players
As for cosmetics sold in the shop, they will be ways to modify your character’s appearance that have no in-game stats or any other impact on gameplay. It will be possible to closely inspect how all items look on your own character before purchasing. These will mostly be specific to individual character classes (whereas season pass exclusive cosmetics may be similar across classes). You will be able to use them on any character of the correct class on your account. And they can be mixed and matched with transmogs from items purchased in the game.
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Blizzard wants to emphasize that cosmetics may look different than in-game armor pieces, but not necessarily better. “There are amazing pieces (items of rare and legendary quality) for players to find without having to go to the store,” says Clark.
As clean and clearly defined as it is, devil 4The monetization design of may still upset the community. The Season Pass inevitably carries with it the flavor of free-to-play games, while the rabidly competitive Diablo community is sure to test the claim that seasonal game increases are fair and unexploitable, to within an inch of your life. .
Selling cosmetics is a common practice in long-running live games, and there doesn’t seem to be anything controversial about how they will be sold in devil 4. However, to some in the community, a character’s splendid appearance should be a sign of the effort and skill that went into acquiring those pieces of armor. For those players, offering equally impressive looks for sale will undermine that value.
But Blizzard needs to do something to fund the maintenance of devil 4Ambitious sound live service in the long run. These cosmetics and the Season Pass that fuels them are what has been decided. Time will tell if players find them more palatable than immortal devilThe pay-to-win race to the bottom.