Diablo Immortal has been heavily criticized by player reviews since its release due to its pay-to-win mechanics, and that backlash is continuing after a streamer spent more than $4000 in the game’s shop and failed to get a 5-star Legendary Gem. The experiment also sparked more criticism over the game’s predatory RNG mechanics that don’t even seem to favor those willing to spend large amounts of money.
A large amount of money was spent in Diablo Immortal for little reward
Diablo Immortal has a microtransactions model that encourages players to buy Legendary Crest loot boxes to increase their chances of getting Legendary Gems and leveling up their character. As spotted by GameRant, Twitch Streamer Quin69 decided to conduct an experiment because “the world needs to know about this system,” and he spent the equivalent of more than $4000 in the in-game shop and marketplace to get one of the top-tier 5-star Legendary Gems; this is the same amount of earnings a free-to-play gamer would generate in a full year under the current system. He failed to get one 5-star Legendary Gem.
The experiment highlighted some of the current issues over the game’s predatory RNG system when a player can spend so much money with so little success. Not only does it discourage free-to-play gamers who realize their efforts will likely generate a very little reward, but it also puts off the “whales” — people who would usually spend large amounts of real money on microtransactions — that would normally try to buy their way to success. Previous reports suggested it would take $110,000 in real money to fully max out a character while a free-to-play gamer would need to grind for ten years to come close to the same level. Blizzard is yet to make any comments on the Diablo Immortal pay-to-win backlash.
In other news, this year’s Sonic Central show will be happening later today. Elsewhere, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is rumored to be getting a map editor.
