The best of Diablo Immortal is that it is a fun, professionally made action RPG that fits the diablo name. Launching later Wednesday on iOS and Android and Thursday on Windows PCs, the new Activision Blizzard game immediately impresses as one of the better smartphone-first action RPG games on the market. And my 10 hours in his universe so far have allayed my previous fears about his production values.
The worst of Diablo Immortal is its economy. My pre-release testing of the final game was regularly marked with menus and in-game characters selling me new kinds of “orbs”, “stones”, gold and other confusing paths to microtransactions. At best, the game can be enjoyed despite this nonsense.
But the bean counters at Activision Blizzard aren’t willing to offer a one-time purchase in Diablo Immortal for honest, whine-free adventure. (Worse, at press time, the game publisher appears to be doubling down on a particular 2012 fiasco.) That’s doubly tragic when the game is otherwise a fun, smartphone-friendly option for another dungeon run — leaving me stuck between recommending a great smartphone adventure and warning about the most annoying caveats.
Driving a gap between fans
I’ll start with the content of microtransactions, as at least two countries have banned Diablo Immortal of their marketplaces prior to launch. The game does indeed contain “loot boxes” that are in violation of the regulations in the Netherlands and Belgium DI‘s system differs from popular examples such as EA Sports’ card packs or Fortnite‘s “llama” system.
Activision Blizzard
Everything below relates to purchasing opportunities related to: Diablo Immortal‘s gameplay and mechanics, no cosmetics. If you like the idea of paying $10 to $15 to dress your favorite warrior in outlandish clothes, here it is. I believe these kinds of purchases fall prey to kids who equate flashier cosmetics in social video games with real social influence, but that’s tame compared to the further depths of Diablo Immortal‘s economy.
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On their face, Elder Rifts (no, not “Elden Rings”) look like classic Diablo stuff. They add interesting modifiers to a randomly generated dungeon run and reward cool, unique loot. But…
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… the best loot requires spending “legendary crests”, which either take forever to grind through in-game mechanics or can be bought instantly with real money.
The game is linear, Diablo III-like introduction eventually leads players to a hub city, and the storefronts advertise the game’s full array of in-game purchase options. The loot-boxiest of these is the “Elder Rift”, a randomly generated dungeon mine. Players can “guarantee” the number and quality of each dungeon run’s rewards based on the number and type of “tops” they dump into the entrance. (When I say “rewards” I mean things that your character can equip for special offensive or defensive abilities. The first one I earned gave all my attacks a 10 percent chance to add an electric spark to attacks that chained to hit other nearby enemies. That sort of thing.) Lower level combs can be earned in-game, while “legendary” combs must be purchased with real money (after players are forced to burn one free Legendary weapon ).
Imagine a loot box that takes a 5-10 minute challenge to see the randomly awarded loot inside, and you have legendary peaks in a nutshell. To Activision Blizzard’s credit, if a player chooses to use a weapon and then fails an Elder Rift challenge or is disconnected from the game’s always-on servers, the weapon is not lost; affected players get them back to use.
The F2P equivalent of hot dogs and sandwiches
Crests are just one currency available, divided into free and paid versions. This game’s variety of confusing currencies, split between things you can earn in-game and things that require cash, resembles the nonsense I abhor in other cheap F2P fares. Worse, when you’re short of currency to put something in Diablo Immortal, Activision Blizzard offers a tapable tooltip icon. This points players to paths to earn the item or crafting element in question sometime during normal play… or pay cash to get it right away.
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard tells you that some of these things can be made, as if they want to insist that there is a “fair” RPG style path to these powerups. But such crafting requires materials that require a lot of time to grind during normal play. And you can only make a certain number per week or month. Do you want it faster or with fewer restrictions? Cha Ching† The game also features a ‘platinum’ currency which seems to require the paid ‘orb’ currency to acquire. (“Spend 500 orbs to get 5,000 platinum pieces; spend $9.99 to get 600 orbs.” The F2P equivalent of hot dogs and sandwiches.)
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All these things have to be paid $9.99 per month. Worse, the four items on the left have to be claimed from day to day during your subscription period. Miss a day? You are missing the article.
Activision Blizzard
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A tooltip clarification on how “market” access works when you sign up for this subscription package.
Worse than that is the game’s “Boon of Plenty” microtransaction package, which currently costs $9.99 per month and must be increased each month for its benefits to take effect. These include an expanded inventory for your active character’s loot and increased perks for the game’s player-to-player item sales marketplace. You will also need to log in every day to claim the entire range of in-game items from this purchase as they are treated as a daily login bonus. Miss a day? Unfortunately; what you paid for disappears.
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Use cash to buy orbs.
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Then use orbs to buy platinum, which you spend mainly on the ‘market’. That’s the name of this game’s Diablo III auction house, which unlocks about six hours into a character’s progress.
I’m not sure which is worse, as far as Activision Blizzard’s business decisions go: deny paying customers what they paid for or apparently the damned Diablo III auction house. Diablo ImmortalThe aforementioned ‘player-to-player item sales market’, simply referred to as the ‘market’, was not active prior to the game’s public launch, but the menus and reliance on the paid ‘platinum’ resource resemble Diablo III’s disastrous take on the concept. Lest you forget, Blizzard spent a lot of time undoing and apologizing to the auction house. (Activision Blizzard representatives did not immediately answer questions about: Diablo Immortal‘s market prior to the publication of this article.)
