Paying your way through Hell
It seems not so long ago that Blizzard game director Wyatt Cheng assured all of us that then upcoming Diablo Immortal would not have elements of pay to win. Then the game released and we all quickly realized that was not the most truthful of statements. Blizzard tried to justify the microtransactions by saying the vast majority of players weren’t spending anything on the game. But Diablo Immortal is free-to-play and Diablo 4 is $70. So let’s address the elephant in the room. Is Diablo 4 pay to win?
Is buying the Deluxe Edition or Ultimate Edition of Diablo 4 pay to win?
Most of the bonus items you receive for purchasing the more expensive versions of the game are purely cosmetic. You also get an unlock for the battle pass, but Blizzard has confirmed the battle pass will feature cosmetics only and nothing that offers actual character power.
Finally, you get four days of early access to the game. Some may consider this pay to win but there is no sort of competitive advantage to playing the game early. The first season doesn’t release until mid to late July. Any benefit from playing four days early will not matter by the time the first season releases over a month after release. Furthermore, leaderboards aren’t being implemented into the game until after the first couple of seasons. With all of these things in mind, I’d hardly call early access to the game pay to win.
How about the premium currency Palladium?
One of the many currencies in the game is Palladium. You get some through the battle pass, and you can buy more using real money. In the beta the only place you could use the currency was in the cosmetic shop interface. We know you will also be able to put your Palladium towards purchasing the premium battle pass. Assuming there’s no secret shop that has been disabled through the beta in which we can use this currency, it’s safe to say it cannot be considered pay to win.
So is Diablo 4 pay to win?
If Blizzard is being truthful about what will be in the battle pass and what we can purchase with Palladium, the answer is no. As long as there is no purchasable power gain, I think we can call that a victory. Once the game actually releases in a couple of weeks we will have a better look at everything in the game that you can purchase using real money. We will be sure to update this accordingly if there is indeed any sort of pay to win.
