Support NeoGAF

[TransTrender]

I don't understand.
I'm not playing Diablo IV because Fuck Activision Blizzard, but I thought you would wear the gear you picked up and that would be represented in the in game model.
Is this a transmog thing?

 

[bender]

The game changer for the entire business model was the Battle Pass.
They don't want the average player buying individual skins, they want people on the battle pass. It's a double win for them because not only are they getting money but it also serves as a tool to keep players hooked and engaged which is vital for a GAAS to survive in the long run. And they can continuously release new "seasons" so it's basically an infinite carrot on a stick.

The truly genius move was when they started handing out premium currency through the battle pass. Because then you can entice people to buy $20 skins as they can pay for a part of it with premium currencty they got "for free" on the battle pass. Or at the most basic level people can just save up the premium currency to buy the next battle pass at a discount which ensures they keep playing them.

Of course if you are the type of person willing to just pay almost $30 for a single skin they'll happily give you that option too. But it's something intended for whales rather than the average player.

I guess the questions I would have and I doubt we have the answers to all of them:

-How much currency do you earn for completing the battle pass?
-What is the time investment for completion?
-What is the calendar length of a battle pass?
-Is it $28 per skin per character? Are some more expensive? Less expensive?
-What is the frequency of those premium cosmetics?
-What other cosmetics are there? Mounts? Familiars?
-I know you aren't supposed to buy everything, but I wonder what the all-in cost of any given season will be?

 

[Fuz]

This, and BP on a full price game.

Fuck you all gamers.

 

[sendit]

The game changer for the entire business model was the Battle Pass.
They don't want the average player buying individual skins, they want people on the battle pass. It's a double win for them because not only are they getting money but it also serves as a tool to keep players hooked and engaged which is vital for a GAAS to survive in the long run. And they can continuously release new "seasons" so it's basically an infinite carrot on a stick.

The truly genius move was when they started handing out premium currency through the battle pass. Because then you can entice people to buy $20 skins as they can pay for a part of it with premium currencty they got "for free" on the battle pass. Or at the most basic level people can just save up the premium currency to buy the next battle pass at a discount which ensures they keep playing.

Of course if you are the type of person willing to just pay almost $30 for a single skin they'll happily give you that option too. But it's something intended for whales rather than the average player.

Battle pass is 10 dollars a month. I spend ~240 a month on coffee, maybe more...(I have a sickness). I'm the kind of customer that Blizzard loves.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Nowadays we have games like Path of Exile and Last Epoch around, so paying 70 dollars just to have the "right" to pay for more shit in a game that doesn't even look like a great updated of it's predecessor(diablo 3) is the dumbest thing a gamer can do.

Path of Exile has a ton of cosmetics for sale. I love PoE but I’m just bored of it. I am gonna play the shit out of diablo 4 and never buy a cosmetic.

 

[//DEVIL//]

I fail to see the problem. Call of duty has the same thing. So what's new ?

You don't want it don't buy it. It's called cosmetic for a reason.

 

[FBeeEye]

A $70 game with shameless microtransactions. Jesus, this time line sucks.

 

[sendit]

Path of Exile has a ton of cosmetics for sale. I love PoE but I’m just bored of it. I am gonna play the shit out of diablo 4 and never buy a cosmetic.

This is the way to go. I would imagine the look of unique/legendary drops will be more prestigious to your character versus a cosmetic item you can just buy. The fact that every in game item drop turns in a to a transmog/cosmetic after a salvage means I'll never touch the cosmetic store.

Path of Exile is F2P, however they pay wall the transmog/cosmetic feature.

 

[sendit]

I guess the questions I would have and I doubt we have the answers to all of them:

-How much currency do you earn for completing the battle pass?
-What is the time investment for completion?
-What is the calendar length of a battle pass?
-Is it $28 per skin per character? Are some more expensive? Less expensive?
-What is the frequency of those premium cosmetics?
-What other cosmetics are there? Mounts? Familiars?
-I know you aren't supposed to buy everything, but I wonder what the all-in cost of any given season will be?

Cosmetics are per account. This includes battle pass and all cosmetics.

 

[GHG]

And it all started with this monstrosity,

This is how some people are behaving in this thread:

Make it make sense.

 

[bender]

Cosmetics are per account. This includes battle pass and all cosmetics.

That addresses zero of my questions. lol

 

[sendit]

This is how some people are behaving in this thread:

Make it make sense.

The base game is 70 dollars. The key word is with. Meaning not forced.

 

[Mr.ODST]

After seeing what they did with overwatch skin prices im not surprised by this

 

[DeepEnigma]

This is how some people are behaving in this thread:

Make it make sense.

It's all IP fanfare dependent, you see.

 

[sendit]

That addresses zero of my questions. lol

You're spot on. I can't read. *crawls back in to hole*

 

[Havoc2049]

The bad part is that this is being normalized in a full priced game. You're already buying the game, and they want you to buy battle passes, season-only items, cosmetics, etc. on top of your purchase you already made to BUY THE FULL GAME. This used to be a practice for f2p games, and now it's in full-priced ones. Defending this is idiotic.

You are paying for the base game which has hundreds of hours of content already. This has always been the practice for premium MMOs, that constantly get updated. You pay for the base game and the company needs to generate money to constantly update the game and add content over a long period of time. Ultima Online, Phantasy Star Online, Everquest, etc., all charged for the base game and then a monthly fee. At least now, many games of this style have a free tier and premium tier season pass, which is also the case for Diablo IV. You can also earn in-game premium currency with the primium tier, to use for purchasing another season pass or cosmetics.

I've been playing these style of games for decades now and I generally find that the coolest and most sought after cosmetics and gear is rare one time event or end game gear and cosmetics that you have to grind hundreds of hours to get. Store bought cosmetics is always rather blase amongst the hardcore players in an MMO community.

 

[bender]

You're spot on. I can't read. *crawls back in to hole*

It does bring up an interesting tangent though. Are these tied to your battle.net account and transferrable to other platforms or are you stuck on whatever platform you made the purchase on?

 

[TheKratos]

If I’m paying for a full-priced game I expect the Gucci bag to be included.

Time to lower expectations buddy.

 

[Fbh]

I guess the questions I would have and I doubt we have the answers to all of them:

-How much currency do you earn for completing the battle pass?
-What is the time investment for completion?
-What is the calendar length of a battle pass?
-Is it $28 per skin per character? Are some more expensive? Less expensive?
-What is the frequency of those premium cosmetics?
-What other cosmetics are there? Mounts? Familiars?
-I know you aren't supposed to buy everything, but I wonder what the all-in cost of any given season will be?

I don't think we'll have the full picture until the first season actually kicks off in July.
What we know so far is that there is a limited free Battle Pass (which only allows you to unlock 27 of the 90 reward tiers), a standard $10 premium battle pass and an "accelerated" $25 battle pass. The fact they are selling a faster battle pass that's over twice as expensive would imply the time investment is probably going to be signficant.

They also plan to release 4 seasons each year so each battle pass will run for around 3 months.

They've also said that the battle pass won't include enough premium currency to buy the next battle pass, so we do know it will give you less than $10 worth of currency.

Battle pass is 10 dollars a month. I spend ~240 a month on coffee, maybe more...(I have a sickness). I'm the kind of customer that Blizzard loves.

I think most people don't really care about the $10.
Even if you don't spend $240 on coffee (holy shit BTW) $10 is like what? A single coffee and a basic breakfast sandwich?
This stuff is fun to talk about online but it's here to stay. 99% of the audience doesn't give a crap about it, in fact I'd bet a majority probably love the fact that the game will get continuous updates and new stuff to grind for.

I commend anyone who is willing to not buy the game over this, I personally always wait for price drops on games with microtransactions. But these days we are way past the point of it making any difference, it's more out of personal conviction.

 

[Elder Legend]

It does bring up an interesting tangent though. Are these tied to your battle.net account and transferrable to other platforms or are you stuck on whatever platform you made the purchase on?

It is tied to your Battle.net account meaning that if you play on PS5 and then PC you still have all your stuff.

 

[sendit]

It does bring up an interesting tangent though. Are these tied to your battle.net account and transferrable to other platforms or are you stuck on whatever platform you made the purchase on?

As far as I know, yes. Diablo 4 is cross platform, meaning you can play the same character on PC <-> Console <-> Console.

Blizzard Support - Diablo IV Cross Platform Bonuses

 

[bender]

It is tied to your Battle.net account meaning that if you play on PS5 and then PC you still have all your stuff.

That's good news, at least.

 

[II_JumPeR_I]

Imagine buying skins in this.. uff
And its a full price game that fucking asks for 90€ so that you can play on the real release date this friday

 

[Draugoth]

I don't buy cosmetics every single day. If I do, I usually only buy 2-3 a month and that's rare. I've prolly spend $300 on Fortnite in a course of like 2 years and that is fucking nothing.

$300 wow

I've spent like $40 on Halo Infinite since the release and i already regreted it.

Anyway kinda envious ngl, but i cant afford to spend $30 on a cosmetic pack. Maybe if i lived in the US i could.

Either way, im spending those $28 on RDR2 Ultimate Edition on Steam, thank you xD

 

[Elder Legend]

$300 wow

I've spent like $40 on Halo Infinite since the release and i already regreted it.

Anyway kinda envious ngl, but i cant afford to spend $30 on a cosmetic pack. Maybe if i lived in the US i could.

Either way, im spending those $28 on RDR2 Ultimate Edition on Steam, thank you xD

How's $300 is a lot of money within 2 years time? Lol. $300 divided by 24 months is only $12.5 a month.

 

[Draugoth]

How's $300 is a lot of money within 2 years time? Lol. $300 divided by 24 months is only $12.5 a month.

I was refering to spending $300 on skins in a game alone

 

[Elder Legend]

I was refering to spending $300 on skins in a game alone

I have over 1000 hours in fortnite. I have my money's worth, the game is f2p.

 

[bender]

I don't think we'll have the full picture until the first season actually kicks off in July.
What we know so far is that there is a limited free Battle Pass (which only allows you to unlock 27 of the 90 reward tiers), a standard $10 premium battle pass and an "accelerated" $25 battle pass. The fact they are selling a faster battle pass that's over twice as expensive would imply the time investment is probably going to be signficant.

They also plan to release 4 seasons each year so each battle pass will run for around 3 months.

They've also said that the battle pass won't include enough premium currency to buy the next battle pass, so we do know it will give you less than $10 worth of currency.



I think most people don't really care about the $10.
Even if you don't spend $240 on coffee (holy shit BTW) $10 is like what? A single coffee and a basic breakfast sandwich?
This stuff is fun to talk about online but it's here to stay. 99% of the audience doesn't give a crap about it, in fact I'd bet a majority probably love the fact that the game will get continuous updates and new stuff to grind for.

I commend anyone who is willing to not buy the game over this, I personally always wait for price drops on games with microtransactions. But these days we are way past the point of it making any difference, it's more out of personal conviction.

I think I'm going to skip. That's just too many systems to keep track of and it is starting to feel like a job to play the game except I'm paying the employer. I'm not opposed to supporting cosmetics, I've whaled out Monster Hunter as I thought the price was somewhat reasonable and considered it supporting them financially for the content support they continued to bring to the game. I also bought every SF5 costume, though that was much easier to do with the eventual bundles. I'll probably do the same for SF6 but boy do I fear its' monetization scheme. I guess $28 for a skin is the line to far for me or maybe I just didn't love the beta.

 

[Draugoth]

I have over 1000 hours in fortnite. I have my money's worth, the game is f2p.

Looking at that side, it kinda is.

 

[bender]

I have over 1000 hours in fortnite. I have my money's worth, the game is f2p.

I bought that founders edition and sold the two extra copies to my buddies. We didn't play Save the World very long so that was a colossal waste of money on my part. I do log in daily to collect rewards but I don't play the game. I have so many v-bucks that the initial purchase has probably paid for itself by now, if I only I cared about the game or its' cosmetics. lol

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Diablo has a pretty out spoken community. Do you think Blizzard wants to deal with this again?

And? D. Immortal released all the same.

 

[Bry0]

For those wondering Joe Piepiora said to pc gamer that the battle pass takes about 80 hours and you would likely finish it before hitting max level.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

"AAA 2023 Experience"

By the way Fallout 76 says "Hello" where a single power armor skin may cost you up to 18$/18€

And a skin for your character up to 8$/8$

Reminder: they are not F2P

 

[ahtlas7]

Are these NFT cosmetics?

 

[Arsic]

Luckily the in game gear looks amazing. Unlike PoE where you’re forced to buy cosmetics unless you want to look like a garbage bag homeless person all game.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Doesn't bother me, it's purely cosmetic, and not required. Don't want it, don't buy it, that's really it.

Service games need to sustain themselves, it's why these things exist. Their prices exist because plenty of people WILL pay those prices. It's why we've always had the ability to buy in-game currencies for $100, people ARE paying for them. So in the mind of a developer, why not include it? Someone will always buy it, and they're not wrong.

maybe these exploitative cash grabs designed by psychologists to land whales shouldn't exist

They shouldn't, but unfortunately, they don't care about that. It's a business, they want your money, loyalty, and attention before anything else.

When I worked on a F2P game, the QA team reacted negatively to the in-game purchases when they were first implemented, especially the $100 one. Which is understandable. However numerous producers and directors stressed, "Players don't NEED to buy it, but the option is there for those that want to, and there will always be some that will. So why not include it?" This was from a variety of folks that have been in the industry for quite some time, including a "Monetization Specialist".

 

[acidagfc]

Hey, if it works in PoE, it can work here!

Inbefore someone says that PoE is a free game - it's not, you have to have some premium stash tabs if you want to get to endgame. Technically you dont, but you will be miserable without them.

 

[TheDreadBaron]

There’s just no satisfaction in buying cosmetic armor, you did nothing in game to earn it. I love finding armor sets in souls games and nu-zelda. It’s a reward for playing the game, following clues, scouring dungeons etc. When you buy cosmetics it’s like: OK, now the game gave me permission to load these costume models through a financial transaction…. cool? Can you imagine elden ring having a battle pass so that you could pay for the opportunity to degrade yourself and your experience? People that are simping for the pleasure of degrading themselves are sadly beyond help, y’all need to get clean off that digital crack it’s got you all twisted.

 

[UniformDeliverance]

Remember when they said Diablo IV wouldnt have microtransactions after Immortal?

i never believed them

Fuck Blizzard.

They never said that. We were told that you would not be able to pay for power in Diablo 4, which is true. But there was never a promise of no microtransactions.

 

[Winter John]

Why is a game that costs 70 bucks filled with microtransactions, battle passes, season passes and fuck knows what else? Because publishers knows gamers cannot say no to the shiny new thing. Not only can’t they restrain themselves from filling these asshole’s pockets. They’ll actively defend whatever scummy, money grubbing bullshit publishers come up with. You can see them doing it in this very thread. It’s just cosmetics! As if that somehow justifies the bullshit. If cosmetics are so unimportant then how come they’re 30 bucks? Why would shit that according to Just Cosmetics Guy nobody cares about be selling for half the cost of the game? It’s thanks to Just Cosmetic Guy and his defence force that AAA games now cost 70 bucks, are filled with microtransactions and basically fucking suck

 

[MiguelItUp]

Remember when they said Diablo IV wouldnt have microtransactions after Immortal?

i never believed them

Fuck Blizzard.

Yeahhhhh, I don't recall that ever being said....

After knowing about PoE's success and seeing how their monetization works I kind of figured this was the path they'd go in, I mean, why wouldn't they?

 

[Spyxos]

that would be ok, if it was a f2p game, but in a full price game it is just a scam.

 

[Fuz]

If you're complaining and buying it anyway, you're an idiot.


If you're not complaining [censored by antiban mechanism].

 

[Saber]

that would be ok, if it was a f2p game, but in a full price game it is just a scam.

I think the same and cannot understand much who say its fine. I mean when its free game they have to get money from somewhere(Genshin Impact for instance). But with a 70$ game, why they need to do this? What stop them from providing costumes in the base game? Even Genshin Impact, a fucking gatcha game, has free skins.

Also, If cosmetics are fine in a 70$ game then so is XP boosts, item drop boosts, etc. I mean, they aren't gonna interfere with who isn't paying. Thats how things escalates.

 

[Optimus Lime]

OP, do you realise that right now, there are items in your local supermarket that you'd think are wildly overpriced?

Same solution. Walk past them. It's really not that hard.

 

[DeepEnigma]

They never said that. We were told that you would not be able to pay for power in Diablo 4, which is true. But there was never a promise of no microtransactions.

Third party sites have always had that covered.

 

[xVodevil]

Ok comsetics bad, whaterver. But please explain, how did we got to the point when millions still mindlessly preordering games to the point where the only certain thing they are getting is juicy apology letter as their precious preorder bonus basically on a monthly basis at this point? I wonder what TotalBiscuit would have made of all this, after already calling this out ten years ago.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Who gives a shit about cosmetics?

 

[Mephisto40]

It's a good job you dont need to buy cosmetics to enjoy a game then

 

[DryvBy]

This is diabolical!