Diablo Immortal Player's $100K Character Backfires Terribly
"Diablo Immortal” released in June, and it's already found itself at the center of ongoing controversy. The game received generally positive reviews from critics for staying true to the "Diablo" gameplay and garnered millions of downloads and tens of millions of dollars in revenue for Blizzard in just the first month of its launch. However, "Diablo Immortal" players have had a big problem with the game's heavy use of microtransactions from the beginning.
While the game is free-to-play, fully upgrading your character and equipping them with the best gear requires real-world money, and it quickly became apparent that the issue was somehow worse than fans thought it would be. By one estimate from a Redditor, it would cost upwards of $100K to completely max out a character. Now, one gamer seems to have proven that estimate correct with predictably unfortunate results.
In a YouTube video posted last week, a "Diablo Immortal" player going by jtisallbusiness shared his story of splurging on microtransactions. The gamer and Twitch streamer claims that he has spent about $100K upgrading his character and that this has actually hampered his ability to fully engage with the game.
Too powerful for PvP
Jtisallbusiness explains that, because he spent so much money and upgraded his "Diablo Immortal" character so quickly after the game's launch, he dominated the game's PvP Battlegrounds. As he racked up wins, his matchmaking record skyrocketed, which means he's now overmatched for literally every other player in the game. As a result, he's no longer able to find Battleground matches or take part in PvP.
Not only is this preventing him from taking part in what he says is one of his favorite parts of the game, but it's also locking him out of other content. Because some quests require taking part in Battlegrounds matches, he is unable to advance. The end result is an incredibly powerful character that can't really do anything in the game.
Jtisallbusiness says that, while he enjoys the game and wants to keep his character and purchases, if he can't actually play the full game he'll want a refund. He's even suggested the possibility of contacting an attorney to help him. He claims he has been in touch with Blizzard about his issue, but they have yet to resolve the problem or give him an idea of what action will be taken.
This incident certainly seems to highlight the issues surrounding microtransactions, loot boxes, and pay-to-win models for games. By spending lots of money, one player was apparently able to overpower everyone else in the game's PvP and now regrets spending a small fortune.