Hi everyone
this is just a rant from an annoyed gaming enthusiast. I know it is futile because the company literally doesnt care but i need to let off some steam.
On Blizzards website you can find the section “what we stand for” and Diablo Immortal violates several points on that list.
The very first one is “gameplay first” yet you can skip leveling up your battlepass buy throwing money at it. Also, you cant grind in this game because everywhere are hidden weekly caps, like 200 fading ambers for example. Investing a lot of time into a game should be rewarding yet they took it away from us. and, whats even more upsetting, they blatantly lied to us about it in development. they told us there would be nothing keeping us from playing for hours upon hours a day but the only thing that matters isnt farmable so there is no point.
Another point is “play nice, play fair”. then, how exactly is it fair to be matched with people in pvp that spent like 10k+$ on their gems just to get off to crushing the weak? how is it fair to have things in the game you need to buy when the premise was to build a competitive free to play game? nobody says anything if putting money in makes everything faster if anyone can obtain everything in the first place. but thats impossible.
this also plays into the gameplay first point from earlier.
the points “respecting everyone”, “thinking globally” and “leading responsibly” are all violated in the same way more or less.
the primary target audience of immortal are gambling addicts, followed by the big spenders. how is exploiting them a way of bein respectful or responsible? they drive vulnerable people into spending a lot of money by predatory pricing, hidden tricks like having two different legendary crests, hiding the value of things behind unnecessary many currencies and a questionable and immoral game design that just isnt fun if you dont spend money regularly.
furthermore, this game is banned since the beginning in at least two countries that in know of because it violates gambling laws. it is basically just a loot box opener, a gacha game, with nice animations.
speaking of animations: the next issue i have is with the point “commitment to quality”.
this game was in development for roughly 6 years, yet there are hundreds of scaled down assets from diablo3, character animations are boring and one dimentional, some just dont work at all, having npcs floating stiff in front of you. the only top notch thing about this game is the voice acting, and even that lacks polishing, as the text on screen often times doesnt even say remotely what was spoken.
it genuinely feels like they threw the game together in a couple months and spent 5 years developing the most offensive, air tight, enticing cash shop ever created.
and last but not least all of the above violates the point “embracing the inner geek”
this game has nothing to do with anything gamers like. its a product of greedy old men wanting to milk loyal fans of the franchise dry by discarding everything the original company ever stood for, resulting in the most elaborate cash grab scam i have ever seen.
seriously, the story has so much potential, cleaning up after the hero from diablo2 is a great idea but it is shallow and loveless and i was furious when they used deckard cain, one of the most iconic figures in the entire diablo universe to advertise their shitty crests.
I sincerely hope the good people of Blizzard read this and their guilty conscience drives them to former commitment making Diablo4 the spiritual successor it needs to be.
it can be the savior of the franchise or the decisive downfall for many.
Personally, I know this game is my last hope for this Company and i deeply want them to deliver but i also fear it might be the last game i will ever purchase.