Blizz said they would never do any pay to win things for in game, yet it sure feels like that now that they are actually charging. up to, $30 if you want to complete the battle pass.
So what I mean is, sure you can buy the $10 battle pass and then unlock everything and the deceivers armor set, JUST not able to unlock the wings or ugly owl pet UNLESS you spend another $20, I should be able to unlock the ENTIRE set, not 90% of it, UNLESS its pay to win 100% from now on.
What’s the “win” part about it though? You don’t get any extra power or getting stronger in any way from it. That’s what defines the “win” in “Pay to win”.
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Cosmetics have nothing to do with pay to win. A game becomes pay to win when you can purchase power for real money.
Diablo Immortal is pay to win, as you can buy gems that significantly increase your power. DI was masterfully deceitful in that they promised you cant buy gear with real money, then proceeded to load the vast majority of the power onto premium gems.
Diablo 4 is not pay to win, as it only sells cosmetics. The cosmetic shop on D4 is very greedy though, but thats a whole different discussion.
Also, the €30 battlepass option is nothing new, it has been there since season 1.
then again, what other loot is there in the game but cosmetics? what other “win” can u get around here? nothing.
i mean, what constitutes a “win”? some kind of success. traditionally we’re talking about power gain. but power is fleeting in a seasonal game, cosmetics are forever. i could argue that the only relevant items to acquire are cosmetical items. at least that’s true for me. to have the most recent meta build completed is irrelevant to me, and even if i was interested it’s not as high value as the cosmetics of course.
i figure that power isn’t valuable in d4, or do u feel it is? what’s it good for? rush newbies? the loot isn’t valuable because you’ll bind it, non-tradeable.
paying to win would be paying to win something. what’s there to win in d4?
anyway… you’re right that p2w is about buying capacity in the game. that’s how it is defined. but i also think that it’s worth considering this new thought: what is the win? you bought power, that was considered what you wanted and with it you could get anything, including a premium experience. But what’s a premium experience in diablo 4? completing a meta build? perhaps. but u don’t wanna look trash doing that ofc, so actual value, for later and present, is having something cool to put on. but… there’s more than that. do u feel it? how it’s worthless to gain power? i feel it. goes nowhere. wasn’t, and isn’t, that way in d2. so what’s the reason, the root, of this sensation? i bet that this topic creator feels that way too and interprets the only gain around here are the things purchased.
The textbook definition of “Win” is to be victorious in a contest, conflict, bet, or other endeavour. Its not about personal gain, its about overcoming a challenge or obstacle. You cant beat T4 Belial with a cool looking armor skin, you need power to win. Buying power is pay to win, buying cosmetics is pay to look cool. If you find value and satisfaction in looking cool, good for you, but it is not winning in the context of a video game environment.
Yes. And to the victor goes the spoils. What spoils are there then? Only cosmetics. All other things are worthless.
You don’t need particularly good items to pit150. You only need the correct build and the proper gas on your uniques, nothing special.
Winning is to be rewarded, so the win may be perceived to be the reward. It’s not, I agree with that, but it’s not strange to think so either.
not in any context is winning the reward. winning is the reward from beating the competition. but this competition is an odd one.
are you saying you don’t? ok, good for you. ?
to clarify: winning is its own reward.
when you beat the competition we say we won, and celebrate the victory.
but here, commonly, the only thing to win are items. beating the competition isn’t anything special, it’s just… a long slug to get a particular thing. having acquired this thing, we call that a win. it’s more of a solo marathon or something, idk what to say about it. but the defeat of the boss is not significant but what the boss dropped is. so what if the drops also doesn’t actually matter? then… the only “win” there’d be would be cosmetics. and those cosmetics are behind a paywall.
this tactic of making cosmetics available, or anything i’d suppose, during a limited time is called fomo, fear of missing out. but what do you call it when you cannot acquire these items by any means other than paying today? not pay to win, agreed, but what would it be then? pay to bling? it diminishes the importance of this, i think, because the only thing relevant to growing the “account value” are through cosmetics. you may dispute that, of course, saying that you mostly just care about your power level but i think that you are lying a bit then. i wouldn’t know though, but i think that many perceive their “account value” through what cosmetics they have available.
and this is why i always try and advocate for a system where we may acquire any cosmetic in the game through other means than making a purchase this moment.
So for context, previous seasons hid NOTHING behind a paywall when the battle pass was purchased, that I know of, I may be wrong on that, BUT this season on the other hand, there is no way to complete the battle pass unless you I fork out another $20 for the other cosmetics I can’t earn.
PS don’t care about the ugly pet so much, but i feel as if the wings should be included with the full outfit though.
Actually they did, The accelerated battlepass always included something that was not in the premium pass, a emote, or a headstone, ect. The only reason people are upset about it this time is because its a set of wings, something people actually want.
There is nothing preventing you from fully completing the battlepass with just the 10eur premium. The added bonus of the 20eur accelerated is not, and never was a part of the battlepass.
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In either case, OP is misquoting Blizzard. They never used the phrase “pay to win” they said “you can’t buy power” so case and point.
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Yeah maybe I never noticed cuz it wasn’t something that completed a set.