A Battle Pass is both a curse and a blessing – even in Diablo IV. Here, the system shows once again how detrimental it can be to the perception of the game.
If there’s one thing players never get tired of complaining about, it’s cash shops and the items within them. This is also the case in Diablo IV, especially since the 1st season of the game was a disappointment for many. In the game’s subreddit, the available class sets are now being compared – namely the free ones from Season 1 and the purchasable ones.
What happened? In the subreddit of Diablo 4, “SheWhoHates” created a small graphic comparing the special armor skins from Season 1. The two skins from the Battle Pass – both free and paid – are shown, along with the 22 skins from the shop below.
The criticism is clear: The really cool skins cost a lot of money, and during the season, there were hardly any new skins for the classes available except in the shop.
Every single item in the shop should be in the game, either tied to a boss or to some event or quest. Every time I start the game, I find that bitter.
“YungNuisance” replies that those days of gaming are unfortunately long gone, but ExpertAncient points to last year’s games where that wasn’t the case: Elden Ring, Remnant, Spider-Man, Zelda, Horizon, God of War, or more recently, Baldur’s Gate 3.
Even though all the mentioned games are single-player titles and not live service games, most find the comparison fair – after all, you also paid full price for Diablo IV.
What the opposing side says: However, there are also voices against these criticisms. For instance, “xGAMERDAD07x” believes that there are enough free cosmetics in the base game and writes:
Why doesn’t it show the free cosmetics in the game? Most are far better than [those in the shop]. I could care less about the paid or free seasonal cosmetics because most in the game are simply better.
However, it is pointed out that it’s only about new skins that have come into the game with Season 1 – and there is hardly anything new for those who do not wish to reach for the EC card.
That there are discussions and dissatisfaction regarding cash shops in live service games will likely never change. However, the level of dissatisfaction in Diablo IV is quite high. Blizzard can probably only change this if more of the nice sets can also be earned in the game without having to reach directly for the wallet.
Or how do you see it? Are you satisfied with what Diablo IV offers in terms of available sets, or would it need more innovations outside the shop?
