Diablo 4 just rolled out a $30 cosmetic package that recolors portals and fans are having a field day trashing it on Reddit. Read on to learn more about the cosmetic pack, its contents, and how Diablo fans are reacting to Blizzard’s latest stunt.
Blizzard Rolls Out the "Dark Pathways" Cosmetic Pack for Diablo 4
Fans Point Out the Ridiculousness Immediately
There’s trouble in hell, it seems, as fans react negatively to what’s probably the worst cosmetic microtransaction ever, courtesy of Blizzard in Diablo 4. As user Mwatki20 pointed out in the Diablo 4 subreddit, the "Dark Pathways" pack offers cosmetic designs and alternate colors for town portals, as well as 1,000 platinum in exchange for real currency.
The post itself — captioned "$20 for different color portals? LMFAO Blizz!" — was ridiculing the cosmetic pack already, but that didn’t stop other users in the comments from tearing it to shreds.
"It's not 20 it's 29.99, just because they give you 1000 of their magical currency doesn't exclude that you swiped 30 dollars," wrote a commenter."And yet people still pay for it. STOP BUYING THIS CRAP!" wrote another. Other comments discussed Blizzard’s questionable business practices, eventually concluding what the original poster already knew: these microtransactions were not worth $30.
To make matters worse, it eventually became evident that these portals were class-locked, meaning that you wouldn’t even get all the portals for $30 — you’d only get the one corresponding to your class and the 1000 platinum that comes with it. "The fact that they're CLASS LOCKED is hilarious to me lmfao," wrote a user.
As some of the other commenters pointed out, these cosmetics aren’t necessary to enjoy the game. This sparked the age-old debate of cosmetics microtransactions being a harmless addition to games, but that’s neither here nor there. The fact that so many Diablo fans voiced their dissatisfaction with this cosmetic pack should give Blizzard pause when the next one comes out. Unfortunately, this is not Blizzard’s first controversy regarding its liberal implementation of microtransactions.
Diablo 4’s Other Microtransaction Controversies
Blizzard was also under fire recently with its Lunar Awakening Event, which was set to coincide with the Lunar New Year on February 10. The debacle surrounded the six cosmetic items that players thought could be unlocked in-game for free by completing event quests. Unfortunately, two of the six event items had to be bought with real money, although that much wasn’t made explicitly clear to fans who participated in the event. "IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR FREE EVENT COSMETICS IN A 70$ GAME?!" wrote the disgruntled poster.
Blizzard is infamous for its microtransactions and Diablo 4 is hardly the only game in its roster to spark controversy for it. Hearthstone’s reliance on card packs and battle passes has caused its player count to dip dramatically since 2014, with many of the card game’s players migrating to Nuverse’s superhero-themed card game, Marvel Snap.
Sources:
Diablo 4's latest microtransaction controversy is a $30 portal recolor: You can get Palworld for this price
Diablo 4's Lunar Awakening event falls foul of cosmetic confusion as Season 3 continues to struggle
Mwatki20's Original Reddit Post
