Having launched ahead of schedule just a few days back, Activision Blizzard's Diablo Immortalhas been making headlines for a wide variety of reasons, not least of which is its microtransaction model. Namely, Diablo Immortal is a free-to-play game and, as such, features a number of ways that players can support its continued development.
While this approach to sustainability is rather commonplace nowadays, Diablo Immortal may have taken things a step further than most players may have expected. According to YouTube channel Bellular News' calculations, the game's unique monetization system is set up in a way that makes character min-maxing an exceedingly expensive endeavor.
Diablo Immortal Will Let Players Change Classes Without Losing Progress
The crux of the issue, as per Bellular News' recent video, is that Diablo Immortal allows players to buy the so-called Legendary Gems. These are one of the characters' three progression pillars alongside regular gear and XP level, and they dictate one's endgame-tier progression beyond what is possible simply by reaching Diablo Immortal's level cap. As of right now, F2P players cannot earn top-rated Legendary Games, which are only available via some of the game's monetization options, and fully maxing-out a character effectively costs $110,000 in the game's current economy.
Matt and Michael of Bellular News also make an argument that Diablo Immortal's Legendary Gems are a deliberately convoluted system, explaining that it would take roughly 10 years of playtime for a F2P player to fully kit out a character in the game's current iteration. Specifically, Legendary Gems aren't even a guaranteed drop for paying players, as they are only randomly awarded upon purchasing Legendary Crests (i.e.
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