Diablo 4 May Have Shot Itself in the Foot With One In-Game Shop Feature
Diablo 4 is currently in the middle of a storm of negative reviews from users who are unhappy with the state of the game at launch, but its overall reception ever since it came out in early access has been overwhelmingly positive. Among the pain points highlighted by the community are various factors, such as the lackluster inventory and stash tabs or the lack of a loadout system where players can keep multiple builds and use whichever they like. Another issue that's been plaguing the game is Diablo 4's microtransaction shop, which has seen a lot of discussion regarding its pricing policy, especially after the controversies surrounding Diablo Immortal.
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With armor sets that cost around $25 each and similar prices for mount armor, the purchasable cosmetic items are already a controversial topic, but one of the weirdest additions to the in-game shop remains that of cosmetic skins for Headstones. Diablo 4's endgame (and to an extent even the rest of the game) relies on not dying due to the limited revives in dungeons, not to mention the fact that the game has its own Hardcore mode where death is permanent. As such, having cosmetics that change the animation and aesthetic of the character's Headstone seems pointless, to say the least.
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Diablo 4's Headstone Cosmetics are the Game's Weirdest Microtransaction
These Headstone skins are sold alongside back accessories and an emote, all bundled in a $10 pack, give or take. Considering that Headstones are only visible on death, this sort of cosmetic item is already proving useless for most players, especially for anyone playing Diablo 4's Hardcore mode, where it would appear just once in case the character is slain permanently. While Hardcore mode is the ultimate example of how flawed the logic behind cosmetics that appear on death is, Headstones remain a weird choice even for the base game.
Considering that endgame activities like Diablo 4's Nightmare Dungeons have a revive count, not only is death counterproductive for the purpose of the action RPG as a whole, but it can make players fail a given run and go home with no rewards. As such, having a cosmetic that only activates on death is already a deeply flawed idea, and selling it in $8-10 bundles doesn't really help its case. Instead, Blizzard should have scrapped cosmetic Headstones entirely, or at least they should have been free, all things considered. This choice further gives credence to the theory that the studio has not really learned its lessons from past issues with microtransactions.
Armor sets are the golden standard for microtransactions in a plethora of online games, with other live-service games like Destiny 2 employing them consistently - and often making them available for a free-to-play in-game currency alongside real money. This is not the case for Blizzard's new ARPG, with Diablo 4's transmog system being free when it comes to unlockable items, but only featuring microtransactions for real money. If not armor sets or even horse armor, Headstones, emotes, and accessories would have been the perfect candidates to be featured for a free-to-play currency, instead.
As it stands, Diablo 4 shows that it can be hard for modern games to feature multiple solutions to monetization, and that's why a lot of titles with microtransactions don't offer them for free even in exchange for a long grind. Microtransaction prices in Diablo 4 are also nothing new, even though they are not exactly fair. Ultimately, the game's cosmetic purchase options are in no way similar to what transpired from the reception of Diablo Immortal, but Headstones and their price tag remain an unsettling choice for a studio the caliber of Blizzard.
Diablo 4 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source: GameRant
