Diablo 4 players have heavily criticised the Season 1 battle pass, accusing developer Blizzard of not including enough virtual currency.
The $10 battle pass, which launched last week, dishes out 666 Platinum in total upon completion, a figure in-keeping with Diablo’s hellish setting and a nice marketing gimmick, but not enough to afford a single item from the in-game store, where the cheapest cosmetic costs 800 Platinum.
Unlike some other live service games, the Diablo 4 battle pass doesn’t even include enough virtual currency to afford the next battle pass, expected to cost 1,000 Platinum.
Games like Call of Duty include a battle pass that essentially pays for itself in virtual currency. Those battle passes dish out enough COD Points upon completion for players to pick up the next pass. The idea is players are encouraged to play through the season and into the next season, because they know completing the pass will earn them enough virtual currency to keep going. It’s a loop designed to fuel all-important engagement and encourage spending elsewhere.
As you’d expect, players have rounded on Diablo 4’s first battle pass, not just highlighting the virtual currency issue but also accusing it of being boring. There is not much included, players say, to excite or encourage completion.
Redditor PhoenixHR220 called it the “most mid battle pass I’ve ever seen in my life”. “The horse at the end is the only even remotely (being overly generous here) cool thing and it’s still nowhere near cool enough to justify putting it behind either 90 levels of grind or up to like $170 worth of microtransactions,” they said.
Diablo 4 has had a torrid time of it lately, with a disastrous patch forcing a backtrack from Blizzard, Hardcore character deaths continuing to come from disconnects, and criticism of its costly cosmetics. Just yesterday, Blizzard promised a fix for a menu issue that is causing some players to accidentally activate the the premium battle pass.
Despite these various issues, Diablo 4 enjoyed an enormous launch that saw over 10 million people play in June. Diablo 4 is Blizzard’s fastest-selling game of all time, and has fuelled record revenue and profits for the company. If you’re still playing, check out our interactive Diablo 4 map to start tracking your progress as you play.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
