This may be an unpopular opinion but as I see it most of D4s microtransactions are fine (still a trash game but that’s a different point). They’re mostly just cosmetics. They only exist so that people who want to can throw money at the company. If you don’t want to buy them then just don’t buy them. Like this portal recolor one. Sure it’s $30 but it isn’t like there is any advantage to buying it. It’s not giving you faster warps to town or more xp or anything like that. It’s only there for you to throw money at blizzard and have a graphic showing that you threw money at blizzard. If you don’t want to throw $30 at blizzard for no gain then don’t throw $30 at blizzard for no gain. If a bunch of whales want to throw away their money on cosmetics then let them.
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In addition to that jimquisition that another user commented, remember that its easy to say “it doesnt affect me if i dont buy it” but people do buy it. Some people spend silly money on cosmetics and if people keep dojng that then it encourages game companies to spend less time on making the games good and more time on pumping out cosmetics.
The proof is in tbe pudding. Games are mostly shit now.
These are massive companies whos sole aim is to make money, not entertaining games. They dont care, they will just follow the money.
There’s a number of reasons that “it’s just cosmetic” is bullshit.
- Developer time and effort is limited. More effort on cosmetics is less time on other things.
- “free” cosmetics will intentionally be made worse than premium ones to drive conversions.
- the game loses the ability to reward impressive feats with cosmetics, as that harms sales.
- a non-zero amount of your time is spent being driven to purchase cosmetics.
This is mostly a me problem but I get mad at the very idea of someone spending $30 on a skin. That is such a clash with my values it’s upsetting.
Like, I don’t want to slide all the way down the “why spend any money on fun when people are starving” slope. I understand that people need some joy in their life.
But I just don’t see how the skins in these games bring joy anywhere near the money charged for them. Like the title, you could buy a whole other smash hit game for that much money! Plus tons of other non game stuff. That’s a small dinner with friends. That’s a small band’s concert.
So I just get kind of mad that people are spending their money on this stuff at all. It’s not a good use of money. Stop it. Be better at money. Reminds me of an old friend’s idiot brother that would blow his money on expensive not-bulk soda and candy when he needed a new keyboard. Like literally failing the marshmallow test.
But I can’t control other people. Sadly.
That’s before any of the “blizzard wants money. They see the huge ROI for this stuff. It’s a better ROI than other content. They will make more skins instead of other content” train of thought.
With apologies for this longish rant.
But I just don’t see how the skins in these games bring joy anywhere near the money charged for them.
The simple answer is that, for a fair amount of people, $30 isn’t a notable purchase, such that it’s not particularly a substitute for anything else they may be interested in doing.
Is that true? Something like 40% of Americans don’t have $400 on hand. Maybe the people spending money on this trend wealthier?
I feel like you’d have to be pretty wealthy for $30 to be unremarkable.
I an so sick of the “just don’t buy it” response to people complaining about increasingly shitty practices. It’s like if someone pisses in the far side of the pool and other people decide they like the warmth so they tell you just to stay over on the far side - The pool is still tainted, and maybe next time the pool cleaners decide not to use chlorine…
Use a different pool where people aren’t pissing in them. They exist.
There are plenty of other games that don’t pull this shit. Play them instead.
I know this is a metaphor, but where exactly do they exist? If you’re in a public pool, it’s not like you can go to another town and use theirs. And if it’s your own, chances are you only have one.
Public pools aren’t the only pools. There are literally millions of pools in the world. You have options even when you think you don’t. If you limit yourself to the one and only public pool in town then you’re limiting yourself by only thinking in a box.
There are hundreds of thousands of games in the world. Many of them aren’t AAA garbage fleecing their customers. If you limit yourself to only AAA games then you’re limiting yourself by thinking in a box.
Go on and explore the world already. You have more choices than you think you do.
First they did it at EA, but I didn’t say anything because I don’t play EA games. Then they did it at Ubisoft, but I didn’t say anything because I don’t play Ubisoft games. Then they did it at Blizzard, but I didn’t say anything because I don’t play Blizzard games. Then they did it at fromsoft games, but I didn’t say anything because I don’t play fromsoft games. Then they did it at supergiant games, but I didn’t say anything because I don’t play their games.
Then they did it at every other fucking company because it was industry standard.
Then they did it at every other fucking company because it was industry standard.
All you’ve listed are the big publishers. Of course THEY are going to do it. They are publicly traded company’s where they need to draw blood from a stone and pull out as much value as possible to appease their shareholders.
You’re absolutely wrong about every company doing this. It sounds like your only experience is AAA titles.
Play some indie games and you’ll see the difference. Significantly better designed games, built from passion, and without all the bullshit you see with AAA games.
Like I said find a better pool where people aren’t pissing in them. They exist.
In fairness to the complaints, there are fewer and fewer good clean pools, and they tend to be the less-and-less awesome ones.
It’s not that you can’t complain, but moreso that people are tired of reading about people getting ripped of over and over again.
It’s getting old when the solution is so glaringly obvious.
Alternatively focus your grievances towards the company. That has a better chance of making an impact in reducing the tainted waters.
So in short: you have a right to complain, but we have a right to tell you that you are a part of the problem if you pre-order or support companies continually doing this crap.
Alternatively focus your grievances towards the company.
But why would the company care? They’re marketing directly to a certain kind of person here. Anyone that would pay these prices - and plenty must pay because Blizzard hasn’t blinked ONCE during any of this bullshit - has so much money that they wouldn’t care if the colors were three times that.
Blizzard acts like their bread and butter is the upper-middle-class and it must be true because they don’t change at all as near as I’ve been able to tell. Not only do their sales not take a hit, they just keep growing.
Oh I agree with you wholeheartedly friend!
They don’t care because people keep buying their shit anyways, which is why many of us tell you to stop buying it and then we’ve gone full circle again.
I’m not recommending complaining to them because I think they will care. I do it because I it could have a greater impact than complaining here which has exactly zero impact.
All this while there are plenty of other companies worth supporting. Sure it isn’t your favorite franchise, but we aren’t surprised leopards ate your face, again. I gave up on all those games from these companies and have found a lot of enjoyment elsewhere. Sucks but I refuse to give them money that makes this a viable model for them to fuckup over and over.
Seriously start taking risks on “indie” developers. I know a lot of them aren’t really indie - they’re huge companies with dozens of employees in a lot of cases still, but you’ll find they treat you better. Sure - that $20 game might not be quite as good, but in other cases, I’ve seen them be EVEN BETTER than $70 titles.
Unfortunately it is pretty obvious that the majority of the human population are just going to follow what they’re told to buy via TV and Ads. There aren’t enough of us to turn the tide right away, but hey – stick to your guns, and tell others to as well. It’ll take a bit for players to get well and truly fed up with this shit, but the tide will turn eventually.
I don’t understand how that comparison fits because somebody else buying the portal has literally no impact on my game. Someone pissing in the pool is directly
impacting you with their actions.
I think the analogy is that it sets a precedent. Now the other companies see how you can pee in the pool and folks are either cool with it (buy) or are on the other end (not buy but meh). Now the pool standard is piss filled pool and we will never have a chance to get into a clean pool anymore.
If you want to take a swim you have to do it in a pissed soaked pool because we never complained or did anything about it.
But that’s assuming there’s only one pool. If everyone leaves for a pool without piss in it, the first will probably change their policies to not allow peeing in their pools because it drives away customers.
The problem isn’t that there’s only one pool, the problem is that not enough people seem to care enough to try a different one. Instead, they just complain about the pool they’re at, perhaps because the pool is free or it gets a lot of advertising.
So yeah, feel free to complain about it, but your time is probably better spent just going to a different pool.
Do you honestly believe that complaining on Lemmy counts as “doing something about it”?
I only know about this thing because of this post. I’m not going to buy it, but do you see that what you’re doing is getting the word out and doing blizzards advertising for them?
It only affects you if they tell you. Otherwise it’s hidden to you, too, so the comparison is apt.
Similarly, the company focuses on these mocrottansaction features, which does affect where they spend time developing and also how they design and develop the game.
No because regardless of my knowledge of it or lack thereof I am still swimming in urine, which is a health risk and just gross as hell. This is a bad analogy.
I bought d4 on sale and I’ve gotten 110 hours out of it. Idk why I should be upset about some optional cosmetics that I’m never gonna buy.
And the whole world is just like you! Right? Impossible that somebody could be or think different.
You sound like a person who doesn’t have a problem with drinking that can’t comprehend alcoholism.
EnShitification
Isn’t that just when they make it worse when it already has a lot of users?
People who decide to throw money at games with such shitty practices are part of the problem.
I’d say they are victims of predatory practices.
Like drug addicts. You can’t expect drug addicts to take all the blame. Sooner or later you have to realize that the supplier enabling the addiction is part of the problem.
I’d say they are victims of predatory practices.
That is a very good point regarding children and mentally challenged people. It does not excuse responsible adults though.
Like drug addicts. You can’t expect drug addicts to take all the blame. Sooner or later you have to realize that the supplier enabling the addiction is part of the problem.
That is not the most fitting comparison in my opinion. I think the solution for the drug problem is legalization of all drugs, free access to rehabilitation combined with thorough education and abuse prevention.
I think the point they’re making is that these things (drugs and games) are being designed to be addicting. Game companies literally hire physcologist to design systems that play into addictive personalities. It’s unfair to put all the blame on the person given how these companies act.
That may be true if you’re into some F2P/gacha stuff, but not in a full-price game. These people just encourage more enshitification. Diablo used to have no microtransactions and was arguably a lot better too.
They’re the reason these shitty practices are profitable in the first place. Don´t forget we are talking about Diablo IV here, which is a full priced game. Off topic you might have a point concerning F2P games though. However, even the F2P games that are not P2W are usually at least to a certain part “pay for functionality/content/convenience” and not just purely “pay for cosmetics”. Because of this I think it´s generally better to pay once and get a full game for that.
Yup. I loved Diablo and I’ve played it since the first one came out. I never bought the last release, though. Fuck Blizzard.