Is Diablo Immortal pay-to-win? Answered

While most gamers have accepted that microtransactions are a regular part of video games nowadays, how the title treats those purchases is essential in deciding what group of players continually come back to the game. If a game gives players who pay more money an unfair advantage in competitive scenarios, that game is usually deemed pay-to-win. Generally, it will lose many players to focus on “whales,” or people who don’t mind spending a lot of money on microtransactions. Diablo Immortal is the newest mobile title on the block, so we have to ask the question; is Diablo Immortal pay-to-win?

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Is Diablo Immortal pay-to-win?

While Diablo Immortal is not the worst example of microtransactions on a phone store, there are definitely elements of a pay-to-win title here. While the game has cosmetic microtransactions, it also commits the sin of giving players who pay more money items that can make them better in various ways.

The main microtransaction in the game is Eternal Orbs. You can not earn these anyway in the game, and they can be used to purchase a variety of things, including Crests, which have the ability to add modifiers to Elder Rifts, which are challenges that, in the end, reward you with random loot.

Essentially, this is Diablo Immortal’s version of a loot box, but instead of earning cosmetics, you earn Legendary Gems to supercharge your character faster than someone who would be running these rifts without the Crest. Outside of earning Crests in the battle pass, there is no way to get them besides spending Eternal Orbs on them from what we have seen.

The second main currency you can purchase with real money is Platinum. At least this currency can be earned through gameplay in some cases, but anyone who wants to open their wallet can also grab a bunch of Platinum whenever they want.

Platinum can be used to indirectly purchase those Legendary Gems from above that are used to put massive stat boosts on any of your gear you have equipped. The currency can also be used in the Marketplace, which lets you pay to buy items from other characters on the server, making this a rebirth of the ill-fated Marketplace that debuted back in Diablo III. If someone sees a Legendary Gem here that they want, they can spend as much Platinum as they want to stock themselves up with it.

Overall, Diablo Immortal is not the direst pay-to-win title out there. You do not need to purchase any microtransactions to get a lot of enjoyment out of the game’s PvE, but doing so will make your life easier and less grindy. Because of those Legendary Gems being pretty easy to get for anyone who does spend money, though, that does give an advantage to anyone who bought them in the PvP side of the game, so we don’t recommend playing that side of the game if you are not looking to pay.