Now Diablo 4 Is Out in the Wild, the True Horror of Its Costly Microtransactions Has Revealed Itself

I'm a lifelong Diablo fan, so I'll probably pick this up next week. One thing that bugs me is that folks keeps saying "it's just cosmetics". To me, this ignores the fact that, since Diablo 3, your character's look is part of the fun. That cool armor you just found looks cool too. Now I worry that the gear is going to look boring so that you're subtly nudged in the direction of buying cosmetics.

Basically, I still want to be able to play dress-up.

The initial gear isnt bad looking at all. I get that some people dont like that its "Just Cosmetics" But in the end, it is. I think as long as we are not hiding power and stats behind a paywall its fine.

I mean they have a promotion with KFC to buy Chicken Sandwiches and get cosmetics. Its goofy and dumb, but thats like a paywall too. Not a huge deal in my opinion but everyone has their own.

I am loving D4 so far, and i dont plan on spending real $$ on any of the cosmetics personally. I do have the battle-pass version of the game, But i like battle passes as it gives me extra activities to do when im enjoying the game, for some more unlocks.
- Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to get it. I'm not one of those "MTX is destroying gaming" types. I also feel like buying a $70 game only to be confronted with MTX right out of the gate doesn't feel great, but as long as the game is fun, I'll be OK. I also don't mind paying for drip-fed content as long as the base game is complete.
  
  If you say the base gear looks good, that goes a long way towards encouraging me to purchase it on payday. I feel like most folks who've played it have said it was pretty fun.
  
  Is there repeatable content for the endgame like D3, or did they go another direction with it?
The 'Path of Exile' method.

You look like a 19th century orphan without all the MTX gear that actually looks good.
I can say that the armor available in Diablo IV is pretty solid. You can make your character look pretty badass without cosmetics. But it's still ridiculous both that they exist at all and the cost is ridiculous.
- Is it only cosmetic or are their buffs associated, too?

The biggest issue regarding this is, how pretty much standard this has become.

If what you can buy is purely cosmetic, then they can charge what they want as far as I'm concerned. As long as it doesn't affect the gameplay beyond looks.

That's pretty ugly, but I expected worse given that headline.

I'll hold off for a bit. Given the hype of the game, I think the temptation to push something will be too great, especially for mild stuff like selling "boosters" or Battle Pass FOMO stuff.

Giving it a month or two and see if I'm pleasantly surprised.

We'll have to see how the game turns out once people put time into the endgame. I'm not getting my hopes up tho. After all we all know what acti-blizz is like

I'm personally fine with microtransactions for cosmetics, but I understand that people are put off by this.

Do you remember when horse armour was $5 and people freaked out so badly Bethesda walked back on mtx until they felt ready for FO76?

Still considering picking it up because it seems like a good experience in spite of this, can anyone strongly recommend or warn against it?

As a current Diablo 2 player (D2R/PD2), I'm pretty disappointed with it. I wouldn't recommend it if you were a big fan of D2. It's a lot more like D3, and a lot less like Diablo, and a lot more like a generic RPG we see these days. Lacks the Diabo "soul" if that makes sense. But if you really enjoyed D3, you may enjoy D4. It's not for me though.

My full experience is here: https://beehaw.org/post/459811
- It's weird, but I really enjoyed D3 while it was big. Just being able to turn my brain off and go full 'arcade brainrot' for an hour or so with a friend was really good.
  
  But nowadays it's odd to see a really solid ARPG outside of older titles (Grim Dawn, the og Titan Quests) that doesn't go down that road.
  
  Last Epoch is out there, but it's still buggy and the community was (at least a few months ago) basically the racist waiting room for D4. I hope it gets better.
- I quite enjoyed Diablo 3, but that makes me quite sad as it should be a game that the hardcore Diablo base enjoys (I've only been playing D3 for about two years on and off)...
I've only reached level 23, but have been thoroughly enjoying it so far. Usually end-game is the real test, but by most reports finishing the campaign is ~40 hours of gameplay alone. Given the hundreds of hours I sank into D3 it was an easy buy for me.

edit: also the in game shop is totally ignoreable. Currently it isn't shoved down your throat, you have to go looking for it. Given it is 100% cosmetics, I'm not fussed by it.
I might buy it next week at the earliest. But one of my friends, and I trust him on this (he's also a cheapskate), is pretty happy with his experience. I think he already finished the acts/story since he was just explaining the the endgame(rifts?) - I haven't played it so I may have misunderstood what he was explaining to me. Afaik as far as microtransactions go, it looks like everything is just cosmetic, which is good imho.

I'm holding out a bit because 1) possibility of bugs, and 2) I'm worried some P2w items will be introduced later on. But man I wanna play it now. Lol.
- I also am super hyped after playing the open beta and server slam, but knowing Blizzard, I will hold off buying it for now. I am curiuous how their monetization evolves. One could think because this is AAA priced (or even a bit above) and has a Cosmetic shop and a paid battle pass, that future expansions should be covered by that revenue. But I fear they do not see it like that and will charge for expansions (they already said that they are working on 2) and new classes will be sold separately and once the game is "complete", it will cost me several hundred bucks. There is so much stuff I can play, I can wait, although I must admit that what I saw in the 2 betas looked very good.
Yeah, I'm not passing judgement, haven't played it yet!
As a current Diablo 2 player (D2R/PD2), I'm pretty disappointed with it. I wouldn't recommend it if you were a big fan of D2. It's a lot more like D3, and a lot less like Diablo, and a lot more like a generic RPG we see these days. Lacks the Diabo "soul" if that makes sense. But if you really enjoyed D3, you may enjoy D4. It's not for me though.

My full experience is here: https://beehaw.org/post/459811

Now Diablo 4 Is Out in the Wild, the True Horror of Its Costly Microtransactions Has Revealed Itself - IGN