Diablo 4 players brace for pay-to-win expansion

It's a shame that some Diablo fans feel like they've had it rough since the fourth mainline title was launched - but it doesn't seem to be a result of a lack of focus from Blizzard.

The demonic dungeon crawler has had its seasonal updates to keep the game fresh, but players are still pretty salty about having to leave behind their favourite characters to try new content. With the content accused of not being too fresh in the first place, some feel their sacrifices weren't worth it.

Now, Diablo 4 fans are bracing themselves for the impact of something worse than boring. With a tease of pay-to-win mechanics, Diablo 4 could become boring and costly.

Diablo 4 may introduce pay-to-win features

Fans are getting nervous, as a new survey sent to fans by Blizzard has indicated that some big payments are about to be due from fans who want the full Diablo experience.

The new survey has gone to a few fans and is deemed confidential between the player and Blizzard (we can see just how long that confidentiality lasted). The survey asks users how they feel about the pricing of new potential game add-ons.

It asks if they'd rather pay between $50 and $100 for early access to a functional in-game item of varying rarity and asks them what they'd be happy to pay overall for a large expansion - $50, $70, $80 or $100. Bellular News highlights this in an illuminating video and suggests there could be some very expensive new add-ons coming from Blizzard.

What new content is Diablo planning?

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It's clear that Blizzard is thinking big with its Diablo 4 upgrades, but fans are already deeply concerned that players could be paying up to $100 for an in-game item that will give them a serious edge. We've heard of complaints about Call of Duty charging us extra for skins, but at least they (largely) don't affect gameplay. 

It's an uncomfortable indication that Diablo 4 could be moving into the realms of pay-to-win, and if that's the case, it won't be long until it comes with some serious dents to your wallet. These surveys have led to nothing in the past, so we'll err on the side of caution. Still, it would be typically Activision to squeeze us for a few more pennies.