Diablo 4’s paid cosmetics have been controversial since its launch due to their pricing. Despite that, the Blizzard team has continued to look for new ways to improve the feature, with the latest being a new “earnable” cosmetics plan.
Rod Fergusson, one of the big bosses in Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo team, today unveiled an ambitious future for microtransactions, including personalized discounts and improved earnable battle pass cosmetics, in an interview with Windows Central. The plan includes discounted cosmetics tailored to you and how you like to play and improved cosmetics players will be able to get through seasonal passes.
Personalized discounts for cosmetics aren’t a new concept in gaming. One example is the skin store in League of Legends, where we’re given skins tailored to the champions we play. If this is introduced in Diablo 4, it will be interesting to see how they set discounts; it may involve classes we play often or similar cosmetics we’ve purchased, like from a specific line. While cosmetics aren’t necessary to play Diablo 4, they undeniably enhance the visual appearance of our characters and mounts, so it seems like a win.
If you don’t want to pay for cosmetics, that’s okay too because you don’t need cosmetics to enjoy Sanctuary. And, Fergusson mentioned in the same interview, the Diablo devs are also trying to find ways to make cosmetics easier to buy so some players can “get into it at a lower price point if they’re interested.”
We’re not sure exactly what that change would entail, but Fergusson hopes to find the “right balance there in terms of what is earnable” and still make them cool.
We may not be getting cheaper cosmetics across the board in Diablo 4 (which would be nice, for the record), but at least ones tailored to our playstyles and preferences will soon be discounted, and earnable ones will be somewhat improved. Hopefully, we will see some of these changes in Season Four, which drops in May.