
Diablo III’s Serious Value Problem
RPG characters shouldn’t cost $15
Value is a tricky business. For many gamers, value-for-money is a prime consideration when choosing a game to play. In the critical/journalistic space, this type of value is often downplayed, especially if a game’s artistic merits outweigh an apparent lack of content.
I think value is absolutely important to consider in today’s gaming world, where a pile of digital content is just a click away.
I’m a big fan of Diablo III. It’s one of my favorite games of all time. I’ve played over 1000 hours of the game across five different platforms. I think its combat is some of the best ever designed by humans.
Up until this year, I would have told you that the game represented a tremendous value.
I felt this way even when the game launched with its odd difficulty system and largely-despised real-money auction house.
I felt this way when the first big expansion, Reaper of Souls launched, bringing with it vast improvements and the new Adventure Mode.
I no longer feel this way now that the Necromancer came out and costs $15.

Of course, I still bought the Rise of the Necromancer DLC the first week it was out on PC because I am too far down the rabbit hole to have resisted.
But… I still haven’t finished a single playthrough or leveled the character past 20.
I’m bummed.
Even though I think the design of the character is good, I just can’t bring myself to play the “new” content. My enthusiasm for the game has died because I feel like I got suckered.
How did it come to this?
1) The Rise of Free to Play Action RPGs
When Diablo III launched in 2012, it was the cream of the crop. It had gameplay design, visuals, and content that exceeded anything the genre had done so far.
(Okay, it also had some weird online bugs and an auction house everyone hated.)
But the game was good. Really good. And then came the competition.

Torchlight II was the first serious threat. It was one-third of the price. It had a large game world, gameplay that built on the fun action in the first game, and multiplayer support.
However, it didn’t quite have that special “magic.” Action RPGs are almost entirely about feel. Since you’re doing the same things over and over and over again for hours on end, those things have to feel really good.
Torchlight II didn’t nail that.
But other games absolutely have. And at the low price of Free.
Marvel Heroes Omega

Marvel Heroes was designed by David Brevik, one of the original creators of Diablo.
It really shows, in the best possible way.
Although it didn’t launch in an absolutely perfect state, as is the case with most games these days, over the last few years it has been honed into a finely-tuned entertaining experience. The feel of the game is great. The characters all play vastly differently from each other. And the monetization isn’t aggressive.
Path of Exile

If this character select screen reminds you of Diablo II…that’s no accident. Path of Exile is practically dripping with nostalgia for that classic game, all under the veneer of a highly-polished modern experience.
Path of Exile just hit the Xbox One this week in a port that’s exceptionally well-done, and I’d happily recommend it to anyone looking for a Diablo-esque experience that costs zero dollars.
When Diablo III launched, it didn’t have this kind of competition. But now, it has to compete with two AAA-caliber games that nail the same kind of feel and design…and are totally free.
2) Dearth of Content
Diablo III’s last big content drop before the Necromancer stuff was the paid Reaper of Souls expansion in 2014.
For the last three years, it has received free updates like the Season Mode, balance tweaks, and some small new areas to explore in Adventure mode…but all of this stuff has been on the level of tweaks to the existing content. Some of the console improvements got rolled back into the PC version. And the player base kept right on clicking because of the compelling nature of the game.
And now, after three years of waiting…one whole new character comes out.
Kind of ridiculous, right?

Sure. Blizzard is probably working on a sequel. And it doesn’t make sense to keep churning out loads of new content when people only buy the game once.
But in a world where Path of Exile has added new characters, new entire story acts, and new graphics for free…that’s no good.
In a world where Marvel Heroes is up to 61 playable characters that all play differently and can all be unlocked for free with a little work…that’s no good at all.
And yes you read that number correctly. Sixty One. And that’s on top of all the other additions and changes…including entirely new art assets that were rolled into the game not that long ago.
In a vacuum it’s really cool that the Necromancer is finally in Diablo III.
But out there in the larger market…it’s kind of sad and insane.

3) Pricing
The full package for Diablo III still costs $60, if you want everything. And the Necromancer by itself is $15. Did I mention that yet?
The most expensive characters in Marvel Heroes are a couple bucks less than that…and like I said, you can unlock them all for free with some play time.
On the one hand, it’s smart from a business perspective that Blizzard has kept Diablo’s perceived value up in the marketplace. It’s certainly a premium product, and I don’t think people are necessarily getting ripped off if they pay that much for it…but it’s hard to tell people looking for some fun Action RPG action that it should be their first choice.
That’s not to say the other games are doing monetization perfectly.
Check out this bundle at the bottom of Path of Exile’s store.

FOUR. HUNDRED. DOLLARS.
400 DOLLARS.
$400.
What.
There’s no world in which that is okay. Don’t buy this. It shouldn’t even be here.
I mean, I guess if you love this game so much that you want to spend $400 on it in one throw, then…well I don’t even know what to say.
This is absurd. Most Free-to-play games top out at the $99 mark for their most expensive bundles.
So yeah. Okay. $15 for the Necromancer is not $400. And I’m not even going to pretend that being able to spend $400 in one go on a single game is a good idea. I mean, what kind of person would you have to be to do that? I’ve bought five copies of Diablo III on different machines and that only cost me… $300.
Hmm. Uh….
Anyway, $15 for just the Necromancer is frustrating.

Final Thoughts
I think Diablo III is a great video game with perfectly-designed action combat, a fun and engaging loot system, luscious graphics, and good multiplayer.
But Path of Exile and Marvel Heroes both have the same level of design and fun, and they’re free.
And no one should have to spend $15 for one character after waiting for three years. Even though I did it anyway. Don’t be like me.
You have to choose how to spend your time and money. That’s life as a gamer. If you’re after value and you’re an action RPG fan, there are many choices that are objectively more valuable than Diablo III. Whether you’re on consoles, PC, or mobile, you can find something with more content for less money.
As someone who loved Diablo III for so many years, I’m kind of frustrated by all of this. D3 had so many cut features too. The rune/power system got stripped down…but Path of Exile has a full implementation of this concept. The physics system was made cosmetic…but Marvel Heroes has interactive physics items that can damage enemies.
I imagine a world in which the real-money auction house wasn’t so loathed, and Blizzard was able to drip out a huge stream of free and genuinely new content. Heck, they’ve still got the resources to do this now…but they’re probably limited by their corporate overlords.
I have to imagine that Diablo IV will use a model in some way similar to the free-to-play titles mentioned in this article. They have to be aware of what the competition is doing. Maybe D4 will have loot boxes or hats.
I just hope it’s enough to get me back in without feeling like I’m being exploited by transaction prices, because I so want to love Diablo again after the Necromancer broke my heart.
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Media credit: J. Mueller.

This article was written by Super Jump contributor, Alex Rowe. Please check out his work and follow him on Medium.


