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Diablo III getting microtransactions, but only in Asia

The upcoming 2.2.0 patch will add microtransactions to Blizzard’s Diablo III, but not in all regions.

This was announced by Blizzard on its Battle.net forums, where the company detailed the changes players in regions that do not include the Americas or Europe will see once the patch goes live. While the post didn’t expressly mention Asia, PlayStation Lifestyle says “It is believed that micro-transactions will only be introduced in Asian markets for now”.

The changes detailed include the following:

A new currency called “Platinum”
Timed experience boosts
New cosmetic items including wings, non-combat pets, and character portraits
References to stash space and character slot expansions
A new UI interface that references the above information

Blizzard put the post up in anticipation of information appearing via data mining of Diablo III’s patched files, and clearly wanted to head off questions at the pass.

The community’s reaction hasn’t been fantastic, with many posters on the Battle.net forums expressing their hatred towards what they see as the practice of “pay to win” invading their beloved game (despite the fact that the microtransactions concerned are mostly cosmetic or interface-related).

But then those posters are American and European, a group whose distaste for paying for in-game goods via Diablo III’s real-money and in-game-gold Auction House caused its excision from the game as of March 18, 2014, so the reaction isn’t exactly surprising.

European and American Diablo III players will still benefit from the work being done to bring microtransactions to those other regions, Blizzard says, including “a streamlined UI for selecting cosmetic benefits like pets and Collector’s Edition wings” and other such “quality of life” refinements that will hit the game when 2.2.0 drops. Expect that to happen in the coming months.

[Source – Battle.net, PlayStation Lifestyle]

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