You can play Diablo Immortal for free and as a dabbler, hop a little game to pass the time on the bus. Nothing better to pass the time than peeling a few demons! But Blizzard’s hack’n slash also attracts passionate players, ready to spend thousands and cents to equip their warrior.
And that can add up very quickly: the main in-game currency, the Eternal Orb, is expensive in cold hard (and real) cash. The small bag of 60 orbs costs €0.99, and it can go up to €99.99 for 7,200 orbs. These orbs allow you to buy costumes and other cosmetic gear (between 1,000 and 1,650 orbs), but also emblems that increase the chances of obtaining legendary gems. In return, one can benefit from better stats in fights as well as in-game advantages.
It all ends up being expensive. Helping game successa true parallel economy has been set up, offering players much more affordable orbs… and for good reason: these third-party shops buy orbs wholesale with stolen or hacked bank cards, or unused gift cards.
These little hacks have not gone unnoticed at Blizzard, which has decided to crack down by revoking many suspicious purchases en masse. In fact, many frequent players have negative orb balances in their accounts! The publisher is very clear on the subject: either the player buys new orbs to balance his account, or they are prohibited from participating in certain important activities of the game.
One of the players concerned, Shia, has an account in the red of nearly 2.5 million orbs (!). This represents something like €35,000… This very capable player admitted to having bought these orbs on the black market, but objects that Blizzard has increased its prices (everything is increasing, decidedly): for example, we went from $20 to $50 the 7,200 orbs, then now $99.99.
Players faced with this situation can decide to start from scratch with a new account, or abandon the game. Shia thinks of stopping the charges. Many in the gaming community are saying they’d be willing to pay a lower price for orbs, but is Blizzard ready to hear that talk? Nothing is less sure.
« We have investigated abnormal purchases of Eternal Orbs that have been reported within the community and have taken action to prevent players from purchasing Orbs through unofficial channels », a reacted the publisher at PC Gamer. Of the ” disciplinary measures have been implemented once morest accounts that have violated the game’s terms of use, confirms the company.
