Sometimes game developers tend to get carried away with the idea of making revenue from a game. Specifically, when free-to-play players are put at a clear disadvantage from players that spend money on the game. One of such practices was seen in the recent release of the famous MMORPG Diablo Immortal. Many players have pointed out that the hidden caps in Diablo Immortal are secretly trying to get players to spend money on the game. These hidden caps limit free-to-play players from farming resources and even steadily progressing through the game.
In this guide, we shall tell you everything you need to know about the hidden caps in Diablo Immortal.
If our guide makes you question your decision to play Diablo Immortal as a free-to-play player, then try reading our Exploits in Diablo Immortal guide. To gather similar information about the game, try checking our Diablo Immortal Wiki.
Why Is Diablo Immortal Pay-To Win
Since Diablo Immortal is free to download and play for everyone online, some type of in-game transactions is obviously expected. Although the game could have financed its revenue from cosmetic items and micro transitions, the developers over at Blizzard Entertainment have taken quite an interesting route in generating money from the game.
The game intentionally puts a cap on the progress of free-to-play players in order to make them pay for the in-game progression and resource farming. The worst part is that to the untrained eye, these hidden caps seem like regular progression rules.
Nevertheless, these hidden caps were revealed by players in the community that noticed some well-placed limitations to hinder their progress after hours of grinding at the game.
What Are Hidden Caps
Hidden caps are hidden limiters placed by the game developers to prevent free-to-play players from leveling up, gaining resources and materials, and collecting loot from boss fights. These limiters are called hidden because the game explicitly does not mention anything about them. To any novice player, they seem like precautionary measures to prevent players from leveling up too rapidly. However, no such limiters exist on players that are spending a large amount of money on their game.
Before in we even get into the main article, you would be shocked to read that you need $110K in Diablo Immortal to fully gear up.
This put the free-to-play players at an inherent disadvantage over pay-to-win players. The details of these hidden caps in Diablo Immortal are as follows.
The Problem With Server Paragon & Connected Mechanics
Server Paragon is an XP limiting mechanic, which in itself is an excellent idea to even out the game progression for all players. The main idea is that every day the server that you play on gains 2 additional Paragon levels. Players either get an XP buff or nerf depending on their relative level compared to the level of the server. It essentially means the following:
- If your level is lower than the server level, then you get an XP buff.
- If your level is higher than the server level, then you get an XP nerf.
The mechanic in itself seems quite reasonable. However, the problem arises when other game progression mechanics are tied to the system. One such system is the Blacksmith.
Hidden Cap In The Blacksmith System
The Black Smith system is one of the only ways free-to-play players can power up their equipment by grinding in the game. However, the recent limiters at lunch have made this option time-limited.
How it works is that the players are allowed to level up their gear at their desired pace until level 6. After level 6, players must be Paragon Level 20 if they want to upgrade their equipment to level 7, and Paragon level 30 if they want to raise their gear to level 8. The trend continues for all levels above level 6.
This mechanic slows the players’ progress due to the inherent nature of Server Paragon. If the required Paragon level is higher than the server level, then it will take an incredibly long time to upgrade your equipment because you will be getting higher and higher XP nerfs.
Hidden Cap in Equipping Gear
Another mechanic that has been tied to Server Paragon is the paragon level requirement to equip higher quality gear. It means that skilled players that have progressed their character level will not be able to equip better gear because, in addition to character level requirement, the developers have also added a paragon level requirement on the equipment.
This means that even if your character level is high enough, you still won’t have better gear if you don’t fulfill the Paragon Level requirements. As mentioned before, the Paragon Level is time-limited due to the Server Paragon mechanic.
Hidden Caps On Legendary Items & Normal Gems
One of the biggest hidden caps in Diablo Immortal is the diminishing return on legendary items and normal gems. Diminishing return means that if you try to farm either of these items, then their drop rate will dramatically decrease after the first six drops. To effectively farm set items of your interest, try reading our Diablo Immortal Set items drop location guide.
So, if you try farming legendary items in one day, then the drop rate will be fixed only for the first six items. After you have gained six legendary items for the day, the drop rate will considerably decrease, so it becomes harder for you to farm more legendary items.
Similarly, there is a normal gem buff for a party of four players. It means that if you are playing in a party of four players, then the chances of you getting a normal gem drop will be increased. However, it holds true only for the first six gem drops. After that, the drop rate dramatically decreases, where gem drops can be as rare as once every hour.
Hidden Caps On Quests & Boss Battles
At this point, you might be thinking that the hidden caps in Diablo Immortal end here, but sadly that is not the case. Here are some other material farming limiters in the game.
Hidden Caps On Side Quests
Side quests are the quests with three blue exclamation marks, and these quests will reward you with a small chest that has three yellow materials (enchanted dust) on completion. Enchanted dust is required to upgrade equipment at the blacksmith, which has a limiter of its own. There is a limit on the number of side quests you can do each day, which are a mere five times per day.
Although the side quests will not disappear after completing five of them in a day, they will simply not give you any reward for completion.
Hidden Caps On Purple Boss Quests
The purple boss quests refer to the purple highlighted bosses that you encounter on the map. These also reward you with three yellow materials on their completion, just like the side quests. In a similar fashion, they are also limited to only three times per day. After which you will not get any reward for completing them.
If you are all out of purple bosses for the day, then you can always try to progress through the story and fight world bosses in Diablo Immortal to get unique rewards.
Hidden Cap On Pop-up Quests
Pop-up quests are different from story-oriented quests. They are random tasks that give you three yellow materials on completion; however, they are also limited to only five times per day, and there are no rewards for doing extras.
Hidden Attempt Cap On The Library Of Zoltan Kulle Event
Once you are level 60, you can do the library of the Zoltan Kulle zone event. During this event, you will collect 5 lost pages placed randomly within the library. Once you have the pages, you will be able to make a Tome which can teleport you to one of a few different hidden chambers.
If you defeat the monsters inside the chamber, you will get up to sixty-eight yellow materials from these chambers. Each hidden chamber has a hidden cap of five times per day. Practically speaking, because the hidden chambers spawn randomly, you are limited to fifteen Tomes per day.
A similar event in the game is the Diablo Immortal Demon gates Event which has a lot of good rewards for free-to-paly players.
Hidden Gem Cap on Hidden Layers
These hidden dungeons are spread across the open world. One might think that surely dungeons don’t have a hidden cap in Diablo Immortal. However, that is far from true. The hidden layers in Diablo Immortal are some secrets that give you a normal gem for every task you do inside them. Sadly, there is a limit on the number of gems you can get from these dungeons in a day.
This is fixe to six normal gems from hidden dungeons per day. Once you have the six gems for the day, the dungeons will become practically useless.
Hidden Cap on Marks to Progress The Next Stage
Perhaps the worst hidden cap in Diablo Immortal is the limiter on marks to progress to the shadows. The circled number in the below image is supposed to represent the number of marks the shadows have contributed to progress to the next stage.
This is very important if you want to progress through the end game to overthrow the immortals. However, the number is also limited to then a thousand marks per day. The way the number is calculated is actually even more disturbing. It is the actual number of marks contributed in the day divided by ten. So practically speaking, your game progression is slowed ten-time due to the mechanic.
If you are new to the game, then you should definitely read about how to join the shadow lottery clan in Diablo Immortal to progress through the end game.
If you get a late start or miss out on your contribution for the day, then you will be left permanently behind. There is no way to go back and get your missed marks. Moreover, if you get more than ten thousand marks in a day, then the marks above the cap will simply not be counted.
Conclusion
The gameplay and combat of Diablo Immortal are undoubtedly beautiful and stunning. However, the hidden caps and pay-to-win tendencies have the game for the gaming community. Moreover, the failure of the development team to inform the players about any of these hidden caps has left a lot of the players upset and disappointed.
That Concludes our guide on the hidden caps in Diablo Immortal. Was this guide an eye-opener for you? What are your thoughts on the financing model of the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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