Diablo Immortal Hidden Caps & Pay-To-Win Mechanics
Our guide on the Hidden Caps in DIablo Immortal informs you about each and every pay-to-win mechanic in the game.
Game developers often prioritize revenue over free-to-play players, and Diablo Immortal is no exception. This MMORPG has faced criticism for implementing hidden caps that push players toward in-game purchases, hampering the progress of free-to-play gamers.
This guide delves into the hidden caps in Diablo Immortal. If you’re a free-to-play player considering your options, our Exploits in Diablo Immortal guide offers alternative strategies. Explore our Diablo Immortal Wiki for more game-related information.
Diablo Immortal’s Pay-To-Win Approach
While Diablo Immortal is free to download and play, in-game transactions are expected. However, the game’s developers, Blizzard Entertainment, have taken an unusual approach to generate revenue. They intentionally limit free-to-play players’ progress, encouraging in-game purchases for progression and resource acquisition. These hidden caps may appear as standard rules to casual players but were discovered by the community after extensive gameplay.
Understanding Hidden Caps
Hidden caps are undisclosed restrictions imposed by game developers that hinder free-to-play players’ progress, including leveling up, resource gathering, material acquisition, and loot collection from boss fights. These limitations may seem like measures to prevent rapid leveling to novice players. However, players who spend significant amounts of money on the game do not encounter such limitations.
Before proceeding, it’s worth noting that fully gearing up in Diablo Immortal requires a staggering $110K.
These hidden caps place free-to-play players at a significant disadvantage compared to pay-to-win players. The specifics of these hidden caps in Diablo Immortal are outlined below.
Issues with Server Paragon & Connected Mechanics
Server Paragon is an XP limitation mechanic designed to balance game progression for all players. Each day, the server you play on gains 2 additional Paragon levels. Players receive an XP boost or penalty based on their level relative to the server’s level. This mechanic aims to:
- If your level is lower than the server level, you get an XP Buff.
- If your level is higher than the server level, 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 players can 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 upgrading your equipment will take an incredibly long time 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 who have progressed their character level will not be able to equip better gear because, in addition to the character level requirement, the developers have also added a paragon level requirement on the equipment.
High character levels won’t yield better gear if Paragon Level requirements aren’t met, as the Paragon Level is time-limited due to the Server Paragon mechanic.
Hidden Caps On Legendary Items & Normal Gems
Diablo Immortal has a significant hidden cap on legendary items and normal gems. After the first six drops, attempting to farm these items dramatically reduces their drop rates. For efficient set item farming, consult our Diablo Immortal Set items drop location guide.
For example, when farming legendary items in a single day, the drop rate remains consistent for only the first six items. Once you’ve collected six legendary items in a day, the drop rate significantly decreases, making it harder to obtain more.
Similarly, when in a party of four players, there’s a normal gem drop rate buff, but it applies only to the first six gem drops. Beyond that, gem drops can become as rare as once per hour.
Hidden Caps On Quests & Boss Battles
Hidden caps extend to quests and boss battles in Diablo Immortal. Another limitation is:
Hidden Caps On Side Quests
Hidden Caps on Side Quests: Side quests, indicated by three blue exclamation marks, reward you with a chest containing three yellow materials (enchanted dust) upon completion. Enchanted dust is crucial for equipment upgrades at the blacksmith, but there’s a daily limit of five side quests. After completing five in a day, they won’t yield any rewards.
Hidden Caps On Purple Boss Quests
The purple boss quests refer to the purple-highlighted bosses you encounter on the map. These 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 out of purple bosses for the day, 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 Zoltan Kulle zone event library. During this event, you will collect 5 lost pages placed randomly within the library. Once you have the pages, you can make a Tome that 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. 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. The dungeons will become practically useless once you have the six gems for the day.
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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