Diablo Immortal’s pay-to-win mechanics have been controversial since the game launched back in June. Now they’ve also apparently broken the game for at least one YouTuber who reportedly spent over $100,000 on beefing up his Barbarian character. The player’s win rate is seemingly so good the game won’t even match him against other players, torpedoing his prospects of competing in the latest Rite of Exile end game event.
Over the weekend, Diablo Immortal YouTuber jtisallbusiness asked viewers if he should try to refund his $100,000 account as a result of the issue. He claimed that he spent so much money immediately following the game’s release that he was able to easily overpower almost every opponent in the game’s PVP Battlegrounds mode. As a result, he had hundreds of wins and only a few losses, pumping up his MMR (match-making rank) so high it became impossible to queue with anyone else.
“I would say it’s probably around, somewhere around 48 to 72 hours somewhere in between that of only trying to queue for a Battleground and never being able to get one,” he said.
Jtisallbusiness contacted Blizzard about the issue almost a month ago, and said he was eventually told the problem would be addressed in a couple weeks. Now, however, his clan OneTimes is competing in the Rite of Exile to defend its Immortals title against other players as part of Diablo Immortals elaborate end game. The only problem is Jtisallbusiness can’t join them. Part of the questline requires participating in a standard Battlegrounds PVP match, but because of his matchmaking limbo he was unable to qualify.
“So basically I’m stuck as the clan leader in the Immortals clan not being able to queue us up for Rite of Exile at all,” he said. “I can’t do anything about it.” Adding to his frustration is the fact that he’s trying to make money off Diablo Immortal as a streamer and content maker, an effort now seemingly stymied by his early spending spree (other videos are devoted to showing off his collection).
For many other players in the community, however, it’s a chef’s kiss moment for everything they hate about the game’s monetization. “Congratulations, you just ‘won’ in a p2w game,” reads one of the top comments on his YouTube video discussing the issue. “Can’t complain about that, you got what you paid for.” Others shared similar sentiments, and the video itself was downvoted thousands of times.
Players on Reddit, where links to it were being passed around, were equally unmoved. “I know it’s his money and people can do whatever they want with theirs but come the fuck on man. 100k?! On Diablo Immortal?!” wrote one person. “When someone’s Diablo character is worth close to my entire mortgage,” wrote another.
Blizzard and jtisallbusiness didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s also not yet clear how the situation will affect the rest of his clan, which includes players he said have each poured thousands of dollars of their own into the game. Once the Rite of Exile is completed, the top 30 challengers are pitted against a single Immortal who is transformed into a raid boss. One thing seems certain: It will not be Jtisallbusiness.