After two weeks of pouring money into Diablo Immortal’s gaping maw, NZ streamer Quin69 finally has his first five-star Legendary Gem.
I can’t believe I just looted my first 5/5⭐ gem and it only cost me $25,165.57 NZD
Thank you @Blizzard_Ent @DiabloImmortal for this authentic diablo experience. pic.twitter.com/jqf5AevZ7w
— Quin (@quinrex) June 18, 2022
Quin69 spent $NZ25,165 (or $AU22,899) trying to coax Diablo Immortal to drop just one of the highest Legendary gems. As discussed earlier this week, Legendary Gems are used to upgrade endgame level gear beyond basic stats. These gems are the only way to create hyper-optimized post-campaign builds, and it takes six of them to fully upgrade a character. Because of their incredible rarity, five-star legendary gems are considered whale bait, a way of convincing financially reckless players to throw in a lot of money.
All Quin wanted was to see how much money it would cost to drop one of these gems. He shot through $NZ 10,000 in a single stream. He then broke the $NZ20,000 mark late last week. It took another $NZ5,000 before the moment finally arrived.
The streamer’s experiment has revealed how stacked against free players the Diablo Immortal experience is real. If nearly $23,000 has to be pumped into the game to get one of these rare gems, what hope is there for players who can’t or won’t pay?
Quin certainly got his share of criticism during the experiment. His reckless spending and outbursts of anger after failed drops left many questioning his emotional stability. Others, even in our comments, weren’t happy to see him giving Blizzard exactly what it wanted: his money. But in the end he proved his point. Chasing five-star legendary gems is a fool’s errand, a system designed to drain bank accounts while giving very little back to the player.
Anyway, thanks for your service, Quin69. You can now stop playing Diablo Immortal for good.
