Of all the work Blizzard has been doing over the past several months to change Diablo 4’s fortunes, sell players on the dramatically different game that exists today, and perhaps convince some of buying the Vessel of Hated expansion, this particular tactic has to be the most underhanded.
It’s very likely not intentional, but it’s a little amusing all the same.
Diablo 4 has an in-game cash shop that sells skin bundles, mounts, mount skins and more for – frankly – far too much money. But the more of those bundles you see at $20, the more the game effectively establishes the value of what it’s selling. Which means, when you see them on sale – or, better yet, free – you know you’re getting a good deal.
In a very roundabout way, this is what happened to Reddit user Kilyrka, who went to check the Diablo 4 in-game store, and the Mother’s Memory Prestige set for the Spiritborn class caught their eye. Prestige is the highest tier of these bundles, and this one was priced at 2,600 Platinum or about $22.
That 2,600 was stricken through, however, and it was instead discounted to -1. Now, right there is when Kilyrka should’ve known that it was a bug and moved on. Instead, they had to overthink it, and assume that it was Blizzard’s way of pushing them to buy the Vessel of Hatred expansion, seeing as that’s the only way they could use this shiny set, because it’s locked to the Spiritborn class, accessible only by buying VoH.
“I (a dumb idiot) figured this was Blizzard’s cheeky way of securing a sale. ‘Buy Vessel of Hatred and we’ll toss in this skin for only 1 silver!’ (I realize now that it’s actually advertised as ‘-1’ silver),” they wrote.
So that’s what they did! Unfortunately, after buying Vessel of Hatred, the price of the Mother’s Memory Prestige set jumped back to its actual value – though with a 40% off discount. This is what everyone else will see when they view the store, which is a strong indication that the whole -1 Platinum thing was a bug.
“Felt pretty scammed, I can’t lie,” they added.
This story does have a happy ending, however, because they cancelled their order and were given a refund. Blizzard customer support has been alerted of the issue, too. It’s only a shame that Kilyrka won’t get to enjoy Vessel of Hatred, or the skin bundle for that matter.