Barely had my coffee when that Diablo 4 Season 5 update hit. Booted up the game, saw the new battle pass staring me down, and figured, hey, why not see what the fuss is about this season? Grabbed my controller and jumped right in.
Just Clicking the Darn Thing Open
Opened the Season menu, scrolled over to the Battle Pass section – that thing’s got tabs now, Free Tier and Premium. Started with the Free one, obviously. Clicked on the first reward tier. A stupid profile picture. Seriously? Clicked the second tier. Some dumb title no one reads. Third tier? Ha! 500 Gold. Felt like a slap in the face. Scrolled further… a few more garbage cosmetic pieces, a mount trophy (who cares?), and finally, at the very end, one single damn Armor piece. The whole Free track looked like someone scraped the bottom of the barrel and called it content. Weak sauce.
Flipping Over to Premium
Then I clicked the Premium tab. Hoo boy. Instant upgrade. First tier? Cool looking cosmetic armor piece already. Second tier? Another one, matching style. Third? 600 Platinum. Wait, actual real-money currency? Fourth tier? A weapon skin that actually changes how it looks, not just color. Scrolling down:
- Actual full armor sets, not just pieces.
- Unique mount skins that change the whole look.
- A ton more Platinum sprinkled in, like maybe 2,000+ total?
- Emotes that weren’t just recycled trash.
- Even boosts – XP and Gold gain.
Night and freakin’ day difference.
Grinding Reality Check
Thought, “Fine, free is free, I’ll grind it.” Played for hours doing seasonal junk, whispers, helltides – you know the drill. My Favor (that battle XP stuff) crawled up like a snail on glue. Each tier unlock felt like pulling teeth. That one armor piece at the end looked miles away. Felt punishing, like the game was constantly reminding me I was too cheap for Premium. Annoying as hell.
The Ugly Truth Sinks In
Saw someone in town with the full Premium armor set, glowing effects and all. Looks slick. Meanwhile, my freebie grind got me a mismatched piece that looked like clown shoes. Realized the Platinum rewards in Premium basically pay for most of the pass itself if you play enough seasons. Free pass gives you absolutely nothing of value towards getting Premium later. They built a wall between “free player” and “paying player,” and it’s tall and thick. You either pay up front, or you’re just getting crumbs and feeling bad about it. Bunch of FOMO garbage mixed with blatant “give us money” vibes.
Closing the Damn Thing
So yeah, wrapped up my “experiment.” Free tier? Bare minimum effort from Blizzard, honestly insulting. Premium tier? Where the actual game rewards are hiding. It’s their way of screaming “BUY THIS” without actually saying it. Felt scummy. Logged out, stared at the login screen for a minute. Then I uninstalled. Not because the game’s bad, but because that battle pass nonsense? Leaves a real sour taste.