Blizzard is now making it harder to accidentally purchase the Diablo 4 premium battle pass, responding to community complaints. The Diablo 4 streamer Rurikhan accused Blizzard of employing a "dark pattern" after accidentally buying the battle pass on stream.
Rurikhan said on Twitter (via Kotaku), "So Blizzard placed the 'Activate Premium Battle Pass' button right next to the button you have to constantly press to check your Season Journey. Guess what happened to me and at least 5 others on my stream. This is straight up Malicious Design." Additionally, there is no confirm purchase pop-up after choosing to buy the battle pass, meaning a misclick is functionally irreversible. Other members of the community chimed in, sharing similar experiences. In Ruikhan's case, the purchase used his Deluxe edition battle pass freebie, which he was saving for a future season.
So Blizzard placed the 'Activate Premium Battle Pass' button right next to the button you have to constantly press to check your Season Journey.
Guess what happened to me and at least 5 others on my stream. This is straight up Malicious Design. @Diablo pic.twitter.com/99KhTR51ad
— Rurikhan (@Rurikhan) July 21, 2023
Diablo 4 global community development director Adam Fletcher replied, saying that he had discussed the issue with the team. Blizzard will be introducing a temporary fix to make sure the cursor doesn't default to the purchase button. No word on what the more permanent UI change might look like.
Diablo 4's first season launched to controversy on July 20. The patch introduced a number of unpopular nerfs to defensive stats and affixes. Blizzard stated that there will never be a patch like this one ever again. More details to upcoming changes and fixes will be announced on July 28.
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