Do you have to max out a character to have a good time with a game?

Following Diablo Immortal’s early launch, the game does indeed seem to be a “true Diablo experience” in more ways than not. The community began praising the core gameplay loop almost immediately upon release.

I guess players can always ask for their free to play money back.

For me, Diablo Immor(t)al is a social experiment.

I have yet to hit a glass ceiling, after about 20 hours in game on a single class, doing PvE. (6 classes mean you have at least 120 hours of free gameplay ahead of you and that is a minimal value because I have not found the ceiling yet). I got MVP several times on the battleground (PvP). And I have not spent money on the game (yet; I might buy a battle pass to “pay for the game”, because the devs did a good job and they deserve a few bucks).

It may be that at some point progression in PvE is blocked without acquiring legendary gems, but it just means you “finished the game”. And you have a lot of other options to level up your character (XP, gear, halliquarry, cycle of strife, legacy of horadrim, and maybe more that I have not uncovered yet).

Now PvP is another thing entirely. There is no ending in PvP. People that have a competitive mindset always want to come on top. Those will face the hard reality of this world: rich people rules over the poor. And Blizzard will tap into this misplaced ego to finance their game. People that want to pay to win will eventually learn the hard (and sad) truth of the current society… It is sad that people with gambling issues will fall into that trap. But they would just as easily gamble online. Diablo Immor(t)al is just one of many options for these people…