Diablo 4 Carry Run

Although Diablo 4 can be considered a stand-alone game, it can actually be played online and has some in-game transactions. The developers have made a lot of money from players through the battle pass, limited-time skins, and mounts launched each season. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call this game a “semi-stand-alone game”.

However, this part of the transaction is not transparent to players because these developers deliberately confuse their value, making it difficult for players to figure out how much money they have wasted on these contents.

Recently, Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) coordinated with European Commission to publish a set of guidelines specifically for virtual currencies in games, with the aim of protecting children and people who are susceptible to gambling temptations, as well as providing a more transparent player experience and complying with EU consumer protection laws. The virtual currency here does not refer to in-game currencies such as Diablo 4 gold or POE 2 currency, but refers to currencies such as FIFA 25 Coins and Diablo 4 Platinum.

In-Game Virtual Currency Principles

CPC Network lists the following non-exhaustive key principles that CPC expects video game companies and gambling operators to follow when offering in-game virtual currency:

• 1. Product value display should be clear and transparent.
• 2. Practices that conceal the cash required for in-game digital content and services should be avoided.
• 3. Practices that force consumers to redeem unwanted in-game virtual currency should be avoided.
• 4. Consumers should be provided with clear and understandable pre-contract information.
• 5. Consumers’ right of withdrawal should be respected.
• 6. Contract terms should be fair and written in simple and clear language.
• 7. Game design and gameplay should respect different consumer vulnerabilities.

These terms are intended to make the value of in-game virtual items more intuitive and understandable, and also to prevent developers from secretly manipulating and inflating the value of virtual items. And players as consumers have a right of withdrawal.

These provisions are not laws, but a set of guidelines agreed upon by national authorities within the alliance that regulate gambling activities. This means that if a gaming company does not follow these guidelines, anyone who sues the company will have the support of national authorities and is likely to win. So the effect is immediate.

Will Diablo 4 Be Affected?

Undoubtedly, yes! Aside from the transactions between Diablo players, the game publisher has also introduced a currency called Platinum in the game. It is different from Diablo 4 Gold. It is a “premium currency” specifically used to unlock passes or limited skins.

For example, it takes 1,000 Platinum to unlock a season pass, which is about 10USD, but the developers of Diablo 4 will not show you this when you intend to unlock the pass.

And this is exactly the opacity that CPC wants to eliminate. Game developers must clearly mark the value of their virtual products. And because of the existence of this clause, “Should avoid forcing consumers to invest in unwanted game virtual currency.” Players will be able to unlock these in-game contents directly with cash, rather than exchanging cash for Platinum in the game and then using them to unlock in-game virtual items.

The key point of virtual currency is that it can distinguish the value you actually get from the amount you have to use. Since digital assets can be freely distributed, while companies benefit from people buying currency for short-term purchases, they actually prefer you to use and recharge virtual currency as much as possible because this is the driver of their ongoing revenue. Therefore, people not making frequent purchases and becoming conservative with virtual currency will hurt the revenue of game publishers.

These provisions will effectively combat situations where in-game items cost $6 to unlock, but you can only redeem $5 of virtual currency. Diablo 4 often faces this problem in Platinum, where the 1,000 Platinum pack is too little to unlock most skins, but the 2,800 Platinum pack will leave some Platinum to entice players to continue consumption to “not waste”. In other words, this clause will combat the practice of game developers forcing consumers to consume.

What Should Diablo 4 Do?

In order for game publishers to avoid being investigated by state laws due to Consumer Protection Act, any electronic games or other content released should be reviewed and modified if necessary. These new key principles will bring significant changes to many existing games because they target practices that are currently common in the market.

If the developers of Diablo 4 fail to complete the review and transformation in time, they may face a fine of up to 4% of their annual turnover.

In any case, this is a good thing for players. This new clause does not affect the exchange of Diablo 4 Gold and items between players, but mainly targets the publishers of the game. Currencies such as Platinum will not disappear in a short time, because the value of these virtual currencies is not fixed and can be manipulated by game developers at will. However, publishers, including Diablo 4, should mark the real product value below the virtual items.

If this policy is implemented smoothly, we can predict that other game manufacturers, including Diablo 4 developers, will use the trick of “using virtual currency is more favorable than using real money” to attract players to exchange their virtual currency with real money.

The actual results of these new guidelines remain to be seen. All companies need some time to adjust, and the changes should happen in the next period. Perhaps we will see these changes in Season 8. Although this only applies to players in Europe, once there is a clear and mature set of rules regarding in-game virtual items, it will be beneficial to all consumers.

The official release date of Diablo 4 season 8 has been confirmed, and players will be able to play it on April 29. There is still more than a month to go before this date, which is really a long wait for players.

During this month, the developers will conduct multiple public tests to test Boss Powers of season 8. From the recent tests, the performance of Boss Powers is far better than Witch Powers, because the new mechanism can even become a main means of output damage instead of just a supplement.

Similar to Witch Powers, Boss Powers also need to be upgraded to unleash their full potential, and the materials required for upgrading must be obtained from the seasonal event Apparition Incursions.

What Is Apparition Incursions?

The world event of Season 7 was Headhunts, and the world event of season 8 is Apparition Incursions. You can get Diablo 4 Gold, items and Spectral Ash in this event.

This new seasonal area event is somewhat similar to boss rush. Various enemies will spawn periodically around Sanctuary. You can see a status bar with a timer at the bottom of the minimap. You need to kill as many enemies as possible to fill the status bar before the timer runs out.

Once the status bar is filled successfully, an Apparition Boss will spawn at a fixed location. You can see an Apparition Incursion icon on the minimap. When you successfully kill it, another Incursion icon will appear on the map. Then repeat the above steps to continue killing monsters until Apparition Boss appears.

There are 10 types of Apparition Bosses in total, and only two of them will appear in each Apparition Incursions. They appear randomly in no fixed order, and even the same Apparition Boss may appear twice in an Incursion.

The last Apparition Boss is Belial’s lesser form. Killing it will complete the event and get a reward.

Reward

All monsters and Apparition Bosses you kill in Apparition Incursions event will drop equipment of any quality. The reward box that appears after successfully defeating the lower-level form of Belial will also contain gold, items and Obols.

After the arrival of Season 8, all players need to start from scratch. Due to the increase in difficulty and the change in item drop rate, it takes longer for you to level up. If you want to make it easier in the game, you can enter Diablo 4 Giveaways In IGGM Discord. There are some lottery events here every week, and every player has the opportunity to get various precious materials.

Strategy

Although Apparition Incursions activity requires players to kill all monsters within a specified time, this time is not very tight and can be easily completed by a single player, and it will be faster if you cooperate with friends.

The more difficult ones are Apparition Boss, but as long as the players’ equipment is not too backward, defeating these bosses is basically not a big problem. Belial is the boss that is most likely to fail players. If you don’t prepare legendary aspects or suitable equipment, it is best to avoid the obvious red void areas on the ground, the V-shaped lines extending from Belial, and any poisonous ground. This will help you increase your chances of survival and successfully complete Apparition Incursions.

Spectral Ash

Spectral Ash is the currency required to upgrade Boss Powers. In the public test, it takes 3,225 Spectral Ash to upgrade a Magic Boss Power to level 20.

Spectral Ash only appears during Apparition Incursions, and is obtained by killing the last Belial’s lesser form. The first two Apparition Bosses also provide Spectral Ash after being defeated, but usually only 1 or 2.

There are also wandering Apparitions in the wild, which can also give you very little Spectral Ash after killing them.

In Normal to Penitent difficulty, no more than 50 Spectral Ash can be obtained from completing each Apparition Incursion. If there were no seasonal quests that directly provided Spectral Ash to the player, the player would have to spend a lot of time in Apparition Incursions in Season 8.

Starting from Torment 1, the amount of Spectral Ash obtained from the killing Apparition of Belial will be tripled, and the amount of Spectral Ash rewarded will increase by about 30% for each additional Torment level.

How To Farm Spectral Ash faster?

During Apparition Boss, kill as many monsters as possible. At lower difficulty levels, the main goal is to defeat Apparition of Belial, as the chance of Spectral Ash dropping from normal monsters is low.

After reaching Torment 1 and above, the time required to reach the final battle will increase due to the increased difficulty. You can try to kill as many enemies as possible, because the chance of Spectral Ash dropping from normal monsters has increased, and killing monsters will bring you good benefits.

Try to participate in Belial battle. After killing Belial, you will be able to get a lot of Spectral Ash. If you don’t participate, you will lose it.

Torment 1 is the beginning of your Spectral Ash farming. Before this difficulty, you only need to participate in Apparition Incursions according to the requirements of the seasonal quests. Completing the seasonal questline may determine the time you spend in the Apparition Incursions. Farming Spectral Ash before Torment 1 is very inefficient, so don’t waste time on difficulties lower than Torment 1.

Learn More: How To Get Unique Items Faster In Diablo 4 Season 7?

The above is the general content of Apparition Incursions. Apparition Incursions will be the main content of the endgame activities for players on Season 8. This part of the content will definitely be related to seasonal tasks and seasonal reputation. Completing Apparition Incursion will definitely get more rewards, including gold, legendary items and precious materials.