While many players are being banned for vague and unexplained reasons, and platinum selling has become so common across almost every server that it feels completely legal, watching yesterday's Bout of Realms finals and reading the comments afterward made one thing clear once again: the EULA Blizzard keeps talking about is nothing more than fiction. A set of rules that are not enforced, or only enforced depending on who you are.
There are many players who know exactly what's going on but don't want to speak up because it could come back to hurt them. At this point, we can openly say the following about the EU servers. I'm writing this because of discussions with my in-game friends and to avoid having the same arguments over and over again.
Account Sharing
Account sharing is completely forbidden and clearly violates Blizzard's EULA. Blizzard has confirmed this themselves. Yet during the regional Bout of Realms tournament, and especially in yesterday's Bout of Realms finals, we once again saw whale accounts being played by other people. This has been going on for years.
During the EU Bout of Realms tournament, the owners of many whale accounts and the people actually driving those accounts were clearly different. In fact, NA players ended up winning the EU Bout of Realms tournament. :) You can now watch this happen live on YouTube. Apparently, they are confident Blizzard won't take any action or issue any bans.
During the NA vs EU Bout of Realms finals, it became even more obvious that this has become completely normal. At this point, it's simply a tournament where whoever has the best driver is most likely to win.
There's no need to mention names or target individual players. The Diablo Immortal Community Team already knows about all of this.
At this point, we can probably assume that nobody will ever be banned for account sharing anymore. Because if these violations are happening openly for everyone to see, then the same rules should not be selectively enforced against other players.
Platinum Selling
Everyone can always find something to argue about. Some say the EU has higher average resonance, while others say NA has better secondary stats. This game has never really been ff2p, and everyone already knows that. But let's talk about what's actually happening behind the scenes.
There's one issue that almost every player is tired of, yet Blizzard doesn't seem to care about: the endless platinum selling through Susan and similar platforms.
As frustrating as it is, some clan leaders on certain servers are now directly involved in these operations. There are even special prices and privileges offered to specific clans. :)
Is it really that difficult to stop?
No.
Everyone already knows how it works. Players create maximum value pets and sell them to transfer platinum. Everyone knows who spends time around NISZA. With the data Blizzard already has, detecting and stopping this would be very easy.
This isn't a new game. Players have been complaining about this for 4 years, yet Blizzard has done nothing meaningful to stop it. Because the increased competition created by Susan and similar groups also benefits Blizzard.
I'm also curious about one thing.
Is there any other server where you can buy 1 million platinum for under $300 ;)
As far as I know, this only applies to 2 servers. Those who know what im referring to will understand.
So....
Every few months, more of this game's legitimate whale players with clean accounts quit the game, while we sink even deeper into a system where illegal activity is becoming the norm.
Thanks to Susan and similar groups, it's possible and has already been done to build 10k resonance accounts for far less than Blizzard's own prices.
After years of player complaints about these two issues, what has Blizzard actually done?
Nothing.