Diablo Immortal faces legal inquiry over a ‘misleading’ Legendary gem

Lawyers from class action specialty firm Migliaccio & Rathod are looking for players who are upset about a particular Diablo ImmortalItem: The Blessing of the Worthy jewel. You could purchase the gem in game. There were bundles available that would cost as much as $100. Players discovered that the Legendary gem, a rare and powerful one, had some differences in how it was described. This made the gem less powerful than they originally expected.

Blizzard Entertainment changed the description of the item to clarify the damage scale. All players were also given in-game gems. Blizzard hasn’t changed the functionality of the gem, however. The problem is that players bought the Blessing of the Worthy gem via those bundles, expecting that the gem’s effect would have a 20% chance to do damage worth 12% of a player’s maximum life — something the original description promised. But in actuality, it’s a 20% chance to do damage worth 12% of a player’s Present life. If your current life is low, the gem won’t actually do much damage.

This might not have been a huge deal if the gem could be acquired for free, but players on social media have said they’ve bought the bundles, spending up to $100 and more for upgrades, specifically for the Blessing of the Worthy gem. Players have been clearly upset in forums and on social media, with some threatening a class action lawsuit due to the “misleading” text. Lawyers at Migliaccio & Rathod are apparently answering that call with an investigation into Diablo Immortal’s description of the gem, which it calls false advertising.

“This practice essentially amounts to a bait-and-switch, since a purchasable item was advertised with one effect that players wanted and ended up with something completely different,” lawyers said. Neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Migliaccio & Rathod have responded to Polygon’s request for comment.

Diablo ImmortalIt has been available since June 2022. However, the game received a lot criticism for its monetization strategy despite its huge downloads and million-dollar revenue. It was designed specifically for mobile, though it’s also on PC; it’s a free-to-play game with lots of things to buy through microtransactions — things you need, like gems, to maximize your character’s power.