No matter how good Diablo 4 is, fans can’t help but roll their eyes at the absurd cost attached to some of the game’s microtransactions. It turns out that these in-game purchases were almost a lot cheaper, but internal factors within the company prevented that from happening, resulting in the game’s exorbitantly priced cosmetics.

This isn’t the first time fans have shared their displeasure with Blizzard’s ARPG. Vessel of Hatred, the first expansion for Diablo 4, has proven to be very buggy on launch, although not all are Blizzard’s fault. Nevertheless, the high asking price for some microtransactions nearly cover the price of Diablo’s latest expansion, and they almost didn’t.

Diablo 4 almost had a better launch

A report from PC Gamer covering Jason Shreier’s new Blizzard-focused exposé Play Nice, reveals that former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra wanted to make some major changes to the company’s games. One of those proposed changes was to lessen the amount of microtransactions in Diablo 4, but Ybarra didn’t get to make that happen.

Blizzard fans know that Ybarra left the company back in January being unable to make any of the changes he wanted to make in this ARPG. Cheaper microtransactions aside, Ybarra also wanted to reboot the Overwatch series which would have led to an interesting future for the hero shooter.

What could have been

It’s a shame that Ybarra couldn’t make these changes, since fans would have loved less of these microtransactions in Diablo 4. Fans have been critical about Activision’s various live-service games focusing so much on microtransactions, so finding out someone was trying to fix that is depressing.

Even with all of that, many players are still enjoying Vessel of Hatred for what it is. Starting the expansion campaign might be difficult for some, but players who get to dive into it are having a good time. Many are also enjoying the new Spiritborn character class trying to make the best build for it.

For more on Diablo 4, check out how long this new campaign is. Players can also check out the game’s quest list here.