Be careful to not buy add ons instead of actual games in the PS-Store

This is something that kind of ticked me off the other day in the PS Store. I don't often buy games because we have access to so many "free" ones with our yearly membership to PS-Plus Extra but sometimes there are games that are popular enough that they are not going to offer them for free for a long time if they ever do that at all. One of the games that I have a soft spot for is Diablo - just in a general sense.

Now I know that everyone just LOVES Path of Exile 2 but I am not one of those people. I've played it, a lot. The difficulty spikes and connectivity issues even though you are playing 1-player is more than I am willing to deal with. I bailed on that months ago because I am not trying to have such a frustrating experience of getting 1-shotted by a boss after waltzing through the entire dungeon leading up to said boss.

Anyway, I have never played Diablo 4 and was really looking forward to it when I noticed that Diablo 4, or so it appeared, was on sale for $30.

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For people that have been along for the ride since the very start this might seem like a jackass move on my part but I've never played the game before, I don't know what to look for, and it was being offered to me on my "deals" page so I just presumed that it was a game. As it turns out there is indication that it is an "add on" and no the full game, but this is not very obvious as it is "hidden" in the game description and does not pop up as DLC in the main page nor is it in its own section that is normally reserved for add-ons.

Also, the main game was not featured on the page at all... you know, the one that is REQUIRED in order to be able to play the DLC???

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If I log in on my computer, which is located ALL THE WAY on the other side of the room of my PS5, it doesn't even offer me the option of purchasing the DLC unless I already have the main game in my library, which is the way it should be. However, from the actual Playstation menu all sorts of things are offered that if you do buy them, which I foolishly did, you can't even use it because you don't have the base game.

I can't help but feel as though this is done intentionally so that you get all excited about your new Diablo 4 and go to fire it up only to discover that you have to spend an additional $70 in order to play a DLC that you did not need and probably at least initially don't even want.

When I found this out the PS5 menu conveniently redirected me towards the page to buy the base game that I couldn't even find, even with a manual search, before this happened. Why were they hiding the base game? Why was the indication that the other one, the Vessel of Hatred, not clearly marked as and add on?

I wasn't going to spend $100 on a single game so I went after a refund. Thankfully, this was easily accomplished and even though they tried to "guilt trip" me a bit about seeking a refund, I hadn't played even a single minute of the game (because I couldn't) and therefore they immediately issued a full refund without any delay. They did kind of warn me about how they will not always do this but I think this is BS.

I'm a bit peeved that they have this sort of tricky, perhaps devious, method of marketing in their official store because like a lot of people when I am considering a game I don't read the fine print, I watch a video or two, look at the reviews and then make a decision. I don't like to be "tricked" into making a massive purchase and this kind of puts me off towards Blizzard and perhaps Sony as well if I am being honest. Attempting to trick me into buying something is a fantastic way to lose me, permanently, as a customer.

I would imagine that there are people out there that would buy the base game after accidentally purchasing a DLC by accident, but that kind of person is not me. I am hesitant to pay even $30 for a game, let alone $70 or even worse, $100.

So just be warned all you fine people out there: It appears as though Sony and Blizzard are either making a massive oversight by offering this to you at all, or they are knowingly attempting to rope people into making a purchase that they can't even use unless they spend quite a lot more money.