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Diablo Immortal: Free 2 Play Guide

8/21/2022

Free 2 Play and You!

Since launch, and of this writing (8/21/22) I am at Paragon 154 on my Barbarian. I’ve probably done a bit of grinding now and then on certain days when I was trying to reach a goal of something early, but otherwise, I try to stick to just doing all of the daily items each day and stopping there. This will keep the game fun and a healthier play style that won’t take up all of your time.

I am currently running in a Shadow clan, so some of the items in my daily routine will be for Shadow clans only. The Immortal clans also have a set of extra daily activities as well, which I don’t know at this point, but will add in the future if we pick the Immortals at some point for our clan to follow.

I usually log out each play session at Rakkis Plaza Waypoint in Westmarch. This gives me the best starting point before I run off to do my daily quests and activities.

My current daily routine is focused on boosting my stats as much as I can for free, thus I am focusing on certain items and ignoring other items completely.

Better stats = more powerful character = play at higher levels = get better gear/rewards/etc

My Daily Routine

Setup

Log in
Click daily free item in store
Menu→Shop→Free Item
Accept the 3 quests from the Adventure Seeker
- Located to the Left of Rakkis Plaza Waypoint
Get free Crest from Elder Rift Entrance
- Located at the Palace Courtyard
Accept 4 bounties from the bounty board
- Located at the Palace Courtyard

Depending what items are showing in the Codex as 2x Featured events, do those first, then do the others in whatever order you want. Bounties are often at 2x battle points when I log in to play, so I do those as quickly as I can before it changes to something else.

If the event you are doing has a 2x battle point bonus in the Codex, make sure you immediately claim them when you have completed your goal. They rotate periodically, so you don’t want to wait to claim that particular activity as you may lose out on the bonus.

Go Forth!

Now that I have things to do, I go forth and doeth them!

Do 4 bounties
Do 3 quests
Turn in 4 bounties
Turn in 10 Monstrous Essence to Horadric Altar if you have them
- If you’re close to 10, just kill groups of mobs until you get 10, then go turn it all in at once for more efficient game play.
Accept next 4 bounties from the bounty board
Do 4 bounties
Turn in 4 bounties
Turn in 10 Monstrous Essence to Horadric Altar if you have them
- If you’re close to 10, just kill groups of mobs until you get 10, then go turn it all in at once for more efficient game play.
Hidden Lairs
- While out doing the above activities, if you come across any hidden lairs, click on them and get at least a 2-person party to do them (for Hell 1-2, Hell 3+ requires 4 players)
- Hidden Lairs often reward lots of normal gems for completing various quests inside of them
  - These gems are not sell-able, so use them for stat upgrades!
- While waiting for someone to join your party, click on Menu→ Party Finder→ Create Post
  - This will create a Party Finder post about your hidden lair.
  - People will be able to join this pretty quickly as many often check this menu
- As soon as you have another person to start the hidden lair with, then start it. It’s often not worth waiting for a full party
Do Elder Rift(s)
- Do minimum Elder Rifts to meet any Codex 2x requirements for max payout. Often you can do up to 8x Elder Rifts that you can claim for 2x battle points each in the Codex. Do make sure you claim each one after finishing each rift, as again, the 2x bonus rotates or expires after a period of time and you may miss out if you save them all up to claim at once.
- Make sure to just mass break down all your junk items before leaving the rift (time saver). It’s faster than visiting the blacksmith in town.
- If you have time to wait, then get in a 4 player party. You are often rewarded with normal gems at the end. You can then sell these gems on the market for platinum in order to save up for the 5-star legendary gems.

Invites for anything

Accept any invites for events that you will benefit from, but only if you have time and are not in the middle of something else.
Only join the group if you are not in the middle of something, it’s very rude to make the party wait while you finish your tasks.
Skip invites for those big 4-person chests that randomly show up. They are not worth waiting around for and rarely reward you with anything worth the wait.
Skip invites where someone is requesting you to join them at a location. All invites for events or raids don’t require you to join the person at their location.
If you are able to, try to join all invites from fellow clan members, you would want them to do the same. Sometimes people just need help or need to complete something and you may be their only option to do so.

Events

Click on Menu→ Events (left side graphical blocks on screen)
Do all relevant events for maximum loot.
Make sure loot is worth it before taking the time to grind out events.
- For example, as of this writing, there are 3 events going on. Two of them reward you with just gold and a few raw materials with each goal. These may not be worth going out of your way to do unless you just want to. This one to me is not worth spending time on.
- One of them rewards you with hilts and a cosmetic item. This one is worth completing.
Occasionally an event has some kind of social media link at the end of it. Once in a while you get rewards for these. Instead of spamming social media or all of your friends, just be selective in who you send the link to, letting them know it’s just for getting a free thing in your game.

Back In Town…

Once I have finished playing for the day, I spend some time doing maintenance. This includes visiting most of the vendor and checking a few menus for various achievements or other rewards that were granted while playing.

I kind of do most of these in one big loop for efficiency sake.

Fading Embers and Runes

Spend all Fading Embers at Cellik’s shop on FA runes.
Fading Embers and Runes vendor located at the Palace Courtyard
You can convert things much later on once you accumulate a ton of them. For dailies though, I only buy the FA runes.

Iben Fahd's Sanctum

Kill all the mobs for a chance at free Aspirant’s Keys
For best optimization of opening the chests at the end, this video states to open all the chests in the first room only every day, then exit. Keep saving all remaining keys until you have 377 to open all the chests in the entire Sanctum.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X980SI8lD6U&t=58s
Once you have enough culling stones to upgrade a vessel, do so. Focus first on upgrading the vessels that have the stats you need the most.

Hilts Trader

Visit Liutenant Fizriah, located near the Immortal Overlook Waypoint
General Tab
- Buy Legendary Crest (1 per month)
- Buy Daily Aspirant’s Key limit (5 per day)
- Buy Normal Gem Limit (10 per week, buy a few a day as you are able to)
- Buy Simple Charm (3 per week). Buy one per day or as you are able to. It’s important to get the Aspirant’s keys first
Immortals Tab
- I’ve not been in an Immortals clan yet, so I can’t speak into its offerings
Limited Time Tab
- Buy Normal Gem
Tips
- Buy Crests if you have the extra hilts, they will get you Fading Embers with each Elder Rift as well as chances for random Legendary Gem drops. Even the regular Crests can randomly drop Legendary Gems.
- Only buy reforge stones if you have extra hilts and you plan to immediately use them on a piece of gear to roll a better stat. Only buy as many as you need to get a slightly better stat. You can go broke buying too many. The Hilts are better spent on Keys and Normal Gems than rolling in one more stat on a piece of gear.

Legendary Items

Identifier

Visit identifier to identify any legendary items.
Located to the left of the Rakkis Plaza Waypoint

Essence Transfer

Visit Zamina (Essence Transfer vendor) on any gear you won't be using
Break down any remaining legendary gear at the Blacksmith (we'll get to that further down)

Charms

Charms and Skill Stones are basically P2P items in Diablo Immortal. Don’t get caught up in spending resources trying to get these perfect. It’s not going to happen. Grand charms are a waste for F2P players and can only be effectively upgraded by spending money. Instead, focus on creating grand charms, converting them to skill stones, and then selling them for platinum!

Charm Craftman

Visit Vas (Charm Craftman) to break down, upgrade or turn charms into skill stones to sell
- Located to the left of the Rakkis Plaza Waypoint
Simple Charms
- Only wear one simple charm for the skill that means the most to you.
- Keep a couple simple charms of skills your character uses. Use these as the base simple charm to upgrade to grand charms. You may get lucky and get one with multiple skills you can actually use.
- Break all other simple charms down to raw materials (Alchemical Powder in this case) to use for making grand charms.
Grand Charms
- Use a simple charm of a skill you use and start upgrading it to a grand charm. If you get lucky and get one with multiple skills for your character, congrats, you got a free upgrade. Otherwise, continue on.
Skill Stones
- Extract a grand charm into a skill stone. This will cost 500 platinum. This may seem scary when you don’t have a lot of platinum as a F2P player, but this will be multiplied very quickly.

Sell Skill Stones

Visit Dya (the Market vendor)
- Located in the north side of Rakkis Plaza
Sell your skill stones for max platinum (2500).
If they don’t sell, then relist them at the lower suggested amount.
Listing them slightly lower than the suggested lower amount almost guarantees a quick sale.
Enjoy the platinum! You will need lots of Platinum for the 5-star legendary gems.

Blacksmith

Visit Charsi the Blacksmith
- Located on the west side of Rakki’s Plaza
If you have enough materials for any gear upgrades, upgrade what you can.
Tips
- Focus on upgrading all your main gear to level 6 to gain an extra skill buff.
- Once all of your main gear is level 6, then focus on getting one at a time to level 11 for a 2nd extra skill buff.
- Upgrade secondary gear as able
While at the Blacksmith, refine any Scoria if you have completed any Helliquary raids recently.

Gems

Visit Apprentice Jeweler for any gem upgrades
- Located on the west side of Rakki’s Plaza
Normal Gems
- Sell any sell-able gems on the market.
  - These are worth more in platinum vs using them for your own stat boosts.
- Upgrade any normal gems you can.
- Upgrade any of the normal gems in any of your gear.
  - You may need to remove a gem from a piece of gear if it makes a 3rd gem needed to upgrade two others in storage. This will also free up a slot to equip yet another gem.
Legendary Gems
- Craft any legendary gems to break down to upgrade other legendary gems with later
- Use FA runes to craft 1-2 star (or random if you’re feeling lucky) legendary gems.
- If it’s not one you will be using, sel it on the market for platinum.

Helliquary

Click Menu→ Helliquary
If you’ve done any Helliquary raids recently, and refined any Scoria at the blacksmith, then check this menu for any Trophy upgrades.
If you’re not in the middle of something, do these whenever invited to do them

Battle Pass

I can’t stress how much it is worth it to log in each day to do daily activities. This leads to Codex activities being completed, which leads to battle points being awarded to level up the Battle Pass.
Completing the first battle pass for me rewarded me with the Fervent Fang legendary gem, which added a lot of power to my character. Subsequent battle pass completions will give you more Fervent Fang gems which you will need in order to level your first one up past certain levels.
The other rewards are with it as well. The Hilts and Normal Gems are useful for more stat boosts, or turning into platinum later on. The crests are useful for their purpose too.
Should you pay $5 for the Empowered Pass? This is totally up to you. Are the bonus cosmetics worth $5 to you, as well as the extra rewards?
If you're trying to finish off a few more battle pass activities that require parties, then simply drop down to Normal difficulty, and you can just solo them all. Granted, you will make very little experience or rewards, but you will complete them quicker without waiting for a party and get those battle points faster. Just make sure to switch back to your preferred difficulty when done.

Shadow Activities

Contracts

Accept the daily contract from Bartender Bailey
Located at the Wolf City Tavern
I just choose Solo contracts for myself
Complete the contract, and turn back into Bartender Bailey

Assembly

Attend the daily assembly from 6-8pm Eastern
You get rewarded with up to 12 Aspirant Keys

Raid the Vault

You get hilts from opening chests inside the Vaults
If you make it to the last room, and everyone bails because the Immortals are entering, then just ignore all mobs and speed run the rest of the vault. Open all chests and grab the remaining Hilts, then just let the Immortals kill you at the end.

Cycles Turns/ends (whatever it's called)

Once a month between each cycle, the Historical Archivist (near the Immortal Overlook Waypoint) will offer all players Cycles Spoils (random good rewards) for the week leading up to the next cycle starting. Rewards can be legendary gear, hilts and other items. It’s worth checking each day during these weeks for chances at good rewards.

In Conclusion...

This may seem like a lot, but I can complete most of this in about an hour on most days. Extra events and challenges will add time, but the main daily events take about an hour a day.

I hope this helps in figuring out what to do as a free player. I know once I got a routine down, it really helped me focus and get things done quicker. Remember, only play to have fun. It’s not worth the grind if you’re not enjoying it.

I will try to update this article as I find new tips and tricks for us F2P players!

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Diablo Immortal: Real World Costs pt 1

8/21/2022

1 Comment

Real World Costs Part 1: Conversion Rates

Conversion Rates

First and foremost let's explain the conversion rates.

To figure out real world costs, we will be converting $USD→Orbs→Platinum→Hilts

For the purpose of this article, all monetary values will be in $USD.

Orbs

When spending real money in the Diablo Immortal Shop (Shop for short), you will first need to purchase Eternal Orbs (orbs for short). From here you will be able to purchase a few high end items from the Shop, and then convert the rest to Platinum for other things.

As of this writing (7/24/2022), orbs currently show for sale in the following amounts below:

After averaging each different bundle with its discount, we find that an orb costs $.015

Platinum

Next we move down to Platinum, or just plat for short. Plat is only used to purchase items in the Market.

Platinum has one easy to convert rate across it’s range.
50 orbs = 500 plat
1 orb = 10 plat
10 plat = $.015
1 plat = $.0015

Platinum is obtained by completing various activities in the Codex or by selling items in the Market.

Hilts

Next we have hilts, which are earned for free from various activities, events and by just playing the game. Hlts are only used to purchase items from the Hilts Trader.

This conversion seemed a bit of a stretch, but then I was able to confirm it with a direct comparison between the Hilts Trader and the Shop afterward. I always like to have multiple points of conversion for rates that are not as straightforward.

At the Hilts Trader, 1 charm is 100 hilts, so 5 charms would be 500 hilts. So far we have:
5 charms = 500 hilts

At the Charm Craftsman, converting 5 charms into a grand charm, and then converting it to a skill stone costs 500 plat. So now we have:
5 charms = 500 hilts = 1 grand charm = 500 plat
500 hilts = 500 plat
1 hilt = 1 plat = $.0015

To check that this calculation is actually valid, we can also use this information to verify it.

In the Shop, 1 legendary crest costs 160 orbs.
At the Hilts Trader, 1 legendary crest costs 1600 hilts.

We can use this information to compare between the value of Orbs, which we know, and also using what we think is the value of hilts from the conversion above.

160 orbs = $2.24, using the original conversion from $USD to orbs
1600 hilts = $2.24, using the method above

Gold

Gold has no monetary value at all. It’s used for upgrade costs of items and gems as well as used for gambling at the Rarities and Antiquities vendor.

I thought I might be able to link gold to charms from gambling for jewelry, but jewelry was only neck and fingers, which charms are neither, even though it shows a charm in that section on the vendor.

Fading Embers and Runes

Fading Embers is yet one more currency used to trade with Cellik, the Fading Embers and Runes trader. Fading Embers are used for crafting legendary gems, one of the most expensive items in the game. Since you can sell crafted gems, then fading embers and runes also have some value as well, but it would be difficult to determine this value.

Since the market goes up and down on value for various gems, and some gems are worth more than others, but still created using the same runes, it would again be difficult to put a value on these items.

Conversion Rate Chart

Here is my spreadsheet chart of the conversion rates that I calculated out. I will update this if things change over time. Sometimes during a game's first few updates, the conversion rates and money markets in the game may fluctuate until settling in for the long haul.

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Blahg

Diablo Immortal: Free 2 Play Guide

Free 2 Play and You!

My Daily Routine

Diablo Immortal Real World Costs pt 2

Real World Costs Part 2: What do Items Cost?

Diablo Immortal: Real World Costs pt 1

Real World Costs Part 1: Conversion Rates

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