Warlords of Draenor - Scouting Report
  • Purchasing Warlords of Draenor will give you one free boost to level 90 right away.
  • Blizzard will be testing allowing you to purchase a character upgrade directly.
  • Warlords of Draenor will be available for pre-purchase digitally Soon™.
  • Both Standard and Digital Deluxe editions will be available, along with a physical collector's edition.
  • Purchasing the Digital Deluxe edition will give you a pet and mount right away.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
It’s the New Year, and 2014 is going to be a big one for World of Warcraft. This November marks the game’s 10-year anniversary and the 20-year anniversary of the entire Warcraft series. We’re looking forward to celebrating these milestones with everyone, but in the meantime, we’ve got a few Warlords of Draenor–related updates to share.

Preparing for Battle
At BlizzCon, we laid out our plans to send you into battle against some of the biggest and baddest enemies in Warcraft history. While the Iron Horde gears up for war on Draenor, back here on earth we’re making preparations for the expansion’s upcoming closed beta test. If you’d like to be considered, now’s a great time to make sure you’re opted in to Warcraft betas and that the hardware specs in your Beta Profile are up to date. (Full instructions can be found here.)


Report from the Front Lines
From the outset, players will find themselves hurled into a chaotic conflict with the Iron Horde at a new Dark Portal on Draenor. The situation for Azeroth is grim, and the war effort needs heroes—from new recruits to retired champions to warriors still tending wounds earned at the Siege of Orgrimmar. To get everyone straight to the action, when you buy the expansion, it will come with a boost to level 90 for one character on your WoW account. We’re getting ready to test the functionality for that on the PTR, and we wanted to provide a quick update on how it will work with the upcoming expansion presales.

Warlords of Draenor will be available for pre-purchase digitally Soon™, and we’re once again planning to have standard digital and Digital Deluxe versions (along with a physical Collector’s Edition—more on that at a later date). This time, if you pre-purchase the Digital Deluxe edition you’ll get your exclusive World of Warcraft pet and mount right away, allowing you to bring a little bit of Draenor past into Azeroth present.

In addition, when you pre-purchase either digital version, we’re going to grant you your level-90 boost at the time of pre-purchase. That’s a little different from the plan we laid out at BlizzCon, but based on the feedback, it’s obvious that many of you would like the chance to get acquainted with a new class before heading into the expansion. This will also give more players the opportunity to experience the current end-game content and the events leading up to Garrosh’s exodus to Draenor. Maybe you’ll get your Legendary cloak from Wrathion and level 90–100 Heirloom weapon in the process.


Bolster the Ranks
We’ve also heard feedback from players that they’d be interested in boosting multiple characters to 90, including alts they play with friends on other factions and realms. We’ve been evaluating ways to make that possible without having players go through roundabout methods (such as purchasing multiple boxes and performing multiple character transfers), and in the near future we’ll be testing out a feature that gives you the option to purchase a character upgrade directly. We’ll have more information to share later—including details on our character-upgrade plans for Asian regions where players don’t buy expansion boxes—but you’ll start seeing pieces of the process soon on the PTR, so keep an eye out.

We’re looking forward to the closed beta test, and we’re excited we’re able to give players their character boost immediately upon pre-purchasing—hopefully that will help tide you over while you’re waiting for the epic battle for Draenor to begin. Stay tuned for more information on presales and our beta plans, and we hope you’ll join in and help us test this stuff out when it hits the PTR.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Warlords of Draenor- Scouting Report started by chaud View original post
Comments 292 Comments
  1. Feali's Avatar
    Finally some beta news! And I don't mind the purchasable level 90 character. I just want a way to also get it early if I physically buy the Collector's Edition.
  1. Melchior's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Veceva View Post
    Buying level 90s doesn't bother me, most people don't know how to play their class anyway. Hell, I'd be surprised if the tutorial didn't make some people better than the average person playing a new class at 90. (Assuming the tutorial isn't just completely useless and at least has a basic rotation and such, though I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.)
    Agreed. Anything learned from mobs that die in a couple of hits won't be correct anyways. Skilled players don't need x levels of demolishing trash to be any good, and bad players learn nothing regardless.

    Personally, I feel this is all great news.

    Game is old guys; some of us just want to get to what's relevant and skip the ever increasing legacy material. Those that don't, well, don't! It's optional and not recommended for NEW players (not to be confused with returning/veteran players).
  1. Chingylol's Avatar
    They need to sell level 100's next Xpac. That's where the money will be.
  1. Toffie's Avatar
    Buying 90 is probaly the main reason I'll give this game another shot.
    Leveling is probaly the most boring imagineable thing you could ever do.
  1. geewhiz80's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mkgego View Post
    Lvl 90 for r.m ?

    Naaa thx it´s already a joke to lvl up to 90.
    /played total 2 days, not worth to purchase that , let´s see the next microtransaction they come with, i guess it will be some kind of valor//jp//honor//conquest point double exp win rate or some thing for lazzy pple
    I don't think anyone has claimed leveling to be difficult for quite some time now. I personally don't buy anything from the bnet store, but if someone wants to spend money to get max level of the previous expansion, why should I care? I have a group of friends/guild-mates that I play with so random baddies (not saying I'm the best, but there are lots of people both better and worse at WoW than me.) are only very rarely encountered.
  1. mmoc1615415e70's Avatar
    On the right path Blizzard! Keep it up!
  1. Sealbinder's Avatar
    If people want to level 90s fine it will not stop it. If people want to buy them, also fine, it is their money. Some people like leveling, some people don't. However having a 90 does not mean you know how to play the class. It just means you have a higher level character.

    Really in the end, it does not affect my game-play one way or another so I really can't seem to get upset about people being able to toss money Blizzards way.
  1. Kon's Avatar
    Kudos to Blizzard they really know how to ease & implement the micro transaction & services onto the game without making a big mess & chaos. It was kind of obvious they will offer that service since the day they announced the lvl boost came with the expansion.
  1. mmocc39820a35d's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Toffie View Post
    Buying 90 is probaly the main reason I'll give this game another shot.
    Leveling is probaly the most boring imagineable thing you could ever do.
    Except many players myself included really enjoy leveling.
  1. druvirus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Veceva View Post
    Buying level 90s doesn't bother me, most people don't know how to play their class anyway. Hell, I'd be surprised if the tutorial didn't make some people better than the average person playing a new class at 90. (Assuming the tutorial isn't just completely useless and at least has a basic rotation and such, though I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.)
    I agree completely. A lot of people who have leveled up tons are STILL playing their class/spec the same way they have since Vanilla .. which is the wrong way to do things. At least with this method players are forced to learn how to properly play newly revamped classes. I wonder if this training ground for classes can be accessed for all the baddies currently out there.
  1. Talonkaine's Avatar
    Blizzard... I've always supported everything you have done, but being able to purchase level 90 boosts makes me very angry.

    If you look at my account I am about to have 16 level 90 characters... working towards having 22 characters.. 11 from each faction, covering one of each race. This is my goal before WoD. I've been working on leveling all these toons since Vanilla WoW. I've spend hundred and hundreds of dollars with race and faction changes to get my toons on the sames servers and factions. When I get all 11 classes on both Horde and Alliance this will be a great accomplishment that people may find rather impressive for the amount of time that was involved.

    However, come the near future as you say... someone with a big pocket book can purchase and achieve what has take me YEARS to accomplish. This to me is a huge sell out, and just another way for the company to make a quick buck. Not to mention a HUGE kick in my private parts. Even if they were $100+ per level 90 character I am still against this feature being added.

    Please do not ruin this game.
  1. mmoc8e13fe598c's Avatar
    How do they dish out the beta invites I've been playing for years 8/9 I know that doesn't make anymore of a fan then a newer player. player but it would be nice to be considered for the beta.
  1. Slirith's Avatar
    The second picture is beautiful imo
  1. Melchior's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rekkuza View Post
    Except many players myself included really enjoy leveling.
    You can still level, promise.
  1. Adema1080's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rekkuza View Post
    Except many players myself included really enjoy leveling.
    Ok, so don't buy a 90 and continue to level your characters. Many players hate the leveling process. Especially after they've done the content countless times.
  1. geewhiz80's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dannypoos View Post
    How do they dish out the beta invites I've been playing for years 8/9 I know that doesn't make anymore of a fan then a newer player. player but it would be nice to be considered for the beta.
    If it holds true from previous expansions, they pick at random from everyone that is opt-ed in for beta testing. They invite people in waves over the course of the beta, and eventually let quite a lot of people in before the beta ends.
  1. Asphyxiate9's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dannypoos View Post
    How do they dish out the beta invites I've been playing for years 8/9 I know that doesn't make anymore of a fan then a newer player. player but it would be nice to be considered for the beta.
    Uncommon PC specs most of the time
  1. Mormolyce's Avatar
    Not to QQ but as someone who collects the actual CE boxes I kind of feel a bit second class to the digital CE... couldn't they set up some kind of deal where you get the digital CE online and pick up the physical box from local retailers separately?

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Coleslaw View Post
    In before the QQ.

    Letting people buy 90's is fine. WoW is an old game, some of us have been playing for years. It's just not fun leveling anymore. (6 90's here)
    Agree.

    -13 90s, 6 85s plus change
  1. geewhiz80's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    Not to QQ but as someone who collects the actual CE boxes I kind of feel a bit second class to the digital CE... couldn't they set up some kind of deal where you get the digital CE online and pick up the physical box from local retailers separately?
    Hell they could even setup some kind of deal with ups/fedex/etc where they sell it digitally, you get the codes, and then the shipping company brings you the box in a few days. I do know that the boxes aren't manufactured at blizzard's h.q. Doesn't mean they couldn't arrange something like that.
  1. Otaka's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nikkaszal View Post
    Hell no, this game is so old that the majority of players have levelled up multiple characters.

    I've got 7 90's. I'm now interested in seeing what rogues are like at max level. But I cannot stomach going through the grind again.
    but then again... there are thousands of people who just began playing and only have one or none 90s.

    I know one person in my facebook group who just began playing wow before christmas, and now hes around level 60 enjoying every bit of it.

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