Reason's behind disgust at 60$ for level 90 chars

[Randec]

Pointless me writing down my thoughts when Preach has said everything here. I agree with everything he says in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrRYv7fxgE

That guy is so completely off base. He justifies the price blizzard is charging by comparing it to the price people charge on the "black market". The reason there's no comparison is blizzard has the option to instantly boost you to 90 with hardly any trouble, and a black market service would have to level it by hand over the course of hours/days. Are people really this ignorant regarding the situation at hand?

[Navitas]

That guy is so completely off base. He justifies the price blizzard is charging by comparing it to the price people charge on the "black market". The reason there's no comparison is blizzard has the option to instantly boost you to 90 with hardly any trouble, and a black market service would have to level it by hand over the course of hours/days. Are people really this ignorant regarding the situation at hand?

He's comparing different services. One black market, one provided by Blizz. Yes Blizz have the option to just change the code and make you 90 but that's not the point. They could change the code for your char and give you everything that's every been in the game.

And that's not his only point but well done for cherry picking the bit that helps your argument.

The main point of the argument is the value people put on their time. 72 hours (approx. average time to level 1 - 90, no RAF) of free time for us working stiffs is a lot. A hell of a lot. So paying a relatively small amount of money (small in regard to the amount of time saved) seems like a good idea. Having an instant 90 doesn't break your game experience, you still have to gear, raid, etc. I remember 6 years ago when I was first levelling and all people said was "the game starts at 70 (max level)" having an instant 90 just gets you to the "start" of the game faster.

And of course there's a comparison as the end result to the customer is EXACTLY the same. Who gives a shit what the method is, the outcome is the same (money spent = level 90 character through zero effort).

[Nihth]

That guy is so completely off base. He justifies the price blizzard is charging by comparing it to the price people charge on the "black market". The reason there's no comparison is blizzard has the option to instantly boost you to 90 with hardly any trouble, and a black market service would have to level it by hand over the course of hours/days. Are people really this ignorant regarding the situation at hand?

He also said the average lvling time 1-90 was 2 months, which is 30 usd. Blizzard lets them pay double that to skip it. The guy paying gets to skip the content, which depending on who you are is cheap or expensive. But still, Blizzard is the one setting the time for how long it takes to lvl. They could set the prize to 30usd and be even, or 35-40 and still not lose money on it.

[Randec]

He's comparing different services. One black market, one provided by Blizz. Yes Blizz have the option to just change the code and make you 90 but that's not the point. They could change the code for your char and give you everything that's every been in the game.

And that's not his only point but well done for cherry picking the bit that helps your argument.

That's what he went on and on about for the first half. Then I shut it off. I wasn't impressed with his lack of insight. You're apparently getting angry with me for saying something, and then turning around and saying the same thing as me, with different words.

The main point of the argument is the value people put on their time. 72 hours (approx. average time to level 1 - 90, no RAF) of free time for us working stiffs is a lot. A hell of a lot. So paying a relatively small amount of money (small in regard to the amount of time saved) seems like a good idea. Having an instant 90 doesn't break your game experience, you still have to gear, raid, etc. I remember 6 years ago when I was first levelling and all people said was "the game starts at 70 (max level)" having an instant 90 just gets you to the "start" of the game faster.

And of course there's a comparison as the end result to the customer is EXACTLY the same. Who gives a shit what the method is, the outcome is the same (money spent = level 90 character through zero effort).

You're assuming I think the level boost is a bad idea. I don't. I just think it should be much cheaper. I think xp should be boosted in the low level zones or they be changed in some way, because everyone pretty much agrees that they suck.

If he thinks it's a good deal that's whatever. You can estimate the amount of time it takes to hit 90. Subtract the bathroom and food breaks. Multiply that by how boring the low level content is. And then divide it all by how many people think world pvp is fun anymore. 60 dollars is still too much money. It's the price of a game. I'm not going to pay for a game, pay for the xpacs, pay for a sub, and then pay the full retail price of a game not to play the boring parts of that game!

[toomes211]

If they wanted to limit how many toons people took to 90 in a certain amount of time they could, you know, limit the amount of toons people could boost to 90 in a certain amount of time. Charging a ridiculous fee for it is the least efficient, fair, and profitable way to do it.

While this argument sounds fine in theory, I have to say it would only promote using third party services more. Once someone has purchased a level boost from blizzard, it's a lot easier to justify going to an illegal website. "Well, blizzard sells it, so this must be fine." Of course the issue with third party account services is not the services themselves generally, it's the resulting account compromises from using them.

I've seen them do excessively long cooldowns on services, and to be honest, I would only be okay with it if it came WITH the high price tag. A long CD (read, 3 months) only promotes people to purchase them on cooldown. Especially if the price then becomes a non-issue in most cases, such as about 10 dollars or so. Of course, between CD's people might still buy them.

Dunno. Not a service i'm a fan of, or will be using, but honestly I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like it's going to affect me in any meaningful way.

[Jarlathe]

They also can't just go back and boost EXP in every zone. You would literally outlevel the zone in the first few quests. It's another poor solution; granting very little attachment to a char since you put so little into it. Honestly, the only way to significantly improve the leveling experience is to totally overhaul it. And like I said earlier, we all saw the reaction last time they did that.

This is a great point, and I really think it needs to be highlighted.

Blizzard has done this time and time again. Boosting XP gains at lower levels and this is, IMHO, is what has truly ruined the levelling. It is impossible, even without heirlooms and guild XP boosts, to finish a zone before it goes totally grey. Add in that some of the story lines that have been removed were very good, and took you between Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms to complete, not to mention several levels to complete, and then rewarded you with some rare gear the could last you another 5 or so levels... Now we are left with a very liner story and quest lines, that do not span zones or even take you into dungeons anymore.

Yeah, I'd rather just skip it all now.

[Mermaid]

I refuse to give you any more money Blizzard.

[tohyatvc]

The purpose of this thread is to help understand why some people are crying out about this (possible) number for the cost. I personally think it is a reasonable price for the amount of content that you are skipping.

Hahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahahah

The OP tells you all you need to know about how retarded this is.

You are paying monthly for a game, and you're also paying money to skip content.

Most people pay money to enjoy content in a game.

But Blizzard? They're convincing people to pay monthly, AND pay money to skip content!

Wow.

[scvd]

1-85 is very trivial and 85-90 is tedious, it's not a difficult or long process. If you don't want to spend minimal time levelling, you probably won't spend $60 either.

[jellmoo]

So in a universe constricted by finite resources they can't buff experience gained in low level zones? They bring in more money than most small countries per year. Don't tell me they have inadequate resources.

Because they do? They are limited in what they can do. They have X amount of people dedicated to X amount of tasks. They have X amount of space, taken up by both people and equipment. They have X amount of people recruiting. They have X amount of people in the area that are of the right quality, willing to move jobs, and join a growing team that could shrink later.

You make it sound simple. It is not. They are a publicly traded company and therefore have limited headcount which has to be reported back to shareholders. They have limited resources. It's not like they can just magically make the massive amount of people needed just appear.

Ok, so let's put those 4 old movies at the beginning of the next one. And then charge you to fast forward through them.

Yes, because that's the same thing.

Oh yeah, I forgot about all those super fun raids and other content they've patched in. lol

I don't understand your point? Are you saying that you don't enjoy the content they've added to the game? Because an awful lot of people actually do...

What other MMO uses all three?

What other MMO is even remotely like WoW or has anywhere near the same level of experience and success? Look at other walks of life like cable companies, mobile companies, etc...

Oh, well as long as they're trying, no matter how ineffectively.

Explain. Explain A) Why it is that their efforts are meaningless, and B) Why you claim it is ineffective. Realms have more players in them at a wider array of levels. It isn't exactly ineffective.

If what I said wasn't remotely true, why did you repeat it?

Because you said something different? You said that you aren't paying for X. That is incorrect. That's why it isn't true.

[rhorle]

finally someone who gets it. the "deterrent" excuse thrown around by blizzard brown nosers is complete bullshit. they want people to purchase as many fucking 90s as they want, otherwise they wouldn't allow it

It is, but not for the reasons you state. The price is set at what it would cost to do the boost through buying a New Account, WoD, and merging them. Exactly what Blizzard said they were offering the boosts for. Its funny how people forget all of that when it comes to the reason for the price. And instead bring out their latest hate or fan filled reasoning.

- - - Updated - - -

If they wanted to limit how many toons people took to 90 in a certain amount of time they could, you know, limit the amount of toons people could boost to 90 in a certain amount of time. Charging a ridiculous fee for it is the least efficient, fair, and profitable way to do it.

And then people would just buy a new account and WoD and merge it with their existing account. That would enable them to get a free boost to 90 while working around your cool down. And would invalidate the reason why the boost exists individually in the first place, so people didn't have to do that to get a boost.

[Drilnos]

Not only has it happened, but it's being defended to the death. I've never seen a group of people so happy to be ripped off for years.

If you don't buy it, you're not being ripped off. And it costs as much as a new game because if they didn't make it a paid service, people would get level 90 boosts by buying new copies of the game, using the free boost, and then performing an account transfer. Which costs about as much as a new game. Being as I like the idea of getting one free boost, the steps they take to support that decision - removing some load from the account transfers and extra accounts floating around - are things I will live with. Happily.

[RickJamesLich]

Not only has it happened, but it's being defended to the death. I've never seen a group of people so happy to be ripped off for years.

Lol at the people saying "it's so expensive to deter people from abusing it" - Oh please, if they didn't want people using the service they wouldn't have put it in in the first place, or they would have added some sort of cool down on your account. They want you to use it, multiple times over, they just want full price of a new game for it. if blizzard cared about their game at all they would completely overhaul the WAY leveling and combat works to make it interesting and relevant like so many other games have but, that would cost them money so.... fuck the quality and health of the game. Let's milk this player base.

As for me... my thinking is this:
Hrm ... level through boring stale 10 year old content to reach the "new" (and I use the term very loosely) stuff, pay 60 dollars (the price of a brand new game) to skip the boring old stuff and get to the "new" stuff, or take that 60 dollars and buy a completely new game and have a 100 percent new experience.

I'll pick option C. As in C you later blizzard. I refuse to give you any more money.

I agree with this, I honestly can't believe people defend having this type of stuff in the game, it's like the community has devolved or something lol. If this happened a few years ago this would've been massively protested, now this type of stuff is welcomed with open arms. Seems like the WoW community has lowered it's standards a lot.

[crakerjack]

But whats next? Buying Achievements/Gear/professions. Whats the point of an MMO if you can buy your way to the finish.

LoL?? 90 isn't the finish line... defeating Heroic garrosh or obtaining gladiator is the finish line, I'm sorry bud, but you are still a great distance from the finish line.

- - - Updated - - -

1-85 is very trivial and 85-90 is tedious, it's not a difficult or long process. If you don't want to spend minimal time levelling, you probably won't spend $60 either.

They aren't trying to convince anyone to skip content by buying the boost... besides, the game is balanced around max level, meaning the game has no value until you hit max level. PvP is unblanced until you hit max level, PvE fights don't become crazy until you hit max level or do previous max level raids. Everything great about the game is only available via max level. Sure leveling is an experience, but it's an experience that I can go on w/o enduring ever again. Before I quit, I had a max level of each toon because it didn't take long, I just didn't jump around the org bank or spam in trade, I hopped on an alt and leveled it while I waited for raids to start. Players wanted the ability to skip leveling which is reasonable... blizzard offered it and that's there price. It wasn't their idea to put it in, players want it. If you don't want it, don't buy it, no one is forcing it down your throat.

[MrLordDariusCrowley]

Hahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahahah

The OP tells you all you need to know about how retarded this is.

You are paying monthly for a game, and you're also paying money to skip content.

Most people pay money to enjoy content in a game.

But Blizzard? They're convincing people to pay monthly, AND pay money to skip content!

Wow.

Not everyone enjoys leveling. So by paying 60$ to skip leveling they're paying to get to the content they enjoy.

[Enosh]

This is a great point, and I really think it needs to be highlighted.

Blizzard has done this time and time again. Boosting XP gains at lower levels and this is, IMHO, is what has truly ruined the levelling. It is impossible, even without heirlooms and guild XP boosts, to finish a zone before it goes totally grey. Add in that some of the story lines that have been removed were very good, and took you between Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms to complete, not to mention several levels to complete, and then rewarded you with some rare gear the could last you another 5 or so levels... Now we are left with a very liner story and quest lines, that do not span zones or even take you into dungeons anymore.

Yeah, I'd rather just skip it all now.

which has fuck all to do with anything
doing every zone and getting shiny blues and seeing all the story would get fucking old the 5th around just as much
and the last thing I want is to have to finish every zone to level up, fuck that

[Ichabod Crane]

If your goal is to get to lvl 90 and not do ANYTHING else, then yes, this is P2W. They're not giving you BiS gear, pve or pvp. They're just making it mostly for returning players and those who don't want to level a 5th character or more, through the content. No one, i don't think even the devs have posted if there is going to be a pre-requisit for buying a lvl 90. I think that would smooth over the process. Who knows, the devs might even make lvling to 90 faster along with the lvl 90 boost, so you don't feel too pressured into purchasing one.

[Jarlathe]

which has fuck all to do with anything
doing every zone and getting shiny blues and seeing all the story would get fucking old the 5th around just as much
and the last thing I want is to have to finish every zone to level up, fuck that

/facepalm


I see my point totally went right over your head. My point was, going through the levelling was fun, and even great. THE FIRST COUPLE OF TIMES! I've done it on every toon except a monk at this point because I'm burnt out on levelling. Hell, I even has the original Loremaster, you know, the one where you had to do pretty much every quest, in every zone, and a lot of those quests took you back and forth. It took me months to track down those last few quests to even get the damn thing finished.

Anywho, my point is is that every time a new expansion back has been released, Blizzard has dropped the XP requirements to level up. It happened in Vanilla, it happened in BC, it happened in Wrath and it happened in Cata. I'm not sure if they've announced it yet for MoP. So the people that are bitching about this service saying that we should be forced to level from 1-90, and that's it's pay to win are delusional. They should have been screaming about the XP drops, and all the other paid services that I mentioned in earlier posts.

[rhorle]

I agree with this, I honestly can't believe people defend having this type of stuff in the game, it's like the community has devolved or something lol. If this happened a few years ago this would've been massively protested, now this type of stuff is welcomed with open arms. Seems like the WoW community has lowered it's standards a lot.

What standard is lowered by people having bought a boost to 90? Remember every who buys WoD has already bought a boost to 90. Every one is equal. WoW is still the same as it was before the boost just with more level 90 characters (which won't even be the level cap in WoD). Wow remains the same as it always was from day one. Those who pay more get more (first with Vanilla CE pets, then with TCG loot cards, then with Character services, then with the Item shop, then with SoR and RAF).

This isn't even the first time Blizzard has boosted characters. During Cataclysm they gave a free copy of Cataclysm, a level boost, and starter gear to those who returned to the game. The standards didn't get lowered that time.

Why is it that the standards have been lowered just because you can buy a boost individually? The reason why people are defending this is because there is nothing wrong with it.

[tohyatvc]

Not everyone enjoys leveling. So by paying 60$ to skip leveling they're paying to get to the content they enjoy.

So play another game? RPGs are designed around levelling.

It can't be stressed enough that levelling is a core part of the content.

WoW has a top-heavy content problem where nobody considers anything but raids actual content.

Paying Blizzard MORE money should not be the solution.