Is buying tokens and boosts from Blizzard considered cheating in WoW?

[Deleted]

as long as blizzard properly oversees what you can/can't buy with gold i don't think it's cheating.

the fact that buying anything of real value in game, say 1m+ gold, by buying tokens is just not the kind of money the vast majority of people are able or willing to spend also helps a lot. (then again i do know like 4 people who buy tokens like candy, so maybe there are more then one would think)
now i will say that an unfortunate side effect of this is that in order to keep that deterrent barrier in effect, it does mean that things like e.g. the AH mount probably cost notably more then they would have in a world where tokens didn't exist, so tokens do lead to some level of discrimination between players. but again as long as its kept in decent bounds by blizzard, that's not the end of the world.

[Polarthief]

It's not cheating. If it was, Blizzard would obviously ban you for it.

More gold = less grid --) more time to raid

So yeh, it is cheating. Legit cheating.

P2W isn't cheating, go see any F2P game, and honestly, WoW is barely that level of P2W.

(or just buy bestinslot raid gear)

Two slots of BoEs isn't going to make a huge difference, especially if you're buying your way in. You still need that other thing to do well: Skill.

[Deleted]

It's not cheating. If it was, Blizzard would obviously ban you for it.

ive had this weird experience where someone who buys a couple tokens a month is held to a different standard of cheating then people who don't. its all about dat money man.

[Mafic]

But there is no real advantage to it, so it isn't cheating. And if he have more fun doing content that he enjoys, and spend his real money on gold to do it, isn't that just good for him? It is after all, the best GPH farm to simply work at McDonalds for an hour extra, than farm gold ingame.

There is an advantage to using real life currency to buy gold instead of generating in game. Given how BFA is designed (eg mission tables, quests). The game is designed around freemium principles at the moment that parade around subscription game play.

It also invalidates all gold generation methods in game currently at the moment which is what makes it all the more sinister.

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It is CLEARLY a pay to win option. If you are rich and you can spend hundreds of dollars for wow gold, you can actually buy your gear at the AH. I mean Ive seen 390 titan gear for over a million gold wtf. On EU, one million gold is about 120€/$.

Good post.

Let me add that pay 2 win is a gate way to many cheating mechanisms being normalized. This is why as WoW ages you can see how the token is slowly sinking the entire game structure and how leveling doesn't make sense, etc.

[Revamp Man]

I mean not really
Tokens play a part in the economy
Boosts...hmm..I guess they give you a character that you didn't have to repeat content with
I boosted 3 toons
I have 2 120s and 4 110s because I couldn't do legion leveling a 4th time

The boosts gave me nothing really so I don't see it as cheating

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More gold = less grid --) more time to raid (or just buy bestinslot raid gear)

So yeh, it is cheating. Legit cheating.

Here is why that doesn't work
Lets say I boost my monk and level to 120
Lets then say I'm insane enough to spend irl cash on the BiD gear I can find on the AH.
No azerite gear
Limited weapons and trinkets
No kills to my name
Let say I buy a mythic carry of the current raid and lets say I buy a glad carry
So I got cutting edge and glad and all the rewards...did I win? Not really (here's where it gets weird)
I didn't actually experience the game
I didn't actually participate in the kills
I didn't attain anything meaningful
The next tier invalidates it

Sure I can hope I got fully geared from the carry and thus get into the new pugs but then I just suck

The cycle repeats

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There is an advantage to using real life currency to buy gold instead of generating in game. Given how BFA is designed (eg mission tables, quests). The game is designed around freemium principles at the moment that parade around subscription game play.

It also invalidates all gold generation methods in game currently at the moment which is what makes it all the more sinister.

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Good post.

Let me add that pay 2 win is a gate way to many cheating mechanisms being normalized. This is why as WoW ages you can see how the token is slowly sinking the entire game structure and how leveling doesn't make sense, etc.

1. You would have a point about it invalidating the current gold generation methods IF the token actually generated gold. Its simply an expensive item that is sold cross server. Now while that does technically generate gold on a server you must take into account the many...many..many gold sinks now in the game and how little the token actually generates (I think it would cover my raiding for like 3 weeks at most) and how a majority of it is lost via repair or buying from vendors.

2. Leveling still has some purpose and wow is far from p2w. I will grant you the fact depending on what you see as "winning" it can likely be bought with gold (raid carry, gear, PvP titles) however even then its limited
PL ruined gear runs
Gear from AH is limited and far from BiS
Mythic carries now have very little guaranteed reward
PvP carries are similar

Sure you get cutting edge or glad but...is it worth it?

Was the mythic carry worth the 160?

Even if you consider that winning the fact is you get it a lot faster by playing

[salate]

oh, cmon, pay to win by tokens? You can buy all gear, right? But gear not always gives you opportunity to show your strenght and you still gonna be that guy who cant close 7 key in time

[Tyrilion]

I loved the token system it eradicated gold farmers and it gave me something to spend my gold on saving my £79 a year, what's to hate about it, its not like buying BoEs really helps that much, at the end of the day skill counts for alot more than the one boe you could buy with the gold you get from a wow token if people wanna piss moneyup the wall buy hundreds of pounds worth, let them. Maybe blizz will hire some additional devs to flesh out the team.

[OMGTwitchTV]

I loved the token system it eradicated gold farmers and it gave me something to spend my gold on saving my £79 a year, what's to hate about it, its not like buying BoEs really helps that much, at the end of the day skill counts for alot more than the one boe you could buy with the gold you get from a wow token if people wanna piss moneyup the wall buy hundreds of pounds worth, let them. Maybe blizz will hire some additional devs to flesh out the team.

Someone else who actually gets it.

[Mafic]

ive had this weird experience where someone who buys a couple tokens a month is held to a different standard of cheating then people who don't. its all about dat money man.

Yup.

This is why cheaters don't want to admit it because it devalues their experience by using real life money to progress in a game and virtual world.

[OMGTwitchTV]

Yup.

This is why cheaters don't want to admit it because it devalues their experience by using real life money to progress in a game and virtual world.

As someone who has spent thousands of dollars on this game, I can personally say this comment is pure bullshit.

[Ferg]

Yup.

This is why cheaters don't want to admit it because it devalues their experience by using real life money to progress in a game and virtual world.

Here's the great thing about money; you can spend it on whatever the fuck you want to, assuming that it's yours.

[Mafic]

I mean not really
1. You would have a point about it invalidating the current gold generation methods IF the token actually generated gold. Its simply an expensive item that is sold cross server. Now while that does technically generate gold on a server you must take into account the many...many..many gold sinks now in the game and how little the token actually generates (I think it would cover my raiding for like 3 weeks at most) and how a majority of it is lost via repair or buying from vendors.

If you didn't make that gold on that server that right off the bad throws off your entire server and balance. Players that play legit suffer as the virtual economy tumbles while whales are able to pay and cheat their way through the games progression.

I mean not really
2. Leveling still has some purpose and wow is far from p2w. I will grant you the fact depending on what you see as "winning" it can likely be bought with gold (raid carry, gear, PvP titles) however even then its limited
PL ruined gear runs
Gear from AH is limited and far from BiS
Mythic carries now have very little guaranteed reward
PvP carries are similar

Sure you get cutting edge or glad but...is it worth it?

Was the mythic carry worth the 160?

Even if you consider that winning the fact is you get it a lot faster by playing

Paying gold via real life money is proving to be faster currently that playing legit to progress in all areas of the game. That is by definition cheating of gaming basics 101.

If leveling wasn't broken, professions functioned properly, and gold from world quests was proportional to time investment this would be a non issue. However, with the way BFA is designed it is focused on feasting on whales and disregarding players that play legit.

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Here's the great thing about money; you can spend it on whatever the fuck you want to, assuming that it's yours.

If you have to use real life money to progress in a game then there is no point to playing the game. That is the truth!

[Ferg]

If you didn't make that gold on that server that right off the bad throws off your entire server and balance. Players that play legit suffer as the virtual economy tumbles while whales are able to pay and cheat their way through the games progression.



Paying gold via real life money is proving to be faster currently that playing legit to progress in all areas of the game. That is by definition cheating of gaming basics 101.

If leveling wasn't broken, professions functioned properly, and gold from world quests was proportional to time investment this would be a non issue. However, with the way BFA is designed it is focused on feasting on whales and disregarding players that play legit.

I have literally never bought or sold a WoW token, and I disagree with everything you've said so far.

[Ferg]

If you have to use real life money to progress in a game then there is no point to playing the game. That is the truth!

You can't use gold to progress in any real fashion. You can buy BoEs, sure, but those are generally worse than what is actually available in raids or mythics.

[Xandrigity]

Because it’s blizzards game and they get to say what is cheating not you

[Liarparadox]

There is no such thing as "legit" cheating. Cheating requires you to gain an advantage through certain nefarious means.

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This is what it means to cheat.

Agreed. I don't know if the poster was just writing this tongue in cheek or trying to make a joke. And that's OK if they were. But it's a pet peeve of mine that internet mobs try to redefine x to be exactly what it isn't.

And to the OP's question. I think it's actually really obviously NOT cheating since it's fully sanctioned by Blizz. I can see that some people are jealous, annoyed, don't like it, have negative feelings about it; but Blizz allows and encourages it (through advertising). it's not breaking any rules; in fact, it's part of the very rules that Blizz intentionally created.

[Mafic]

I have literally never bought or sold a WoW token, and I disagree with everything you've said so far.

You disagree and yet you have not position. That is great but you might want to see what you are disagreeing with in great haste. Slow down and re-read what you stated.

[tikcol]

iF there is anything this thread confirms is the astronomical amount of people getting tokens in order to get boosts. The gold keeps flowing, keep it coming friends.

[Mafic]

iF there is anything this thread confirms is the astronomical amount of people getting tokens in order to get boosts. The gold keeps flowing, keep it coming friends.

You know the scheme is near its death throes when the token price hasn't budged above what it used to be in a long time. Cheating sanctioned or condoned is still cheating which is why it defeats the entire point of playing the game to do world quests for gold, crafting to sell and make gold, transmog runs for gold, gathering for gold, etc.

Invalidating the entire player experience is cheating.

[Ferg]

You know the scheme is near its death throes when the token price hasn't budged above what it used to be in a long time. Cheating sanctioned or condoned is still cheating which is why it defeats the entire point of playing the game to do world quests for gold, crafting to sell and make gold, transmog runs for gold, gathering for gold, etc.

Invalidating the entire player experience is cheating.

You keep harping on like gold is the way to BiS gear or something.

You sound salty, probably because of two reasons. You either have no gold, or you have no money IRL. That is a personal problem.