TBC: Buy boost or level up now?

[Prag]

I have to wonder why all these people with such little time to play an MMO want to, er, play an MMO. Maybe their limited time would be better spent elsewhere.

It’s entirely possible to keep up by just playing a few hours a few times a week. The curve is fairly wide, and even if it takes you 2 months to get to 70 and attuned, you’ll be in good company.

But yeah, the whole meme of “I have 6 kids and 10 minutes to play” is exhausting. No guild can accommodate erratic short schedules.

[shadowroguetbc]

I have to wonder why all these people with such little time to play an MMO want to, er, play an MMO. Maybe their limited time would be better spent elsewhere.

The game exists beyond raids, which is why a lot of people didn’t play classic specifically and waited until tbc to hop into classic. Christ I bet a lot are waiting for wrath too.

[Facefive]

As a Mageplayer I can 100% assure you, that boosting is the way.

[Varaben]

I have to wonder why all these people with such little time to play an MMO want to, er, play an MMO. Maybe their limited time would be better spent elsewhere.

For some of us, the time is more valuable. I do have time to play the max level content, but leveling up fresh is incredibly time consuming. Let's say I have 10 hours a week to play, that's an hour a day during the week then a few hours each day on the weekend. If it takes me 6 days to hit 60 (probably optimistic) then another 2 days to hit 70 (which I've heard is typical in beta, though we don't know if the leveling speed is tuned or not), that's 8 days x 24 hrs = 192 hours (let's round to 200). So it's going to take me 20 weeks to hit 70 if I start a character fresh (I didn't play WoW Classic). That means I basically miss the entirety of Phase I, almost 25% of the entire expansion if we expect it to last about 2 years.

On the other hand, if I boost a character, then I only have 2 days played to hit max level, which is 4-5 weeks (maybe a little less if I no-life the first week). That means I barely miss any of the Phase and I'm able to then play 10 hours a week comfortably and keep pace with the game. So I guess it just depends on how I value that 15 week time advantage. Not everyone has 40 hours a week to sink into the game and if you haven't already been playing WoW Classic you're at a huge disadvantage - you've got no gold, no max characters, and are starting many weeks behind.

[Jabakaga]

Depends how much free time you have. I'm leveling hunter now currently at 35 I doubt I will ding 60 before pre patch I wouldn't start now leveling new character because of lack of free time.

[Gratlim]

The game exists beyond raids, which is why a lot of people didn’t play classic specifically and waited until tbc to hop into classic. Christ I bet a lot are waiting for wrath too.

Wrath will be the return of casuals to the game imo (for me that is a good thing). Just because of how practical the Dungeon Finder is. Then there is Arthas / ICC / Ulduar and Northrend.

[Grimbolt]

A lot of levelers on EU servers. I am currently leveling a char to get gold and gear for my alliance shaman in pre patch together with mining and leatherworking for LW/BS and ill boost a druid for easy herbalism/alchemy.

Has been super easy getting groups. Currently level 41.

[Kralljin]

For some of us, the time is more valuable. I do have time to play the max level content

Okay, assume for a moment you'll start off right now and that TBC at least another ~8-10 weeks off.
Leveling to 60 in Classic takes around 150h, gets however reduced by about 30-40% with the pre patch, meaning it's going to take 110 hours (and for the record, the XP reduction will only kick in the 30+ levels)

If the Pre Patch hits in about 4 weeks, you already knocked out about 40 hours, leaving you with slightly more than 70 hours left, with a 4-5 week pre patch, you're then left with 20-30 hours left of leveling when TBC hits, which by the way are slightly shorter because you can go with 58 to Outland and do the last two levels to 60 there as 58-60 is notoriously painful in Classic because you run out of quests to do.

And this entire equation is extremely tilted in the boost's favor solely because people have accepted that there is a boost and outright refused to level, as the release draws ever closer and thus the time to level gets ever smaller.

Let's assume for a moment you would have started back in late Feb when they announced TBC and TBC comes out in late June, that would be about four months between announcement and leveling, which means about 12 weeks and thus 120 hours of time.
Which would have been more than enough time to get a character into the high fourties even in Classic and where you then could have had hit 58 during pre patch easily due to the massive reduction happening at the higher levels.

And frankly, anybody interested in TBC has seen the announcement coming way earlier, meaning that it's even a legit possibility to start leveling even before its announcement.

Let's be honest, all this talk about "I don't have the time" is nothing but an excuse, it's about "i don't want to spend the time".

[Aristai1723]

Not having touched talents before I'm having a great time leveling now. Planning to level main char, boosting farm char. That plan can switch depending on release schedule and how much time I have. Lv 38 right now.

[shadowroguetbc]

Wrath will be the return of casuals to the game imo (for me that is a good thing). Just because of how practical the Dungeon Finder is. Then there is Arthas / ICC / Ulduar and Northrend.

Oh for sure, and the dungeon finder honestly isn’t even the beginning of it. Tier gear for badges, vault of arch, wintergrasp gear, etc.

And honestly I think it was a pretty good system. Much rather have that then retail anyway

- - - Updated - - -

Okay, assume for a moment you'll start off right now and that TBC at least another ~8-10 weeks off.
Leveling to 60 in Classic takes around 150h, gets however reduced by about 30-40% with the pre patch, meaning it's going to take 110 hours (and for the record, the XP reduction will only kick in the 30+ levels)

If the Pre Patch hits in about 4 weeks, you already knocked out about 40 hours, leaving you with slightly more than 70 hours left, with a 4-5 week pre patch, you're then left with 20-30 hours left of leveling when TBC hits, which by the way are slightly shorter because you can go with 58 to Outland and do the last two levels to 60 there as 58-60 is notoriously painful in Classic because you run out of quests to do.

And this entire equation is extremely tilted in the boost's favor solely because people have accepted that there is a boost and outright refused to level, as the release draws ever closer and thus the time to level gets ever smaller.

Let's assume for a moment you would have started back in late Feb when they announced TBC and TBC comes out in late June, that would be about four months between announcement and leveling, which means about 12 weeks and thus 120 hours of time.
Which would have been more than enough time to get a character into the high fourties even in Classic and where you then could have had hit 58 during pre patch easily due to the massive reduction happening at the higher levels.

And frankly, anybody interested in TBC has seen the announcement coming way earlier, meaning that it's even a legit possibility to start leveling even before its announcement.

Let's be honest, all this talk about "I don't have the time" is nothing but an excuse, it's about "i don't want to spend the time".

Yea, your last sentence basically sums it up, but not like you think it does.

“I don’t have time to play” is part of the problem. And if you are in this situation you would know.

If you only have 4 hours a week to play for example, you could spend every single second you are online playing classic. This could take you months logging in to hit end level. It IS possible. But that’s not what people are saying when they say they don’t have time.

If you only have that limited time per week to play, you want to spend it on something that is fun or something you want to play. So now your stuck in a situation to either play a version of the game you hate for months in order to TRY the version your interested in.

I mean if you really thought that people literally did not have the time to play classic to get to tbc then it’s kinda hard to explain anything if you are going to take it that literal lol.

[Drusin]

I'm making a BE Paladin!
My current idea is to level up something now, maybe a mage and farm gold then when BC Classic comes I'll transfer that character (and the gold) to whatever realm I choose to play on.
Then level my pally and shoot the gold over to him

[Kralljin]

If you only have that limited time per week to play, you want to spend it on something that is fun or something you want to play. So now your stuck in a situation to either play a version of the game you hate for months in order to TRY the version your interested in.

I hate to break it to some people, but TBC is at the end of the day not a fundamental game changer in comparison to Classic.
Unless some edges of Classic really turned you off, TBC won't be that much different, especially when time is a crucial factor for you.

I mean if you really thought that people literally did not have the time to play classic to get to tbc then it’s kinda hard to explain anything if you are going to take it that literal lol.

Which is naturally a massive gaping hole in the entire defense of the boost, when people openly admit they don't have the time to play WoW, then TBC is going to be a really piss poor experience for them.

Betweeen the rep grinds, associated attunements, professions / gold farming, that all takes time.
Especially if raiding counts as your "game time" (which makes sense), say you have 10h/week and raid about 3-4h of those, then you got 6 hours left / week to complete any of that, which is by no means enough to do it.

Disregarding that PvP also has a big wall nope there, farming that basic Resilience gear takes a lot of hours and without that, you'll get roflstomped in Arena.

[shadowroguetbc]

I hate to break it to some people, but TBC is at the end of the day not a fundamental game changer in comparison to Classic.
Unless some edges of Classic really turned you off, TBC won't be that much different, especially when time is a crucial factor for you.

I love it when people say this because it’s almost always referring to raiding and the likes lol. I know it’s silly to think but some people literally just like to do bgs. Or arenas.

Which is naturally a massive gaping hole in the entire defense of the boost, when people openly admit they don't have the time to play WoW, then TBC is going to be a really piss poor experience for them.

Betweeen the rep grinds, associated attunements, professions / gold farming, that all takes time.
Especially if raiding counts as your "game time" (which makes sense), say you have 10h/week and raid about 3-4h of those, then you got 6 hours left / week to complete any of that, which is by no means enough to do it.

Why is it always raiding? Guys, if someone doesn’t have a lot of time to play wow, and they are still wanting to play a certain expansion, I think it’s fairly safe to say raiding is not their end goal here. And if it is it is obviously extremely casual so idk why you even consider all these farms. You don’t HAVE to do them to play tbc endgame. You have too much of a min/maxing ideology.

Disregarding that PvP also has a big wall nope there, farming that basic Resilience gear takes a lot of hours and without that, you'll get roflstomped in Arena.

First of all if all they are doing is bgs, the farming is not a ‘wall’ at all. It’s literally just playing the game for them. And again, why do you guys think everyone is in it to push rating or to push content? You know sometimes people want to play end level expansions like tbc arena or bgs regardless of what the end result is right?

[Katchii]

I have to wonder why all these people with such little time to play an MMO want to, er, play an MMO. Maybe their limited time would be better spent elsewhere.

The quality of time spent in an MMO is more important than the quantity.

It's not just about having the time, it's about how you want to be spending your time. After having leveled up through Classic to cap once, and to level ~30 at least 6 other times I can tell you in my experience that leveling is not even close to being as fun after that. I love dungeons and would play significantly more if I could level doing only dungeons, but that's just not a feasible expectation for someone who logs in casually at variable hours and times, IMO.

My first toon was Horde and I raided up through BWL on him, had to stop because my work ad family commitments prevented me from having a regular schedule that made it conducive to raiding. My friend who raided with me on Horde and stopped playing around the same time i did, is rejoining the game in TBC and we're going Alliance this time. We have no interest in leveling from 1-58 again, for various reason, but the main one is the amount of time it takes to get there.

Still not sure if I'll boost in TBC, most likely yes, but I want a Draenei Shaman, so I'll be forced to level the long way. We'll see.

[Kralljin]

I love it when people say this because it’s almost always referring to raiding and the likes lol. I know it’s silly to think but some people literally just like to do bgs. Or arenas.

Which requires a modicum of PvP gear to be enjoyable on most classes, or at the very least, decent PvE gear.
Both of which, require quite some time to acquire.

Why is it always raiding?

People are free to do anything else, but besides raiding and PvP, there isn't much lasting endgame going on.
It frankly does strike me as odd when somebody wants to buy a service to skip a grind in order to access more grinds, because anything outside of PvP and raiding involves grinding in TBC.

That aside, it's not like raiding is some fringe side activity in TBC.

You don’t HAVE to do them to play tbc endgame. You have too much of a min/maxing ideology.

Fair enough, but i don't see that type of player as the kind of player who has issues with classic leveling.
Because for the record, pvp is part of the endgame.

First of all if all they are doing is bgs, the farming is not a ‘wall’ at all. It’s literally just playing the game for them.

Without Resilience, you get your teeth kicked in a lot of classes, especially if your PvE gear isn't great to boot, either.
So yeah, they'll be playing, but every class capable of burst will just run over them, which doesn't sound like a enjoyable experience.

[Relapses]

Which is naturally a massive gaping hole in the entire defense of the boost, when people openly admit they don't have the time to play WoW, then TBC is going to be a really piss poor experience for them.

Part of the excitement of the new expansion is the leveling experience. Blizzard knows full well most people won't be playing much post-leveling and the boost allows these people to at least have an opportunity to experience the expansion launch with their friends.

[shadowroguetbc]

Which requires a modicum of PvP gear to be enjoyable on most classes, or at the very least, decent PvE gear.
Both of which, require quite some time to acquire.

People are free to do anything else, but besides raiding and PvP, there isn't much lasting endgame going on.
It frankly does strike me as odd when somebody wants to buy a service to skip a grind in order to access more grinds, because anything outside of PvP and raiding involves grinding in TBC.

That aside, it's not like raiding is some fringe side activity in TBC.

Fair enough, but i don't see that type of player as the kind of player who has issues with classic leveling.
Because for the record, pvp is part of the endgame.

Without Resilience, you get your teeth kicked in a lot of classes, especially if your PvE gear isn't great to boot, either.
So yeah, they'll be playing, but every class capable of burst will just run over them, which doesn't sound like a enjoyable experience.

Why don’t you see these people as the type to want to skip classic leveling? A lot of people who played real vanilla specifically did not come back because they did not want to level through that content again, this goes for like 90% of the people I play games with who played vanilla.

And how is it so hard to understand that people would be ‘ok’ with grinding content in tbc like bgs, but don’t want to ‘grind’ leveling in classic, when their goal for tbc is to.... play tbc pvp again. Also why are you acting like it’s such a massive grind to get pvp gear. EVEN CASUALLY if all you do is pvp and bg and arena, you actually get gear quite quickly. Man even playing 4 hours a week you can get a piece or two a week easily. And this is literally doing nothing but bgs and arena. Easily.

Idk I just find this whole argument silly when people say “man if you don’t have the time to do all these farms then you can’t play the game” or “if you don’t want to do X farm then you for sure aren’t going to want to do Y farm in tbc”. When I specifically know 5-10 people who are literally doing just this because the boost was announced. All they care about is arena and bgs and they have plenty of time a week to do these things.

[Chilela]

Depends on a few factors.

1. What are you planning on leveling?
2. How much free time will you have, and will you realistically be able to level from 1 to 58 in a few months?
3. How much do you value your money, and do you believe Blizzard deserves the money?

For point of reference, I leveled a Warrior 1-60 when Classic came out, and that took about a month. I prolly averaged a few hours a day overall playing and didn't do anything like dungeon powerleveling, so 3 months is very doable if you know what you're doing, even if you have much less free time. I would certainly opt to just level myself, but that's mostly due to the third point.

[Kralljin]

Why don’t you see these people as the type to want to skip classic leveling? A lot of people who played real vanilla specifically did not come back because they did not want to level through that content again, this goes for like 90% of the people I play games with who played vanilla.

So?
Did you have guarantee that those people actually sticked around for the endgame of Classic?

If leveling is that much of a turnoff for them, that's fair, but if a person has an issue with that some things take time or are at certain points rather tedious, i wouldn't recommend classic to them to begin with, leveling or not.

And how is it so hard to understand that people would be ‘ok’ with grinding content in tbc like bgs, but don’t want to ‘grind’ leveling in classic, when their goal for tbc is to.... play tbc pvp again.

Because grinds don't magically vanish into thin air once you're at max level.

Also why are you acting like it’s such a massive grind to get pvp gear.

It is, a full PvP set requires like around 340 Battleground badges total - which is just the gear you can buy for honor, not actually the good Gladiator PvP gear.

Idk I just find this whole argument silly when people say “man if you don’t have the time to do all these farms then you can’t play the game” or “if you don’t want to do X farm then you for sure aren’t going to want to do Y farm in tbc”. When I specifically know 5-10 people who are literally doing just this because the boost was announced. All they care about is arena and bgs and they have plenty of time a week to do these things.

Simply because they're saying it right now, doesn't mean they will do it, after all, not everybody has done an indepth research what exactly comes into the game with TBC.
Disregarding that this is still anecdotally.

Not everybody that started playing Classic who thought they enjoyed did actually enjoy it, a lot of people did, but not everybody.
And that's where i make my point, if putting time into some activities such as leveling is absolutely not up for your taste, you will struggle in TBC, because grinding is the name of the game.
And to explain away the difference between grinding and leveling requires massive mental gymnastics.

Some might still enjoy it, but i think it's an extremely generous assumption that a majority of those people will actually stick around for a longer time.
Especially those that barely played Classic (or not at all) need to "readjust" themselves when they've been playing Retail for years, which might filter some people already.

[shadowroguetbc]

So?
Did you have guarantee that those people actually sticked around for the endgame of Classic?

If leveling is that much of a turnoff for them, that's fair, but if a person has an issue with that some things take time or are at certain points rather tedious, i wouldn't recommend classic to them to begin with, leveling or not.

I don’t think that’s the conversation we are having now is it? I’m not talking about just tedious activities. They might enjoy a lot of the tedious activities in tbc (like bg farming or heroic grinding). It’s specifically the months and months of time sinking in to leveling in a version of the game you hate, in order to access the version of the game you want that’s the conversation. Idk why you are trying to change the topic lol.

Because grinds don't magically vanish into thin air once you're at max level.

Did you even read what the quote was? I never said they probably hate all grinds, reread what I said to this response because I’m not repeating myself.

It is, a full PvP set requires like around 340 Battleground badges total - which is just the gear you can buy for honor, not actually the good Gladiator PvP gear.

Yes, that’s to FINISH the set. If you play from day one, and all you do is bg, this isn’t a terrible grind because this is going to literally be ALL of what you’re doing. Let’s say a season lasts 6 months, even if you got your gear half way through the season, that’s averaging like 3-4 badges a day. That’s extremely easy to do if that’s literally all you’re doing. And that’s getting your full set half way through...

Again, you are approaching every angle as if you are a hardcore raider. Yeah if you are a raider, this would be a grind considering everything else you have to do. But a lot of people are not doing what you’re doing.

Simply because they're saying it right now, doesn't mean they will do it, after all, not everybody has done an indepth research what exactly comes into the game with TBC.
Disregarding that this is still anecdotally.

With my situation specifically, yes... yes it does lol. And I’m not suggesting every single person will. I’m describing to you the people that you seem to think are non existent.

if putting time into the on some activities such as leveling is absolutely not up for your taste, you will struggle in TBC.

I honestly can’t wrap my head around how you are coming to this conclusion, no seriously I can’t lol. Maybe you have never played this game as a solo pvper? Or a solo anything besides raiding that you aren’t use to sinking endless hours grinding things you don’t want to do. But this is not how the game is seen by a lot of people. Christ even me. Luckily I enjoy leveling in classic. But if there were a world where I would be forced to let’s say level in mop or cata zones for months and months in order to get access to something I love like arenas.... I just honestly wouldn’t bother. That’s too much time wasted to get to a game I would want to play.

Maybe you have never been put into this limited time situation before or maybe you just have never specifically played this game for a non-hardcore end level reason. But honestly the thought I just quoted you on is ridiculously ignorant.