Character Level Boost to 90 priced at $60

[Kourvith]

FWD :

Some people have more time than money.
Some people have more money than time.

/thread.

[Deleted]

Most WoW player like me already have 11 lv 90 every class.
So i dont care if its that expensive.
And btw i dont get people that would pay for that cause i find leveling with heirloms + max enchant quite funny.

>most

OK

10char

[drakonblayde]

Are you aware that you're directly comparing this level boost service to cheating? Even I wouldn't go that far.

That's essentially what it is, in a very watered down form. I mean, hell, I had alot of fun going through Baldur's Gate 2 using the cheat codes to outfit my party with the best gear available after the 5th or so time I played it through start to end 'legit'.

And my response to this would be that if Blizzard feels the leveling process is no longer important to their game and endgame is all that matters, then they should completely scrap leveling (or at least the first 90 levels of it), not simply make it a chore that the financially well-off can skip for a price but the average peon has to slog through.

Gaming communities always suffer when people are able to use real-world resources to obtain in-game advantages, however slight.

Why? Some people like levelling. Why remove the option?

Your problem is that you're taking a hardline, only one way is the right way. You don't seem to grasp that different people prefer different paths. Limiting or removing options is bad.

This service will do absolutely nothing to hurt you. The insistence that everyone must do it the 'hard way' is not healthy for the game. This game is nearly 10 years old, forcing folks to slog through obsolete content if they don't want to hampers a healthy and varied high level population, and the vast majority of the game is played at max level.

Given your references to those who are 'financially well off', I suspect what you're really angry about is that you can't justify the cost of using the service yourself. It's the Apple argument.

Now, I'm not top 1% rich, but our household income is well into the six figures. My wife and I have spent decades of hard work building our respective careers. We're not anything special, just motivated and dedicated. So I don't have alot of sympathy for folks with a sense of entitlement that everything should be available to everyone. I do find it ironic that you seem to be championing that viewpoint from a real life perspective, but you're a hardline 'earn it the hard way' kind when it comes to the game.

This is an entertainment cost, nothing more. Some people have bigger entertainment budgets than others. Welcome to the world. If you, or anyone else, doesn't have the kind of money they wish they did in order to afford frivolities like this, then go do something about it.

Now, if Blizzard ever started selling top tier BiS gear, I'd be right there with you on the hate. That would have a horrendously negative effect on the game.
But giving people the option to skip the tedious and boring level process if they want to, especially if they've done it a crap load of times, I just can't be angry about that. I think it's a good service to offer to the customer base, and ultimately will prolong the life of the game. Likewise, I don't see any problem with offering boutique items for those that want them. There's obviously a market for it, and I can't blame a for profit company for trying to make some money.

What mount a person rides, or what pet they have running at their side, has absolutely no effect on your game. At all. I suppose you could make an argument for a boosted 90 being detrimental by not having levelled with the class and played it, but I think that ship sailed long ago - If you don't do LFR, I suggest you do so. You will discover that there's a plethora of level 90 dumbasses without any boost service whatever, and it's priced high enough that any addition level 90 tards will just be a drip in the bucket compared to what's already there.

But it's cool man, you can go on being angry about things that will have absolutely no effect on you, though I'd suggest that if you spent that time you're going to spend being angry on something more productive instead, you might be able to afford the service

[Deleted]

60$ OMG OMG OMG ! OH Wait....I am not forced to do anything.......

FWD :

Some people have more time than money.
Some people have more money than time.

/thread.

THIS !

[Sainur]

So once again; this isn't available on EU realms at the moment?

It isn't.

And... Jesus Christ... I just noticed the Shop button on my character screen, and of course it has a giant golden border around it.

Blizzard.

[Hamacus]

Have multiple level 90's already and was looking forward to a reasonably priced way to skip old dry content for two more toons. That said I feel $60 is way to high especially for those of us that have played for years. What is it too hard to throw loyal customers a bone and prorate it based on the number of 90 characters you already have? Geez! Done this crap at least six times already and it is a pain and pretty much pointless. Guess I have some grinding to do because I am not paying sixty bucks but not sure I can stomach it anymore. Thanks for nothing Blizz! This feels like an obvious money grab to me...very disappointed.

[notsoholy]

60 dollars is absolutely nothing. Yesterday I got re-directed involuntarily to a website that offered boosts and needless to say the prices were about 10x more than $60.

In my opinion, a person learns how to play their class as they are leveling (starting from 1). You gradually obtain new moves/spells which you learn to use because they're all you've got. You start at level 90, have so many abilities that your actionbars are overflowing, it makes it a little confusing on what to use (for me at least, and I expect the same thing for first time players).

Leveling is already a joke with all the heirlooms. I guess like someone said earlier, time is more valuable than money to a lot of people though so I expect a lot of people are going to be paying for the service.

[Strakha]

Weird how many people are all "The game is over for me now." No the game was over for you a long time ago. An optional service is not what made you quit, it's just the excuse that you are giving to quit. This service affects basically nobody except who pay for it, and those people clearly do not want to actually level or play the entire game, they just want to get to the 'good stuff' raiding, pvp whatever.

I think it is good and I also don't think the comparison between this game and F2P games is very warranted given that most F2P games don't have millions of subs.

The strangest part to me is that people would pay $60 to avoid actually playing the game, and leveling to me is far more entertaining than the end game content, especially in the last tier. Which consists of people yelling at you in LFR, grinding for PVP gear or wasting many an hour in regular raids wiping on the same mechanics until Johnny Healer can figure out when to use his cooldowns properly. None of it is that interesting. Yet we all come back for more, unless you quit, but we all know nobody actually does.

[Nest]

I was wondering how long it takes for them to make this or change class by paying.
Guess this is even worse, and for 60 dollars.

But of course it's fine, since it's WoW doing it and not some other MMORPG.

[Supercool]

Your problem is that you're taking a hardline, only one way is the right way. You don't seem to grasp that different people prefer different paths. Limiting or removing options is bad.

They're not "options" for everyone. They're options for people who have extra cash to spend.

That same ridiculous argument would apply as well to anything else Blizzard chose to sell for money. Gear, achieves, anything.

This service will do absolutely nothing to hurt you.

Directly? No. Because I already have a healthy roster of 90s. But it can very well hurt the game, as virtually every other micropayment-based MMO demonstrates.

The insistence that everyone must do it the 'hard way' is not healthy for the game. This game is nearly 10 years old, forcing folks to slog through obsolete content if they don't want to hampers a healthy and varied high level population, and the vast majority of the game is played at max level.

Then offer the boost to anyone who wants it at no cost. THAT would be choice. That would be letting anyone play the game they want to.

Given your references to those who are 'financially well off', I suspect what you're really angry about is that you can't justify the cost of using the service yourself. It's the Apple argument.

And your problem is that you've resorted to a fallacious and factually wrong argument about my personal motives.

Again, gaming communities suffer when real world resources translate into in-game advantages. It is not the boost that bothers me. It is simply offering a non-cosmetic advantage to certain players based purely on how much they can pay. I stress non-cosmetic. You seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that I also care about mounts or pets in the store. I don't.

[notsoholy]

It's as easy as this



wish I could do that for $60/toon all day.

[Brytallica]

Leveling is boring, but at the end you get a reward = leveled character. By introducing this service the reward is severely diminished. It's no longer a leveled character, it's saving $60. That's not a very exciting reward in a game.

Yes it is! It's a free 90 that I can now powerlevel the professions! That is awesome for AH farming. At the same time, I will have a high level of a class I didn't have before. None of the classes are hard to play, just hit a target dummy to learn your rotation and setup your keybinds accordingly.

[Deleted]

I think it's good that they put a high price on it, if people wanna use this shit they should have to think twice about paying for it. Had it been cheap everyone would have used it all the time, now there's still plenty of people that'll level the oldfashion way. I like.

[getupkid55]

People honestly didn't expect this price? Changing your damn race costs $25... why would skipping 90 levels for any class or race you want only cost $30?

I'm glad it's not cheap.

[Strakha]

People honestly didn't expect this price? Changing your damn race costs $25... why would skipping 90 levels for any class or race you want only cost $30?

I'm glad it's not cheap.

Same here, I hope everyone buys a free 90 and blizzard fills their coffers to fund Warcraft 4 tbh.

[Deleted]

This hurts the game a lot. Levelling zones are going to be even more empty (they are pretty much ghost towns now with LFD). Really sucks.

[ThunderTaco]

I don't understand why people get so mad for that. What do you care if someone pays 60 dollars for a 90 ? If I understand corectly, you can only skip 60 to 90, so you still have to pex at first and you only skip like what, 1 or 2 days of played pexing ? Besides, the level cap si going to be 100, so people using this service will still have to pex after that. They are paying to skip a part of their content, not everyone's.

How does it affect your experience in WoW ?

[Deleted]

you dont need to be lvl 90 to enjoy warlords... your going back in time surely all mobs and bosses will be lvl 60 or lower isnt that how time travel works?

[drakonblayde]

They're not "options" for everyone. They're options for people who have extra cash to spend.

Give me a break. Blizzard isn't checking your bank balance to see whether or not you're allowed to use the character boost service.

*everyone* has the same option, pay the money, get the service. It is up to each individual to decide whether the option is viable for them, and it's not Blizzard's responsibility to make sure of that.

Directly? No. Because I already have a healthy roster of 90s. But it can very well hurt the game, as virtually every other micropayment-based MMO demonstrates.

Alright, since you continue to make that assertion, how about you go ahead and cite some examples, with supporting evidence, of course.

Then offer the boost to anyone who wants it at no cost. THAT would be choice. That would be letting anyone play the game they want to.

Why have a subscription at all then? Everyone, everywhere, should be able to have an account with access to everything at no cost, right?

I repeat - Blizzard is a FOR PROFIT company. This is a service that has been inquired about for years. Blizzard finally decided to offer what some of their customer base had been asking for. And since they're in business to make money, they chose to monetize it. Making money is *not* a bad thing.

The fact that they have kept their extra lines of revenue for WoW to stuff that is non-impactful to the game world tells me that they are very cognizant of the effects that offering actual advantages in exchange for cash will have on the game. Boosting a character that wants to play at current content past obsolete content is a quality of life service, just like server transfers, faction changes, name changes, or appearance changes. If all your friends are level 90 and you want to play with them (before WoD drops anyway), this is a good service. If your raid team needs a specific class in order to actually being able to continue raiding, and you're willing to change, this is a good service. If you decide you want to try out another class, but don't want to spend your time collecting turtle nutsacks or slaughtering buzzards for the umpteenth time, this is a good service.

And your problem is that you've resorted to a fallacious and factually wrong argument about my personal motives.

I call 'em like I see 'em dude. If you're going to act like a socialist with a sense of entitlement over a game, I am going to treat you like one. I think you have an unrealistic expectation of what Blizzard owes you (or anyone). I also suspect that I'm more right than not, but that's really not worth getting into I guess.

Again, gaming communities suffer when real world resources translate into in-game advantages. It is not the boost that bothers me. It is simply offering a non-cosmetic advantage to certain players based purely on how much they can pay. I stress non-cosmetic. You seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that I also care about mounts or pets in the store. I don't.

Ok, again, offer evidence and facts that support this assertion. You're asserting that being able to boost a character to 90 for cash is going to have a tangible and negative effect on the health of the game. Elaborate, please.

[Repefe]

Yes it is! It's a free 90 that I can now powerlevel the professions! That is awesome for AH farming. At the same time, I will have a high level of a class I didn't have before. None of the classes are hard to play, just hit a target dummy to learn your rotation and setup your keybinds accordingly.

You miss the point. The argument was from the pov of the one who levels the character. At the end of it, factually, the reward won't be leveled character, it will be saved $60. One more strike for the RPG in MMORPG.

I am all for Blizzard turning WoW into MOBA styled raiding game, but then the pricing model will be very weird.

- - - Updated - - -

I repeat - Blizzard is a FOR PROFIT company. This is a service that has been inquired about for years. Blizzard finally decided to offer what some of their customer base had been asking for. And since they're in business to make money, they chose to monetize it. Making money is *not* a bad thing.

This argument is getting really old. Ppl here should be speaking from the position of players, not shareholders. Blizzard is making respectable money from WoW x 20. Ppl asking for stuff is one of the reasons why WoW is on the decline. You can't give players everything they want. Some of the requests damage integrity of the game. This looks like one of those requests. Profit > integrity ... Blizz is sacrificing playerbase for the sake of getting more money out of those who stay, because they are PROFIT company.