Is the level 90 boost pay to win?

[Pancaspe]

It is pay to get ripped off.
Takes around 4-5 days at a moderate pace to hit 90, depending on how familiar you are with the most optimal routes and if you find rare mobs

Uh don't know about you, but I make more than $60 an hour. So not spending 4-5 days is not my idea of being ripped off.

[lunchbox2042]

In the context of it being released now, it's closer but not really. Come next expansion, no. It'd just be a timesaver since you still need to level to 100.

[MrExcelion]

I absolutely think buying a max level character is pay to win. Obviously others do not. Out of the many thread this is been discussed one thing has been made clear. People will never agree with each other.

At one point I wanted to make a thread asking players to define what pay to win would be for them, in WoW terms, so we know where that line is, but I'm not really the thread creator type, and even then, people would disagree -- it's a polarizing issue. I do think we're a bit too focused on the "winning" aspect of microtransactions, and if they have a beef with certain microtransactions themselves, they should take a different angle. Personally, I wasn't a fan of what server transfers did in terms of faction balance, accountability, and guild loyalty, but RMT reliance is the direction other games these days are headed anyway. It's something I've come to accept.

[Nosdrone]

Not having to spend the time in game leveling that boosted char is p2win whether you like it or not, and all that gold they saved you with the boosted features, whether you believe the leveling part or not is without question an in game advantage.

But I have other characters I leveled up without a boost. Did I win with those? I like winning.

[Infernix]

Let's be honest now, a major argument people had against it being pay to win was that it did not boost you to max level. Now it does. Since level 90 is maximum level now until WoD comes quite a few months from now, level 90 is end level. The gear you get is enough to get you into LFR, and that is, in my opinion, pay to win. But what is your opinion? Note that I don't care why you think my opinion is wrong, since it's my opinion, it's right for me and that's what matters, I do however care about your opinion on the matter.

Of course it is. But people who have to pay to win never see it as pay to win.

[Lezarin]

Too be honest if they gave you top end heroic gear full professions and every achievement in the game then its pay to win .

Right now you get an ilevel thats laughable dps or health pools of fashion models(the scarey thin ones btw) and the ability to make nothing off it with no professions .How is that pay to win its like buying a kit car assembled but only the basics .

Too be honest we can argue constantly about the whole its P2win its not it is its not it is .and until the entire world thinks exactly the same as the person posting on the topic its never going to end (in other words it never will end).

Its like the mounts off the blizz store or them transmog helms they all got slated for been P2win ...how i do not know but if you bought one your scum your worse than scum your an EA executive lounging in your hottub full of money filled with the souls of gamers whos hopes and dreams you destroyed .

Tbh i buy what i think looks nice or goes nice with a transmog i work for a living i can afford it others cannot does that mean i look down on them nope it just means i know what to get my wow friends for gifts etc.End of the day if i like it i buy it same way i,m buying the digital deluxe version of WOD because i want to nothing some unknown on a forum says otherwise is going to change my opinion .Unless its proof that blizzard somehow are using their profits to promote war or invade some defenceless country .

[Chireru93]

Let's be honest now, a major argument people had against it being pay to win was that it did not boost you to max level. Now it does. Since level 90 is maximum level now until WoD comes quite a few months from now, level 90 is end level. The gear you get is enough to get you into LFR, and that is, in my opinion, pay to win. But what is your opinion? Note that I don't care why you think my opinion is wrong, since it's my opinion, it's right for me and that's what matters, I do however care about your opinion on the matter.

483 gear is NOT enough to get you into LFR. it was always going to boost you to 90, that's why it's called a 90 boost. also, something being pay to win is not an option, it's an objective thing. pay to win means you pay them money to get an advantage over other players in a way that a non-paying player could not achieve. for example, if CoD sold a gun that was far superior to anything you could get through normal play, that is pay to win, objectively.

besides, levelling 1-90 isn't hard, just a time investment. this boost is equivalent to say Tribes Ascend selling guns that you could otherwise purchase with ingame currency after a few hours of play. however, the gun example is actually even better because you have the gun in its entirety. when you buy a 90 you get crap gear that you will work towards replacing as quickly as possible, because it's crap, and the latest content you can enter will be ToT lfr (which honestly, won't help that much. an extra 4 ilvl compared to timeless gear, yet still dwarfed by grievous pvp gear).

[Zerfenus]

Uh don't know about you, but I make more than $60 an hour. So not spending 4-5 days is not my idea of being ripped off.

Well, i'd much rather spend that cash on other stuff instead.
Like on the sub fee or other games. It's quite surprising what $60 can get you.

[Prag]

Uh don't know about you, but I make more than $60 an hour. So not spending 4-5 days is not my idea of being ripped off.

Thanks for throwing money at the game so I can continue investing mine.

[MyndZero]

No.

/10chars

[pateuvasiliu]

It does give you free items and makes you spent less time on lvling, but it's not p2win.

[MyLifeIsRandom]

In an MMO, anything that you can acquire in-game via out-of-game means is pay to win. Cosmetic, skipping content, gear, it doesn't matter.

All players in an MMO should abide by the same rules. Paying cash outside of the game should not effect these rules.

You're just factually incorrect with that statement. Pay to Win, in its true and proper use, means that you can complete the goal of the game with payment of real money and not in-game money. This is not the case. That's that. Getting to level 90 hasn't done much if anything to prepare people for the "true game" that starts at max level for a long time, if it ever has. You only learn that you have buttons you can press, and any attempt to put a patch of fire on the floor for you to move out of, or a special attack to not be hit by, is almost always... almost always severely under-tuned and pointless.

Reaching max level in WoW is factually not Pay to Win, because you don't complete the game's goal, arguably the dangers faced in raids as per their importance in the storyline. Another fact is, the lengthy trip to max level is what's inhibiting new blood from playing with existing players. It's also not fun anymore when you've gone through it twice or three times on alts.

[Nosdrone]

I can buy raid gear in the RIFT store but I cannot buy it in WoW, why?
I can buy tomes for permanent stat increases in Lord of the Rings Online but not in WoW, why?
I can buy gems and turn them into gold to buy a legendary in GW2, but not in WoW... why?

Please, I want to win.

[Synche]

Uh don't know about you, but I make more than $60 an hour. So not spending 4-5 days is not my idea of being ripped off.

I hardly think anyone makes close to that amount of money on these forums

As for the boost, it is not meant for MoP content, they are just giving it to us early. It is no different then if you RAF yourself (or a friend) , get to 80 and grant levels to another character, only this time instead of 40 levels, it is 90, there is no difference.

When WoD launches will people still think it is P2W when it doesn't grant you the level cap any longer ?

I hate leveling, no matter how fast or long it takes. I only really have time to play one class anyways, so I will most likely never buy a 90.

[Prag]

You're just factually incorrect with that statement. Pay to Win, in its true and proper use, means that you can complete the goal of the game with payment of real money and not in-game money. This is not the case. That's that. Getting to level 90 hasn't done much if anything to prepare people for the "true game" that starts at max level for a long time, if it ever has. You only learn that you have buttons you can press, and any attempt to put a patch of fire on the floor for you to move out of, or a special attack to not be hit by, is almost always... almost always severely under-tuned and pointless.

Reaching max level in WoW is factually not Pay to Win, because you don't complete the game's goal, arguably the dangers faced in raids as per their importance in the storyline. Another fact is, the lengthy trip to max level is what's inhibiting new blood from playing with existing players. It's also not fun anymore when you've gone through it twice or three times on alts.

It's odd that you would criticize someone for being "factually incorrect". It's an MMO and by virtue, there is no "winning". One person's goals could be mount collection, achievement farming, pvp, etc. The game is never "over" and there won't be any credit roll.

Using your exact logic:

-Paying money for gold gets you normal SoO-level epics, but by your standards, that's not "winning. So who cares?
-Paying money for a boost through Challenge Modes won't get you a competitive time, so that's not winning.

The list can go on, but that should suffice.

Time is the only currency that matters in this game.

[Ellixen]

Go and fight anyone who did not buy one. You will win then. Buying a higher level in a level driven game is the very definition of buying power.

Really so his 483 90 will beat my 507 90? 'cause i leveled mine, hell even my timeless gear is on par with that and i just had to run around like a jackass to get it.... really pay to win...

[Prag]

Really so his 483 90 will beat my 507 90? 'cause i leveled mine, hell even my timeless gear is on par with that and i just had to run around like a jackass to get it.... really pay to win...

No.

Go and fight someone who spent as much time leveling to 90 as you did (just make sure they're done with the opening cinematic first).

[silvercentric]

You're just factually incorrect with that statement. Pay to Win, in its true and proper use, means that you can complete the goal of the game with payment of real money and not in-game money. This is not the case. That's that. Getting to level 90 hasn't done much if anything to prepare people for the "true game" that starts at max level for a long time, if it ever has. You only learn that you have buttons you can press, and any attempt to put a patch of fire on the floor for you to move out of, or a special attack to not be hit by, is almost always... almost always severely under-tuned and pointless.

Reaching max level in WoW is factually not Pay to Win, because you don't complete the game's goal, arguably the dangers faced in raids as per their importance in the storyline. Another fact is, the lengthy trip to max level is what's inhibiting new blood from playing with existing players. It's also not fun anymore when you've gone through it twice or three times on alts.

because you don't complete the game's goal, arguably the dangers faced in raids

As I said in another one of my posts. Raiding is not "winning" at this game. PvP is not "winning" at this game. This an MMO, there are many different facets and areas for players to focus on. You are being purposely dense when you restrict your point of view to being those the only areas that you can "win" at.

There are players who only play to level. There are players who are only interested in cosmetic things like mounts, pets or transmogification. You cheapen the game and make it pay to win when you provide out-of-game methods to progress a character in these areas.

[Deleted]

Im not going to express my opinion about the mental state of people who think its pay 2 win.
Instead im just going to vote No and say that i dont think its pay to win because you dont
win anything when turning lvl 90.

[MyLifeIsRandom]

Your personal goal is largely irrelevant. The actual goal of World of Warcraft is to get powerful enough to defeat the main villains. Standard faire for just about every single RPG there is in existence aside from real-time bard simulators. Yes, there's plenty to do and plenty of people to do it with. That's because no one in their right mind would pay $60 then an additional $15 a month for here-and-there updates to a multi-player RPG if that were all you could do.

For example: No one would realistically pay $15 a month to have multi-player Dragon Age with little bits of extra gameplay, amounting to less than an acceptable size for $15 a month DLC that come around every three or four months. You need other shit to do. That extra shit to do is purely for something to tide you over until the next raid comes and the next bad guy terrorizes the world. That is the goal; defeat all the big bad guys. Whether you personally value the mount collecting, achievement farming, etc. is all personal preference and all well and good. However, the goal is to get together and win against the bad guys. You can't do that with the $60 character boost.