Update: WoW: Warlords of Draenor Pre-Order Bonus is an Instant Level 90

[Evonisia]

The amount of people saying "it's ruined the game", "it's destroyed most of the content".

Ok, with this announcement you can be 90 in Mists of Pandaria with the buff. However the majority of players do want to play at end game, and the levelling system is now just a trivial stepping stone experience to get there. Seriously, it's an option to skip past what is essentially the intro mission. I personally am not one to avoid the questing experience, I enjoy levelling, but I'm not vain enough to declare that most of the game can be completely missed because nobody experiences the lower level content anyways (beyond dungeons and some of the areas).

It's not "Pay-to-win" when being 90 is barely worth anything, and in Warlords of Draenor you're still going to have to level through Alternate Draenor.

 

[misg]

I think what you are seeing hear is a split of players. Old ones that quit and really dislike where the game has gone and the current players who like the content and I think blizzard is addressing that they want. I don't blame people for wanting to skip 1-90 but at the same time it's not how I like to play my MMOrpg's. WoW is a Themepark game, I can't blame people for not wanting to ride the teacup ride for hours when all they wanted was to ride the roller coasters with their friends.

This is the game WoW is now, some like it some don't end of the day Activision has to pay back that 5 Billion buyout somehow and I think this will go a long way to helping. I just hope the content players paying to get at faster is worth it for them.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

I like leveling characters, so this doesn't really apply to me. Granted, I'll probably still preorder Warlords of Draenor and experience the one free boost to level 90, which is a nice incentive, but in the long run, I'll still level characters as I always have. I don't even participate in the "Heirloom" items that make leveling even quicker than it already is, as I dislike how much faster it makes the process.

I'm one of those weird players who enjoys the lore and questing content and often takes my time in seeing and experiencing everything I can along the way. A lot of people in this thread are implying that there is only one way to play the game, as well as only one way to succeed once you reach the level cap. I've never been big on raiding, nor do I really care if I don't have the best gear. The advent of that transmogrification system was a godsend as it allows me to further customize the LOOKS of my character, which is one of the things I care about the most.

Bottom line: I don't think the average Escapist user has the highest opinion on World of Warcraft, so it's no surprise to me seeing the backlash here. If you think this is bad, you should see the official WoW forums.

Absolutely despicable behavior, all of it.

 

[Rattja]

Hm, well, I uesd something like this to get my hunter to 80 once. Granted I did not pay for it, nor would I, but I have to admit it was handy since my main goal was to raid, so everything inbetween was just frustrating to go through for the 10th time.
I think there should be, and most likely will be, a restriction, where you have to have at least 1 character a certain level before you can do this at least. New players that are handed a high level character just won't know how to play, and 10 levels won't change that.

Now..

starting a game in which you already have one of the highest possible ranks and a lot of skill points to put into your skill tree and ability tree might end up with you, putting most of your points on skills you thought were good for your playstyle, but turned out to be impractical for you in the end.

so this can go wrong for players who wanted to get into world of warcraft with this expansion as an entry point.

Keep in mind that they have more or less made it impossible to mess up, and should you somehow manage it's easy to fix.
In my optinion, this is not a good thing.

This is an offer for veterans that just cant be asked to level another character if they want to change class or something, simple as that.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

You mean I can pay money to have the game already finished for me!? Sweet! If there was one thing holding back gaming, it was the fact I had to actually play the game. The fact Blizzard has enabled me to simply throw money at them and have the game finished for me really opens up my schedule.

The level cap in Warlords of Draenor is 100, not 90. An instant level up to 90 is just allowing one to immediately make use of the new content bought with the expansion.

Plus as everyone should know a lot of the fun in WoW is in end-game content (ie stuff you do while at the level cap).

 

[bossfight1]

People are just hating this because it's WoW.

I'm honestly liking the free 90 because here is the thing:

I don't want to level another character all the way to 90

I have:

A Worgen Deathknight
A Human Hunter
A Human Paladin
A Pandaren Monk (Probably not going to play on him again, Alliance)
A Blood Elf Mage
A Pandaren Warrior (Horde)

All at 90. I am fucking done. But this free 90...I could use it on one free class. Or A Pandaren Hunter, because the other classes I don't have are not on my interest right now.

Agreed. Really, the free 90 seems to be more for people who've already gotten one or two level-capped toons. I don't think someone interested in trying the game would dump $50+ for the sake of getting to the endgame content right at the get-go. That's why the game lets you play for free up to Level 20: see if you LIKE it. You're making a big risk if you're new to the game and just buy all the XPacs willy-nilly.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

So as a reward for pre-ordering the game you get the bonus option of removing half the fun?
Edit:
Ah, ignore this post. I forgot that the level cap will be 100 and you get a insta 90 to get to the new content.
It does make sense in a way, but then again not for people who already have character on the level cap. The basically get nothing.

 

[Nilanius]

Whilst I wouldn't use this as I tend to enjoy leveling characters, I'm going to assume you haven't maxed an MMO character before.

Your assumption is wrong. On World of Warcraft, I got 9 level 90's and 2 level 85's. On lord of the rings online, I had a max level captain and loremaster. SWTOR I got a maxed consular. And on FFXIV my white mage and monk classes are maxed.

Achieving max level on all these characters gave me a feeling of accomplishment. I worked hard to get to the levels. Again, games are not supposed to be about cutting out the journey to see the end. Games is setting goals and working to achieve them goals. If someone don't want to play the game to get to the end, then they really have no business playing games to begin with. MMO's should not have these shortcuts. EQ never had them shortcuts.

All they are doing with these free level 90's, is giving a few moments of instant gratification. Hell on Mists of Pandaria, it took me only 4 days to level cap. If the XP curve is still keeping that trend, then people will find themselves bored of WoD within a week or two and will unsubscribe yet again because it takes Blizzard months to even make a patch.

Meanwhile, games like Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, embraces the true meaning of gaming. You start on a story driven journey right at level 1, you got class/job quests that focus on teaching you the things you need to know to prepare you for dungeons and raids. There are no real shortcuts. They recently though added Duty Roulette though that helps with leveling. You get put in a random dungeon, and at the end of the dungeon once a day, you get a big bonus in XP. But guess what. You are still on the journey to level cap.

Took me 2 months I think to hit level cap on my white mage. Same with my monk class. Leveling is an obstacle in RPG's and MMO's. An obstacle one must get through in order to reach the end. Completely removing over half the game kills the games life. A game shouldn't begin at the end. It should begin from the beginning. This move caters to the lowest common denominator. Why? Because they are the only ones left playing the game. They've chased away people who had been loyal customers for over 20 years. And sadly when the lowest common denominators get bored, they goto other games and try pressuring those developers to cheapen their game like Blizzard did.

My opinion is, WoW is on life support right now. This is Blizzard's desperate move to try to get some life back into the game. They wont diagnose the actual problem, so they are trying to get as much money from who is left before burying it.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

You mean I can pay money to have the game already finished for me!? Sweet! If there was one thing holding back gaming, it was the fact I had to actually play the game. The fact Blizzard has enabled me to simply throw money at them and have the game finished for me really opens up my schedule.

The level cap in Warlords of Draenor is 100, not 90. An instant level up to 90 is just allowing one to immediately make use of the new content bought with the expansion.

Plus as everyone should know a lot of the fun in WoW is in end-game content (ie stuff you do while at the level cap).

As you may have suspected. I was being facetious.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

You mean I can pay money to have the game already finished for me!? Sweet! If there was one thing holding back gaming, it was the fact I had to actually play the game. The fact Blizzard has enabled me to simply throw money at them and have the game finished for me really opens up my schedule.

The level cap in Warlords of Draenor is 100, not 90. An instant level up to 90 is just allowing one to immediately make use of the new content bought with the expansion.

Plus as everyone should know a lot of the fun in WoW is in end-game content (ie stuff you do while at the level cap).

As you may have suspected. I was being facetious.

Obviously you were being facetious. As you may have noticed I didn't not reply to your post as if it were literal.

Seeing as how you facetiously expressed enthusiasm for the instant level 90 character you obviously were really expressing dislike for the concept, citing the "benefits" as reasons for your dislike. My reply to you then explains why your reasons for disliking the concept are flawed.

So am I completely wrong here or did you just want to appear to refute my post without actually refuting it?

 

[Risingblade]

I guess most people here have no idea what endgame is.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

No, this is good, so instead of having a game that you would want to play, you have a system, that you can pay money, get max level, and then you don't have to play anymore.

That is a huge oversimplification. Leveling up to the max is fun the first time, maybe 2 times, but after that you just want it to be done as quickly possible so you can start doing heroic dungeons & raids. The funnest part of the game begins at max level, and it's different depending on what kind of class you play.

Sure, buying the game and then making your first character instant max level is a little silly, but I'm still not saying it's the wrong call.

I have leveled five different characters to the level cap over the game's various expansions. (I've played for a long time, although not currently.) They're not all level 80, (I stopped playing after Cata) but they were all max level at one point. And on some of them, I'd have liked to skip the leveling process, or at least make it faster. On a couple I used the heirloom items, but they only increased XP gains by a small amount that really wasn't noticeable.

Plus, it'll give greater class balance. Or at least, one would hope. All those DPS players might finally role a healer or tank if they could skip the leveling process. Then maybe I could finally play DPS once in a blue moon.

 

[JSoup]

As someone who has 8 level 90s and is working on the another as I type this...meh. I like the leveling process, but I see the uses of the bump. I guess I'll use it for a class I'm just not feeling, which for me would be either Warrior of Paladin.

 

[marioandsonic]

I like leveling characters, so this doesn't really apply to me. Granted, I'll probably still preorder Warlords of Draenor and experience the one free boost to level 90, which is a nice incentive, but in the long run, I'll still level characters as I always have. I don't even participate in the "Heirloom" items that make leveling even quicker than it already is, as I dislike how much faster it makes the process.

I'm one of those weird players who enjoys the lore and questing content and often takes my time in seeing and experiencing everything I can along the way. A lot of people in this thread are implying that there is only one way to play the game, as well as only one way to succeed once you reach the level cap. I've never been big on raiding, nor do I really care if I don't have the best gear. The advent of that transmogrification system was a godsend as it allows me to further customize the LOOKS of my character, which is one of the things I care about the most.

Bottom line: I don't think the average Escapist user has the highest opinion on World of Warcraft, so it's no surprise to me seeing the backlash here. If you think this is bad, you should see the official WoW forums.

Absolutely despicable behavior, all of it.

I wish there was something I could add to this, but I can't. This post sums up my thoughts exactly...except I do use the heirloom items.

Honestly, soon after I got to level 90, I didn't feel like raiding or getting the best gear. Instead, I mostly went through old content and old raids.

I got such a sense of joy with curb-stomping every boss that gave me trouble 2-3 expansions ago with my Boots of Pettiness.

 

[Lawnmooer]

To be honest... This might make me actually try out another class (Though, I'm pretty sure that I have all classes at the moment, or at least I have had all the classes at some point...)

I welcome the ability to get insta-90, I don't much like the idea of having to buy it via the store (Which is usually rather overpriced) - I'd have much preferred something like buy with in-game gold/using Valor on another character or something, making it so you won't get newbies with more money than sense instantly at end-game while making the process of getting an alt up for those with already established end-game character much more bearable.

At the moment, the leveling in WoW is pretty horrible - Quests are really linear (MoP quests really feel like they're just shoving you to the next hub as quickly as they can in a feeble attempt at saying "LOOK AT THIS CONTENT. LOOK AT IT NOW, NOT WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE IT, NOW NOW NOW!!!" and the "Re-vamped" Azerothian quests from Cataclysm are also quite linear, especially with incredibly strict minimum levels for everything to coddle newbies who might actually find something that puts up any sort of resistance), experience requirements are so low that with no exp boosts you'll outlevel every zone you quest in before getting through it all, combined with the huge focus on end-game (Nothing useful to do at low levels, resources like Honour or Justice Points are gathered in much larger numbers at max level, there's no challenge in quests at level making experiencing them little different than at max level, since 1 shot is a 1 shot no matter what...)

It's especially bad if you're not a fan of quests and have done them all on multiple characters and really just want to get an alt up to max level as quickly as possible to be able to start on the end-game grind (Be it something annoying like the Legendary questline with it's huge RNG dependence and arbitrary time-gates (The quest where you have to earn 3k Valor - 3 weeks minimum (Used to be 6k - 6 weeks minimum) or the gear treadmill to be able to start raiding on that character)

Heck, with how much of the game that's focused purely on end-game (For example, PvP is HORRIBLY imbalanced at levels under the cap) I'm surprised that Blizzard haven't just gone "Fuck it, just give everyone max level when they create a character!" - Since, unlike other MMO's there's really not much effort put into the leveling experience to make it a more fulfilling activity (Though some people do like it, usually as a way to pass the time when they've capped out their main for the week/day)

 

[NSGrendel]

I would still possibly play WoW, were it not for the tedious levelling experience.

Like I didn't kill enough monsters in raids. Having to pay to work to get to that stage again - not compelling.

 

[SirDeadly]

Hell, I get bored going from 1-20 so a free level 90 would be great. I have two 90's currently and my priest was in the 70's before I decided to take a break. I am definitely dreading doing the whole 85-90 part again as there seems to be very little difference and it takes so damn long.

At least leveling in WoW is nothing compared to leveling in Maplestory where you need 16,737,423,222,285 exp to go from lvl249-250 (max level).