World of Warcraft's Character Boosts Now On Sale for $60

[Ophiuchus]

I guess I don't really get why anyone would do this. Why would you pay money to NOT play a game? I'm probably totally off on this, but if you're willing to pay money not to put time into a game then maybe you should find another game to play.

I agree that it doesn't make much sense for a new player. But for someone like me, having done the manual 1-90 grind seven times (and probably one more before the week's over, and countless more abandoned part way through), it's a nice facility to have. I won't be missing out on any content I haven't seen before, just a large portion of grind that stopped being entertaining after the first few times.

That said, I don't think I'm likely to bother paying for a boost. Everyone gets one for free when buying or pre-ordering the new expansion, so I'll use that, but to actually pay £40 for it... nah, not so much.

 

[alceste007]

I am shocked they didn't do this sooner. Illegitimately selling/leveling characters on WoW is an industry all on its own.

Why shouldn't all players have this opportunity available to them, even if they don't want to cheat or do so illegitimately?

This is a good change.

I do not play WoW anymore due to over simplifying of the talent tress, but I do not have an issue with this. These services always existed. Blizzard just gets to keep the money now.

 

[Charli]

I'm actually okay with this.

Some people have some extra money and friends who are already at the level cap, and now they can elect to skip the leveling process in order to save time that they would consider wasted. Like it or not, for some people the real game starts at an MMO's level cap, and that is a valid opinion. They have decided that the leveling process is worth some amount of money per hour, and they would rather spend the money than the time.

I will most likely never use the service, but I don't mind the price. If it was cheaper, people would be raving about the influx of level 90 players who have no idea how to play their class, and the "pay 2 win" argument would become more valid as players with extra cash would have more classes available to them without the time spent leveling. A $60 price tag means that the majority of people who buy it will only do so once, which significantly reduces the aforementioned problems.

tl;dr: Some people think that the leveling process is less appealing than the endgame, and will agree that $60 is a fair hour/dollar ratio for skipping it. There is no large advantage over normal players, as a fresh 90 cannot compete with experienced 90s in either PvE or PvP immediately due to lack of gear.

This. Those that proclaim the game 'RUINED' Obviously haven't been playing in a while.

This feature is not for you, it won't affect anything if you don't want it. The only people who will use it are those on their 5th alt or raiding guilds in need of a specific class for raid or rated battleground.

See a need, fill a need. Basically.


Those of you above going "HOLY SHIT, and omg game ruined?" Errr... hello? The leveling system is still THERE. Are you blind?

I guess I don't really get why anyone would do this. Why would you pay money to NOT play a game? I'm probably totally off on this, but if you're willing to pay money not to put time into a game then maybe you should find another game to play.

World of Warcraft has a very complex and indepth ...what I guess I would term, Secondary game, that lasts at the end of the leveling ladder for nigh on years, and there's multiple ways to play it. Through many different avenues. Player vs Player skirmishes, Player vs Environment content that might make your head spin on first glance, and it can be very engaging in teams.

Sometimes though some of the pro teams, or even rich alternate character oholics want a specific class for a reason. And asshole chinese gold farming and power leveling sites have exploited this for years. Basically, all this does is patch this hole up and divert the flow of cash back into the game. You may call them crazy...but hey, they do it, just like I'm a crazy for buying a 3rd chocolate bar this week. Indulgent? Yes. Satisfying? Quite possibly for the buyer.

 

[kortin]

60 bucks? hah holy fuck, blizzard is apparently running low in their greedy coffers if they are asking for that. I can do so much more with my money than be triple dipped for WoW.

Wouldn't it make more sense, if they wanted more money, to offer it for much cheaper?

 

[Sectan]

I guess I don't really get why anyone would do this. Why would you pay money to NOT play a game? I'm probably totally off on this, but if you're willing to pay money not to put time into a game then maybe you should find another game to play.

I agree that it doesn't make much sense for a new player. But for someone like me, having done the manual 1-90 grind seven times (and probably one more before the week's over, and countless more abandoned part way through), it's a nice facility to have. I won't be missing out on any content I haven't seen before, just a large portion of grind that stopped being entertaining after the first few times.

That said, I don't think I'm likely to bother paying for a boost. Everyone gets one for free when buying or pre-ordering the new expansion, so I'll use that, but to actually pay £40 for it... nah, not so much.

Totally understandable. One thing I think about is if a player doesn't want to level another character to 90 because it's so tedious is that a flaw with the game itself? Does Blizzard have to look at their design choices and change them or is it just impossible to get people interested in leveling characters over and over again?

 

[Brian Tams]

As much as I hate this as a consumer, I have to begrudgingly respect the ruthless business tactic.

I mean, this is going to sell like hotcakes. Certain players will buy this multiple times for multiple toons. Blizz might make enough off this alone to fill Scrooge's money pool.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

60 bucks? hah holy fuck, blizzard is apparently running low in their greedy coffers if they are asking for that. I can do so much more with my money than be triple dipped for WoW.

Wouldn't it make more sense, if they wanted more money, to offer it for much cheaper?

basic economics would say so, but this is actiblizz after all, having things be cheap for the customer has never been their forte.

 

[Compatriot Block]

60 bucks? hah holy fuck, blizzard is apparently running low in their greedy coffers if they are asking for that. I can do so much more with my money than be triple dipped for WoW.

Wouldn't it make more sense, if they wanted more money, to offer it for much cheaper?

basic economics would say so, but this is actiblizz after all, having things be cheap for the customer has never been their forte.

Or maybe they kept it expensive to avoid rendering the leveling process completely obsolete?

People are whining about this right now. Could you imagine how much worse it would be if this was cheap enough that everyone would do it? All they've done is taken a process that already existed through shady third-party sales and, in one motion, provided a safer alternative and limited the number of people who will take advantage of it.

I doubt that this was motivated purely by money, is what I'm saying.

 

[RealRT]

So you got this game that requires you to not only buy it like you do with any game, but also pay monthly to be able to play it. And now you can pay an equivalent of a new AAA-game to max out your character thus skipping the whole game.
The sad thing is that there definitely are people who would buy it.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I doubt that this was motivated purely by money, is what I'm saying.

*looks at D3 auction house*

Ehh....I find that hard to believe when this is actiblizz behind it. they took a practice in third party sales and are now profiting greatly from it while it takes them next to nothing in coding to make it happen.

This doesn't give any kind of edge over anyone, so charging so much for it is actually pretty ridiculous, anyone who is worth their salt will roll kids who just level boosted to 90.

 

[Olas]

I'm actually okay with this.

Some people have some extra money and friends who are already at the level cap, and now they can elect to skip the leveling process in order to save time that they would consider wasted. Like it or not, for some people the real game starts at an MMO's level cap, and that is a valid opinion. They have decided that the leveling process is worth some amount of money per hour, and they would rather spend the money than the time.

I will most likely never use the service, but I don't mind the price. If it was cheaper, people would be raving about the influx of level 90 players who have no idea how to play their class, and the "pay 2 win" argument would become more valid as players with extra cash would have more classes available to them without the time spent leveling. A $60 price tag means that the majority of people who buy it will only do so once, which significantly reduces the aforementioned problems.

tl;dr: Some people think that the leveling process is less appealing than the endgame, and will agree that $60 is a fair hour/dollar ratio for skipping it. There is no large advantage over normal players, as a fresh 90 cannot compete with experienced 90s in either PvE or PvP immediately due to lack of gear.

This. Those that proclaim the game 'RUINED' Obviously haven't been playing in a while.

This feature is not for you, it won't affect anything if you don't want it. The only people who will use it are those on their 5th alt or raiding guilds in need of a specific class for raid or rated battleground.

See a need, fill a need. Basically.


Those of you above going "HOLY SHIT, and omg game ruined?" Errr... hello? The leveling system is still THERE. Are you blind?

Sorry but I don't think it's that simple. When you introduce a shortcut to bypass the game's leveling system, you're invalidating the accomplishment of people who reach high levels legitimately. Who wants to spend hours/days improving their character only to have someone who just started playing kick their ass? If this were a single-player experience perhaps you'd have a point, but this is supposed to be an interactive world where one's level puts them in a hierarchy along with other players, and that hierarchy becomes next to meaningless if different people are playing by different rules.

World of Warcraft has a very complex and indepth ...what I guess I would term, Secondary game, that lasts at the end of the leveling ladder for nigh on years, and there's multiple ways to play it. Through many different avenues. Player vs Player skirmishes, Player vs Environment content that might make your head spin on first glance, and it can be very engaging in teams.

Sometimes though some of the pro teams, or even rich alternate character oholics want a specific class for a reason. And asshole chinese gold farming and power leveling sites have exploited this for years. Basically, all this does is patch this hole up and divert the flow of cash back into the game. You may call them crazy...but hey, they do it, just like I'm a crazy for buying a 3rd chocolate bar this week. Indulgent? Yes. Satisfying? Quite possibly for the buyer.

This isn't really patching the hole though. It's more like setting up a booth next to the hole and charging admission to go through it, if anything they've validated the hole and drawn more attention to it.

It also seems like a clear instance of appeasing the few at the expense of the many, though I guess as long as those are the paying few it's okay.

 

[Compatriot Block]

I doubt that this was motivated purely by money, is what I'm saying.

*looks at D3 auction house*

Ehh....I find that hard to believe when this is actiblizz behind it. they took a practice in third party sales and are now profiting greatly from it while it takes them next to nothing in coding to make it happen.

This doesn't give any kind of edge over anyone, so charging so much for it is actually pretty ridiculous, anyone who is worth their salt will roll kids who just level boosted to 90.

You mean the AH that they explicitly stated was a mistake and will be removing this month?

And I'm not sure why they shouldn't be allowed to participate in those sales. If I ever wanted to buy something, I'd rather do it through an official source than risk a third party. If I'm paying $10 for a crossbow, I don't really care where my money ends up.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike big companies like Blizzard, but I don't think this is one of them.

It's not supposed to be an advantage, it's supposed to be an alternative to leveling. If it was cheap, a lot fewer people would level the old way anymore. They don't want that, so they are limiting it with a price-wall. They are all but saying "If this is more than you're willing to pay to skip content, don't buy it." The price itself is intended to discourage people who are on the fence.

I'm actually okay with this.

Some people have some extra money and friends who are already at the level cap, and now they can elect to skip the leveling process in order to save time that they would consider wasted. Like it or not, for some people the real game starts at an MMO's level cap, and that is a valid opinion. They have decided that the leveling process is worth some amount of money per hour, and they would rather spend the money than the time.

I will most likely never use the service, but I don't mind the price. If it was cheaper, people would be raving about the influx of level 90 players who have no idea how to play their class, and the "pay 2 win" argument would become more valid as players with extra cash would have more classes available to them without the time spent leveling. A $60 price tag means that the majority of people who buy it will only do so once, which significantly reduces the aforementioned problems.

tl;dr: Some people think that the leveling process is less appealing than the endgame, and will agree that $60 is a fair hour/dollar ratio for skipping it. There is no large advantage over normal players, as a fresh 90 cannot compete with experienced 90s in either PvE or PvP immediately due to lack of gear.

This. Those that proclaim the game 'RUINED' Obviously haven't been playing in a while.

This feature is not for you, it won't affect anything if you don't want it. The only people who will use it are those on their 5th alt or raiding guilds in need of a specific class for raid or rated battleground.

See a need, fill a need. Basically.


Those of you above going "HOLY SHIT, and omg game ruined?" Errr... hello? The leveling system is still THERE. Are you blind?

Sorry but I don't think it's that simple. When you introduce a shortcut to bypass the game's leveling system, you're invalidating the accomplishment of people who reach high levels legitimately. Who wants to spend hours/days improving their character only to have someone who just started playing kick their ass? If this were a single-player experience perhaps you'd have a point, but this is supposed to be an interactive world where one's level puts them in a hierarchy along with other players, and that hierarchy becomes next to meaningless if different people are playing by different rules.

Leveling in WoW isn't an accomplishment anymore, if it ever was. And honestly, as the guy I just quoted would agree with, if you get beaten by a fresh auto-90 wearing the free gear it gets and you have been playing for an extended period of time, it's not the game's fault.

There's not a hierarchy based on level, but there is one based on gear, which the auto-90 still has to earn by playing. You can't buy top-tier armor and weapons.

The "level hierarchy" isn't indicative of skill. It's a game where if your number is bigger than their number, you win. No amount of skill is going to let a level 80 beat a level 90 that is capable of breathing.

 

[fluxy100]

Oh yay a report on the character boosts!! Now we get to explain for the umpteenth time who this is for, and why people want it to the people who weren't here for the last 5 news reports and subsequent explanations.

As for the boosts themselves I think they're a nice idea, leveling alts becomes a real chore later into the game and being able to bypass that is a good thing

 

[Kyrinn]

I'm actually okay with this.

Some people have some extra money and friends who are already at the level cap, and now they can elect to skip the leveling process in order to save time that they would consider wasted. Like it or not, for some people the real game starts at an MMO's level cap, and that is a valid opinion. They have decided that the leveling process is worth some amount of money per hour, and they would rather spend the money than the time.

I will most likely never use the service, but I don't mind the price. If it was cheaper, people would be raving about the influx of level 90 players who have no idea how to play their class, and the "pay 2 win" argument would become more valid as players with extra cash would have more classes available to them without the time spent leveling. A $60 price tag means that the majority of people who buy it will only do so once, which significantly reduces the aforementioned problems.

tl;dr: Some people think that the leveling process is less appealing than the endgame, and will agree that $60 is a fair hour/dollar ratio for skipping it. There is no large advantage over normal players, as a fresh 90 cannot compete with experienced 90s in either PvE or PvP immediately due to lack of gear.

This. Those that proclaim the game 'RUINED' Obviously haven't been playing in a while.

This feature is not for you, it won't affect anything if you don't want it. The only people who will use it are those on their 5th alt or raiding guilds in need of a specific class for raid or rated battleground.

See a need, fill a need. Basically.


Those of you above going "HOLY SHIT, and omg game ruined?" Errr... hello? The leveling system is still THERE. Are you blind?

Sorry but I don't think it's that simple. When you introduce a shortcut to bypass the game's leveling system, you're invalidating the accomplishment of people who reach high levels legitimately. Who wants to spend hours/days improving their character only to have someone who just started playing kick their ass? If this were a single-player experience perhaps you'd have a point, but this is supposed to be an interactive world where one's level puts them in a hierarchy along with other players, and that hierarchy becomes next to meaningless if different people are playing by different rules.

Have you even played WoW? Getting to max level is not an accomplishment whatsoever. It's a big deal the first time sure but you will never hear anyone say "Wow, that guy is level 90! SO COOL!" Hell, a decent 87-89 can kill a bad 90 (assuming he's still wearing leveling gear).

All the accomplishments, character improvements, world interaction, and hierarchy you're talking about happens at max level. A fresh max level player will get absolutely destroyed by a character that someone has spent time developing. This is true for both PvP and PvE. Getting to max level is only the start of the journey.

That's why this service exists. Levelling may have been a big deal when WoW was new, but it's been 10 years and 4 (soon 5) expansions since. Endgame is the only game people care about now.

 

[LordMonty]

Frankly not hate filled towards this as tbh if you really want a lvl90 that bad go nuts! $60/£40 is a huge amount to waste and skip all the game conent? but I like that buying warlords of Draenor gets you one of these lvl90 for free, its a good way to help returning players get back into it day one.

So all in all meh its only for the ultra rich who just want to end game raid or pvp and skip all time they'd... 'waste?' gonig to the effort leveling.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Totally understandable. One thing I think about is if a player doesn't want to level another character to 90 because it's so tedious is that a flaw with the game itself? Does Blizzard have to look at their design choices and change them or is it just impossible to get people interested in leveling characters over and over again?

There's certainly things they could change to make the levelling experience better, mostly related to the fact that a lot of older stuff hasn't been updated to reflect more recent lore. Some think it's best that way because the older lore is good for context, and I'd agree up to a point, but it wouldn't be impossible to freshen it up without ruining the context - replace a lot of the grindy quests with more modern mechanics, drastically increase drop rates in quests where you have to collect 12 of something that currently drops 10% of the time... that sort of thing.

Of course, that'd take a lot of time and effort they could be spending on developing new content - and they've already said they're working not only on the already-announced expansion, but also the next two - so it's easy to see why they'd be reluctant to do that when it's easy (and potentially profitable) to just say "hey, here's a boost if you want it". It's a bit of a cop-out, but hey.

 

[Olas]

I'm actually okay with this.

Some people have some extra money and friends who are already at the level cap, and now they can elect to skip the leveling process in order to save time that they would consider wasted. Like it or not, for some people the real game starts at an MMO's level cap, and that is a valid opinion. They have decided that the leveling process is worth some amount of money per hour, and they would rather spend the money than the time.

I will most likely never use the service, but I don't mind the price. If it was cheaper, people would be raving about the influx of level 90 players who have no idea how to play their class, and the "pay 2 win" argument would become more valid as players with extra cash would have more classes available to them without the time spent leveling. A $60 price tag means that the majority of people who buy it will only do so once, which significantly reduces the aforementioned problems.

tl;dr: Some people think that the leveling process is less appealing than the endgame, and will agree that $60 is a fair hour/dollar ratio for skipping it. There is no large advantage over normal players, as a fresh 90 cannot compete with experienced 90s in either PvE or PvP immediately due to lack of gear.

This. Those that proclaim the game 'RUINED' Obviously haven't been playing in a while.

This feature is not for you, it won't affect anything if you don't want it. The only people who will use it are those on their 5th alt or raiding guilds in need of a specific class for raid or rated battleground.

See a need, fill a need. Basically.


Those of you above going "HOLY SHIT, and omg game ruined?" Errr... hello? The leveling system is still THERE. Are you blind?

Sorry but I don't think it's that simple. When you introduce a shortcut to bypass the game's leveling system, you're invalidating the accomplishment of people who reach high levels legitimately. Who wants to spend hours/days improving their character only to have someone who just started playing kick their ass? If this were a single-player experience perhaps you'd have a point, but this is supposed to be an interactive world where one's level puts them in a hierarchy along with other players, and that hierarchy becomes next to meaningless if different people are playing by different rules.

Have you even played WoW? Getting to max level is not an accomplishment whatsoever. It's a big deal the first time sure but you will never hear anyone say "Wow, that guy is level 90! SO COOL!" Hell, a decent 87-89 can kill a bad 90 (assuming he's still wearing leveling gear).

Well apparently it's worth charging 60 dollars for.

All the accomplishments, character improvements, world interaction, and hierarchy you're talking about happens at max level. A fresh max level player will get absolutely destroyed by a character that someone has spent time developing. This is true for both PvP and PvE. Getting to max level is only the start of the journey.

Okay, so they've effectively added 60$ to the price tag of the game then? And what exactly is the point of the leveling system if it means next to nothing? A pointless grind at the start of the game?

You were right in your assertion that I've never played WOW, and the more I learn about it the happier I am about that.

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

It was only a matter of time until they started offering their own service. There's definitely a demand for it, otherwise there wouldn't be a powerleveling industry.

Now, after looking at some 3rd party powerleveling services, at $60 Blizz is undercutting them hard. You'd easily pay twice or thrice that amount if you were to rely on a 3rd party.

So, what does everyone get?

Customers get a safe service while saving money.
Blizz gets less tickets regarding account theft and free money.

Spoiler: and 3rd party services now have a competitor they can not beat,

and 3rd party services now have a competitor they can not beat,

Which leaves regular players, who won't lose much (aside from the occasional encounter with a helplessly bugging out bot).

 

[Kyrinn]

I'm actually okay with this.

Some people have some extra money and friends who are already at the level cap, and now they can elect to skip the leveling process in order to save time that they would consider wasted. Like it or not, for some people the real game starts at an MMO's level cap, and that is a valid opinion. They have decided that the leveling process is worth some amount of money per hour, and they would rather spend the money than the time.

I will most likely never use the service, but I don't mind the price. If it was cheaper, people would be raving about the influx of level 90 players who have no idea how to play their class, and the "pay 2 win" argument would become more valid as players with extra cash would have more classes available to them without the time spent leveling. A $60 price tag means that the majority of people who buy it will only do so once, which significantly reduces the aforementioned problems.

tl;dr: Some people think that the leveling process is less appealing than the endgame, and will agree that $60 is a fair hour/dollar ratio for skipping it. There is no large advantage over normal players, as a fresh 90 cannot compete with experienced 90s in either PvE or PvP immediately due to lack of gear.

This. Those that proclaim the game 'RUINED' Obviously haven't been playing in a while.

This feature is not for you, it won't affect anything if you don't want it. The only people who will use it are those on their 5th alt or raiding guilds in need of a specific class for raid or rated battleground.

See a need, fill a need. Basically.


Those of you above going "HOLY SHIT, and omg game ruined?" Errr... hello? The leveling system is still THERE. Are you blind?

Sorry but I don't think it's that simple. When you introduce a shortcut to bypass the game's leveling system, you're invalidating the accomplishment of people who reach high levels legitimately. Who wants to spend hours/days improving their character only to have someone who just started playing kick their ass? If this were a single-player experience perhaps you'd have a point, but this is supposed to be an interactive world where one's level puts them in a hierarchy along with other players, and that hierarchy becomes next to meaningless if different people are playing by different rules.

Have you even played WoW? Getting to max level is not an accomplishment whatsoever. It's a big deal the first time sure but you will never hear anyone say "Wow, that guy is level 90! SO COOL!" Hell, a decent 87-89 can kill a bad 90 (assuming he's still wearing leveling gear).

Well apparently it's worth charging 60 dollars for.

All the accomplishments, character improvements, world interaction, and hierarchy you're talking about happens at max level. A fresh max level player will get absolutely destroyed by a character that someone has spent time developing. This is true for both PvP and PvE. Getting to max level is only the start of the journey.

Okay, so they've effectively added 60$ to the price tag of the game then? And what exactly is the point of the leveling system if it means next to nothing? A pointless grind at the start of the game?

You were right in your assertion that I've never played WOW, and the more I learn about it the happier I am about that.

They haven't added any price tag to the game except the fact they keep adding expansions like mad. The $60 is 100% optional. The actual $60 boost seems to be a result of Blizz giving a boost to 90 free with the next expansion; which in itself seems to be a tactic to get old players to resub.
Now the whole levelling thing does bring up an interesting question: "what's the point?" It was integral to the game during the days before 2.0. Back then levelling was a serious undertaking. As the game aged, end game content became more and more important. Eventually you get such a gap that levelling is more of a chore.

I don't think there's a good answer to that problem. It's likely that the only reason levelling remains is that it is a grind. It keeps players chasing the carrot on the stick as they level up. Give the players a taste before upgrading them to the addicting cocaine of endgame. Also, straight up removing levelling content would require such a rework that Blizzard might as well make a new game.

 

[VanQ]

This is definitely a convenience purchase, intended for players with a lot of disposable income. Still, it raises some questions - if you're willing to pay the equivalent of four months of subscription time to skip most of the game's content, your definitions of "work" and "play" might be getting a little blurred.

Have you ever played WoW? A statement like that would indicate otherwise as "most of the game's content" exists at the level cap. WoW is just that kind of game.