The end of the game?

I haven't played WoW since the highest level was 80 and was going to start a topic on whether or not I should go back. If this is true and you can just skip to 90 there is no way I want to go back to playing it. I don't think it is going free to play, but it sure looks like it is becoming pay to win with a subscription on top of that. I assume Blizzard went with this decision to appeal to casual players who don't want to put the time into properly building a character slowly. I think I will stick with Runic Games now instead of what Blizzard has become.

 

I hate the idea of buying a level 90 character. It's already so easy and fast to level up that it doesn't make much sense to me. We're going to have even more people who have no idea how to play their class.

 

It's being marketed more towards the casual player now then raid players anyway. It seems like Blizzard is attempting a cash grab with things like this more than anything else. They probably saw the success of micro transactions Zynga was having and decided to further monetize their own games. Hopefully they learned their lesson with the cash shop issues Diablo 3 has had.

 

This would really ruin the game in my opinion. I really wouldn't like it. You would get people starting at level 90 who didn't do the work to get there and who don't know anything about the game but are so powerful they can annoy the crap out of you.

 

For an experienced player returning from a hiatus from the game, being able to skip over the low level content makes some sense. I don't think there are enough people in this category to justify this. I agree with t0rnad0 though - leveling is easy and doesn't actually take that long. Part of the allure of the game is improving my character - to miss that is to make the game less appealing to me. So, who will pay for this? My guess is the wrong people.

 

I'm wondering why how other people play their game would affect how you play yours. I see all this "it will ruin the game", but how does it ruin it for you?

I've been playing WoW on and off for over 8 years. All the gold farmers apparently destroying the game economy, the easy game play they introduced in Cataclysm+, the outright hate for Pandas, etc just didn't influence the way I played the game at all. I am of the mentality that people can go about their business, so long as they don't control the way I play mine.

Markets fluctuate, auction prices rise and fall. So what? I have six max level toons, all of them complement each other in professions. I still make thousands of gold per week from various things. What's the problem? If you know how to play the game, how to utilize your professions, skills and game mechanics, then making gold, crafting items, choosing a guild to play with, raiding, pvp, etc all come together at some point.

If you feel that Panda is not your thing, then don't play a Panda. I have five Tauren. I love Tauren. No one is going to be able to force me to play Alliance or Gnomes if I don't want to.

 

Well said. I honestly don't see any problem with "buying" level 90, but it's kinda disappointing that they aren't doing it to benefit players, but just to milk more money from them, still as you said it has absolutely no effect on the game at all. What's more level 100 will be the cap, so people will have to level the last 10 levels by themselves anyway.
Also with adding this I don't think they are leaning towards going free to play... rather they are showing that they are more than confident that there are plenty of players that would spend money on this as well.

 

Seriously, buy a level 90 character? What's the point of playing the game then when you can simply buy your way into things? In short, as long as you have the money to burn, you do not need dedication and effort to achieve something.

 

Well I don't really agree. It takes you about 2 days of played time to get to level 90 and after that you can spend 100's of days of played time doing the interesting part

 

The game begins at the level cap. I think no account should be able to buy to 90 unless they have genuinely leveled at least one character, but I do think that many long time players don't really want to grind through duskwood for the umpteenth time. I don't like to cut corners, but I don't like to waste my playtime either. If the quests and the zones are no longer new to me, and there is no challenge to me as I know exactly what each critter will do, then skipping over it makes some sense.

 

Yeah I do agree on the idea that they should have made it that you need at least 1 level 90 before you can use this service... and if my memory serves me right that was the initial plan as well, but I guess they decided that it's more profitable to let anyone who wants to do it, to do it

 

It's been a long time since leveling as been any sort of gratifying though. With RaF and heirlooms, and dungeon finder, leveling has become a simple grind. All the "acheivement" stuff comes from end-game content and has been so for years now.

I have no problem with buying a 90. If anything, I think it's a great way to get people to sub back to WoW for a "fresh start" so to speak.

 

More to show that it's a waste of money when the same thing can be achieved in two days. What do I know, it's been so long since I've touched WoW. Buying a character just doesn't sound right to me.

 

Yeah 2 days played time however... meaning if someone works 5-6 days a week and can spare only 2 hours daily playing(and he probably won't feel like playing every day) that will mean that 48/2=24 days to get to level 90 at best. Also the 2 days played time is for people who know the quests and how to level fast, while someone who is completely new(or hasn't played in 3-4 years) will probably need at least double if not triple the amount of time. Basically someone who is new and can spare only 1-2 hours daily to play will probably need more than a month if not close to two months to reach level 90.

 

Its ok in my opinion. Leveling to 90 is so ridicolously fast that it doesnt matter anyway. They get some cash and players get to spped through the content that they know by heart already.

 

I'm very happy with this system because it allows people who have fallen off the wagon to get back on with minimal discomfort. A lot of you seem to be forgetting that 90 levels of progress is 90 LEVELS OF PROGRESS. That's time. A lot of time. Time that those people want to be spending with all their friends who are at cap. Cap is, as many people have pointed out, where the real game begins. Why should we hold these people back if in reality they're just trying to play with their friends?

As for purchasing 90s, it doesn't really improve how good a person is at the game. Like, once they sell gear that has stats on it, that's when I'll say enough is enough. But this is hardly the death knell of the most popular subscription mmo of all time.

 

I think this a terrible thing for WoW, I think it says a lot about the state of the game when people are willing to pay a lot in order to NOT play the game, might as well start all chars on 90 as endgame all anyone cares about anymore, the rest of the game is boring

 

Well a lot of the old players are too tired from leveling as well. I have a friend who had a level 89 warrior for 6 months. He couldn't bring himself to play 2 hours to level it to 90 even though it was rested lol. And that's a person who spends at least 2-3 hours playing WoW absolutely each day(weekends 4-5 hours).

 

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT. A buyable level 90??!!?! THAT'S WRONG AND INSANE. GROSS.