WoW - Patch 5.4.7: Level 90 character boost

[Asap]

The level 90 character boost, which is slated to arrive with patch 5.4.7, has appeared in limited form on the PTR. You can currently buy the boosts with test currency but the characters created are not yet playable and only show up as "processing" in the character select menu. Once you purchase a boost, a new button is added to the character select screen which lets you initiate the process.

Pay for your level 90, sounds legit. Glad I stopped playing 2 xpacs ago

http://i.wow.joystiq.com/2014/01/28/patch-5-4-7-ptr-level-90-character-boost-ui/

[stormlord]

I think this starts in a couple ways...

1) Quest-driven or golden path gameplay leads to very repetitive replays
2) High level players want an alt to fill in for certain class gaps in their guild or just to reroll as another class
3) Lower level experience becomes clogged up by many years of development - you can see this in EQ with how different areas look like they belong in different games or different eras. This can cause a situation where players are - in practical terms - playing a different game and thus it may be even less relevant
4) Top-heavy population raises the bar for what's considered an achievement
5) Fewer players in the lower levels to socialize and/or play with
6) No reliable methods for a high-level to twink or reliably/easily plvl his/her low level characters

Bottom line, if you're a veteran in a guild and want to reroll as another class or setup and your sole goal is to get to max level to help your guild then you will probably welcome this change.

BUT if you're a new character and want to experience hte game you will probably ignore it at first, until you either get to the high levels or start to feel like only the high levels have any value in the game.

Also keep in mind many games now are allow players to respec without restarting. You don't actually have to buy it, either. You just have to have access to all of the different class abilities in the game. In this kind of game they'll probably offer cashshop services to buy the class abilities instead of loot/train them.

I foresee one possible problem with all this. What if a new player buys a high level character? They've never played hte game before and the high level character might be overwhelming if there're too many abilities. And the tutorials might only cover the basics a level 1 will encounter, not what a high level encoutners. If this is possilbe and happens they may see an uptick in complaints about the new player experience. This could lead to a situation where they have to make a whole new tutorial for high level characters. Or in the worst case it may lead to streamlined high level characters that're easier to play for a new person.

Also keep in mind the lack of high levels rerolling low level characters will reduce the population in the lower level areas. This may make those area more empty and less appealing to new players. This could possibly be a positive feedback, actually worsening the condition as new players grow more alienated because the areas are more empty and thus being spurred to purchase a high level character to resolve it.

I think much of the problems happen when new players (not veterans) start purchasing the level 90 boost. Not only are the points above concerning, but they also skip all of the story and background of the game. Think back on a Star Wars movie, for example. How meaningful would the story be if you skipped to the last 30 minutes? Not having invested in the characters or having any attachment to anything makes it harder to care about what happens. It's one less thing to pull you into the game. This obviously might be good for some people who don't like to follow stories, but I imagine there're unexpected consequences.

Of course if the lower level game is essentially broken then skipping is good for everyone.

[dreama1]

Eq2 did this too.. Of course it is a money thing. They get so much more money from station cash than subscriptions now that they're willing to let almost anything go on there. Smart business decision, imo.

Leveling in any game that has been out for a long time is a unnecessary burden and most people quit, especially when there is no one to group with. WoW has a huge population base so they don't really need this, but I'm sure that many people will buy it anyway. Also, in EQ2, they have this tutorial thing if you buy the boost to 85.. So it's not as if you will be a total noob.

[baalzy]

Eq2 did this too.. Of course it is a money thing. They get so much more money from station cash than subscriptions now that they're willing to let almost anything go on there. Smart business decision, imo.

Leveling in any game that has been out for a long time is a unnecessary burden and most people quit, especially when there is no one to group with. WoW has a huge population base so they don't really need this, but I'm sure that many people will buy it anyway. Also, in EQ2, they have this tutorial thing if you buy the boost to 85.. So it's not as if you will be a total noob.

Remove bind-on-equip and level-restrictions on most gear so people can twink and suddenly leveling low levels becomes fun again.

Something about curbstomping mobs 10 lvls higher than you is incredibly enjoyable.

[dreama1]

In WoW, don't people already have twinks?

I don't think that's a good idea to have a large population of twinks, depending what game, because it will put off new people permanently.

I used to enjoy being like a lvl 45 druid in WoW and do the 40-49 BGs and not get roflstomped by people and actually have a chance to kill people despite having no gear.

[moklianne]

EQ live has plans to do something like this this year as well. It was in the producer's letter. Its spreading throughout the commercial MMO's lately. One of the main purposes is to combat power leveling. Its pretty rampant on EQ live for newbies to get into power leveling groups with mages beaming or SK's swarming, etc and burn through a few levels or 500 AA's for about 50K pp.

Whether it helps or hurts the power leveling market depends on how they implement it. We have to wait and see. It is another tick up on the EZMode dial though either way IMO.

[Asap]

Great business decision? Absolutely. From a gamers standpoint, terrible decision. All of a sudden level 90's running around who have no idea what they are doing. There are still people at max level who don't know how to play their class, this is just going to exacerbate it.

[dreama1]

Great business decision? Absolutely. From a gamers standpoint, terrible decision. All of a sudden level 90's running around who have no idea what they are doing. There are still people at max level who don't know how to play their class, this is just going to exacerbate it.

Why do people think games care about their consumers? Businesses only care about their bottomline.

They know their product is addictive and while people QQ and threaten to ragequit, these same people hardly ever follow through or they come back eventually. Like I said, they will do some special noob area probably for those who do buy it so they can learn the game. Unless you're new to computers in general, it's not as if it takes very long to pick up a game, especially not WoW.

[dreama1]

Plus i'd like to add that nearly all MMORPGs have a certain exclusiveness when it comes to the end game, be it in the way of guilds or BG rating etc... So it's not like you are forced to play with noobs if you don't want to.

[Asap]

Why do people think games care about their consumers

Where did I say that?

[stormlord]

So how much is it supposed to cost to get a high level in EQ2 or WoW?

[dreama1]

So how much is it supposed to cost to get a high level in EQ2 or WoW?

In eq2 it's 35 to get to lvl 85 i think 200AA .. so you still have to get to 95 and 140 more aa

[stormlord]

In eq2 it's 35 to get to lvl 85 i think 200AA .. so you still have to get to 95 and 140 more aa
The AA system in EQ2 is laughable. I was playing it and there were people getting 100aa in what seemed like a few hours. So 140 aa is nothing, really. AA's were cheap. Not like EQ1.

You can level to 85 and 150 aa for $0. It's free to do that. Just takes some time.

The levels aren't as cheap. So is gearing up and progressing. Honestly, I'm not majorly worried about all this. It's not like forcing veterans to replay 85 levels makes it better for them. A lot of them have indeed played through it already, so it'd just be a grind. And of course lower level content can be completely irrelevant in the high level game. There're probably a lot of things that can break low level content. On the other hand, if buying the levels becomes commonplace for new players I might start to worry how it will change MMORPGs. The first sign of this will be the price coming down. More and more players will buy it until it's essentially free. As successful MMORPGs start to adopt, many others will adopt it too without really knowing what they're getting into. My fear is the industry will somehow forget something important and it'll be lost to history.

What I'm saying is MMORPGs will add the ability for people to start at high level without considering why this feature was created in the first place. For example, perhaps older MMORPGs tend to break down in the lower levels and so a feature like this becomes important. However, if new MMORPGs start offering this feature, it'll be misplaced because their low level content may not be broken yet and thus it's a missed opportunity. This will probably cause them to change the formula MMORPGs use and who knows what this will mean.

Even if we only consider veterans using this feature, it can still potentially change the situation positively or negatively. There will probably be fewer players in the low level zones after this change because veterans are buying hte levels instead. This could adversely affect new players leveling up because they feel like the game is too empty. You can't remove all these veteran alts from low level zones without some impact. On the other hand, maybe players are so fiercely invested in their questing they don't notice the lack of others? I guess this could work if the MMORPG tries to feel like a single player game in the lower levels.

In some games this might be a good thing, though. A new player might see less plvling, for example. Plvling can be a very ugly thing in its worst forms. In EQ1 it's particularly bad because there's less instancing, so its effects are more visible. Here on p1999 you can see many complaints about plvlers consuming entire zones.