Character Level Boost - $60

   I'm not sure what to make of this. On one hand I think "you money-grabbing bastards" - but on the other I also can't help thinking that they quite simply don't want people to just buy it willy nilly and not actually play the game, and are trying to discourage people from choosing this option while still allowing an easy out from monotonous levelling. But in that case, why implement it at all?

   Character level boosting to 90 bypasses the original game and four - four - expansions. I don't enjoy levelling anymore, I've done 1-60 Cata style than I did classic, but I'm sick of it because I've done it so much. I want Vanilla back again, personally, but there's no going backwards and I get that. So this is a good option for people like me who have gone through the levelling process eight times already. I'm not going to pay it, though, partly because I like to learn my classes and actually build up a character (as in narrative, not levelling), and partly because I don't have the money to spend £45 or equivalent on such a thing in one go. Mounts are steep enough!

   The price tag is definitely discouraging, there's no doubt about that, and I'm quite sure that that's part of the point, the other part being that the $60 will evade goodness knows how much time (and may I point out gold and reputation) and that the product (an immediate level 90) is no small thing, either, and shouldn't be seen as such. It's a penalty, in a way.

   I don't think I like it. Don't get me wrong, if we still get a free 90 boost with the next expansion I'll probably use it on my rogue (I want a rogue but I just can't stand levelling anymore!!), but I wouldn't pay for it specifically. Mounts and race changes are one thing - they're mostly cosmetic, though the faction changing is a bit more serious than that - but bypassing goodness knows how much game time is another. If you don't want to level, don't play the game. Levelling a character is a pretty basic part of an MMO and I think it's a bad move. And while I'd usually say "if you don't like it, don't use it, it's not going to affect you or your game play" like I did towards pet battles and mount purchases, this doesn't apply here. This will affect our gameplay when you have kids with their parents' credit cards or people with more money than sense buy level 90 boosts and start pugging raids. Admittedly I don't think you should pug a raid if you're looking for actual progress, or pug anything really unless you're just looking for justice/valour, rep and to kill time. And maybe a drop or two. But there will still be little kids running around with one character they got to level 90 on their own and then 5 more that they payed to 90 and have no idea how to play. This is part of the reason I have never gotten a Death Knight past level 72, because I find the new abilities you're given so quickly too overwhelming to truly learn. And now you know I don't have a Death Knight...I might make one though, but I'll have to look up some guides on it and ask my boyfriend (not that he's played since 4 months into MoP) or I'm going to be completely lost.

   I don't know. I suppose I'm ranting. This is the first payed service that will actually affect other people, and the first service that the idea of "don't like it, don't use it" isn't applicable to. In my opinion, at least.

   What do you all think? Will you be using the service? I figure if you have the money, still enjoy the game and you've levelled enough characters then there's not really any problem with it. I just worry about new or inexperienced players (I consider myself one of the latter despite 5 years of playing), what it will do to their perception of the game, and what it will do to the rest of us who end up with them in groups and guilds.