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Pay for leveling - the definitive guide
jpnz
Member Posts: 3,529
WoW's newest expansion lets you 'buy' a level 90 char. This is big news in the MMO market as WoW is the sub-king and what WOW does tends to have lots of followers (Cough WoW-Clones! Cough)
What is missing however, are actual facts. Facts are what makes a discussion interesting rather than emotional responses.
So I decided to see if I can create an objective guide on "Which MMO allows you to 'buy' levels?"
Note that I am talking purely on 'levels' and not 'gear'. I'm also not talking about business models or 'gain 10% XP more for killing monster!' items. The character that you buy a level for has to be the character you created and obviously I'm only counting legal ways to do this.
For me to answer 'Yes' to my question above, it has to be 'Yes' to the following diagram.
'Pay extra $$ to game company' -------> 'Player does X (X can not be 'kill monster')' --------> 'Get Level'
YES
EQ2 - Allows you to buy level 85 chars directly from SOE via 'Heroic Characters'. https://www.everquest2.com/news/everquest2-heroic-characters-faq
Neverwinter - Allows you to level via in-game currency that you can buy / convert with real-life money via crafting
GW2 - Allows you to level via in-game currency that you can buy / convert with real-life money via crafting. Also allows Tome of Knowledge to be dropped from 'Black Lion Chest' (in-game currency) + Black Lion Key (cash shop item).
AION - Direct XP gain items from their cashshop http://store.aiononline.com/store/category?categoryPath=1_2_51
WoW - Direct Level purchase; https://us.battle.net/shop/en/product/world-of-warcraft-service-character-boost
TSW - Allows "AP Injection" to be bought from their Cash Shop.
DDO - Iconic Hero's start from Level 15; http://ddowiki.com/page/Iconic_Hero
Happy to update the OP if I missed an MMO that lets you 'buy levels'
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Comments
EQ2 = F2p (Sub option but give u bonus to xp,mount speed ect )
Neverwinter = f2p ( Perfect world nuff said )
Gw2 = B2p (cash shop with cosmetic stuff)
WoW = p2p with cash shop with mounts / pets , selling lvl 90 char
every f2p let u buy XP potions or speed up the process of leveling , because Its F2p they need to gain money u know.
WoW is p2p , and has millions of players , still have a cash shop for mounts, pets , oh and race/name/server/ change.
and now are going to start selling lvl 90
XP boosts are not the same as "buying levels".
Also, Eve Online qualifies, I think.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Yes you can, but I think its a limited timed thing. This is only the 2nd time I've gotten the email about it from turbine. I'm a lifer and have leveled so many toons into the 30's that I can't stomach another try so I used the gift on the first time arund to get my champ into Moria.
Do you mean the experience boost you accumulate? That's not the same as buying levels.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Well, while EVE doesn't have levels, you are quite correct, in fact character progression doesn't occur unless you pay them a continuing sub to keep your skills training. No sub, no progression, and a player can't progress by simply playing the game. (though they can improve on the rate of progression)
It even supports people buying other players high progression characters, allowing them to sell them to other players for ISK (which not coincidentally can be obtained by trading PLEX which you buy from CCP) so you can totally skip literally years of progression time if you have the money (or self earned ISK) to buy one.
(BTW, this practice leads to hilarity and quite a few tears if a person new to the game purchases a high level character and undocks solo in his new Dreadnaught to try and kick everyone's arse with his new found prowess)
So perhaps EVE is the ultimate example of a game where you must pay to progress, even without any levels in sight.
And I'm alright with that. (though all my characters were self-earned by paying almost 5 years of subs now)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Tera had an event that gave away a free high-level character. You just had to create a new toon and give it a special name by a certain date and voila! Don't think it's offered as a paid service though.
Crazkanuk
----------------
Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
----------------
Some thoughts on this matter:
1. This has been happening in WoW with payed chinese players for a very long time.
2. I have always thought that leveling is one of the important fun parts of an MMO.
3. WoW has a very big open world with tons of fun quests. If people are willingly paying for skipping all of this, something is wrong with the game design.
4. If leveling is the stupid part and every MMO starts with endgame-stuff, why not removing leveling at all?
5. No. MMOs are not complex and do not require "learning" by "new" players. Whenever I watch somebody who normaly plays shooters trying an MMO the first reaction is:"And that's it? When does it get interesting? I can even play without looking at the screen!"
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.
No, if you sub, you get "offline levels" which can be assigned to any character over level 30? I think? Basically it's a sub perk. Offline leveling is what they call it. It's like a level every few days or something? I think that I figured that you could probably level up a character to max level in a few months. It's not directly charging you for it, but if you didn't even play, it could equate to a total of 45 or 60 bux I guess.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
----------------
I don't really like leveling or endgame in current MMORPGs. It's why I play single player games. I've never been someone who goes with the flow of what the majority of people want. I guess that's why I played MMOs a lot when they were first created, but not so much now that they are mainstream. I always said if the leveling process is not enjoyable for people to the point they have to accelerate it or avoid it all together by paying money that something is wrong with the game design. The cash shop model shouldn't be needed if a game is enjoyable.
Hey your wallet deserves to have fun in an MMO, too, right?
I find it just as ridiculous. If a game is so awful I feel compelled to pay to skip chunks of it, I might as well spend my time at some boring job where I'll at least be making money. Or I could sit and stare at the wall and at least not be spending any money. Or hey, there's the library. A nice place full of nice people who are perfectly fine letting me walk off with their books and not return them for weeks.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
EvE you can not only buy ingame currency with RL money, can buy ready-made toons with that very RL>ISK currency.
WoW, can only buy a clean slate toon with no gear for $60.
But after what I've now seen what Blizzard is doing prior to WoD (possibly to increase box sells), I won't support this feature.
$60 is really over valued when players can level to 90 in days, anyway (unless Blizzard will be banning accounts that look "suspicious" if they level from 1-90 in a week with BoAs -- since it's showing Blizzard doesn't have the data to tell the difference anyway to ban such players, but will do so).
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Pretty concise list of games that allow you to buy your way through most of the game. It's one of the reason why I can't stand GW2 as much as I used to. The fact that WoW is doing it now turns me off from the game as well. I'm not too enthused about it coming to EQ soon as well, but at least in EQ the characters you can buy only let you skip maybe 1/10th of the game rather than 90% of it.
I don't know if I'll continue playing games that do this beyond EQ, and that's just because I have already invested 14 years into the game and am way beyond the level of character they are selling.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
I don't mind old games letting you buy higher level characters since there's so much content and you're so far behind, and or maybe have done it a million times before.
I do however have a problem in newer games.
This!
Just dinged my 5th level 90 character in WoW yesterday. Glad I did it before the expansion.
The story and experience of actually playing through the game shouldn't be discounted. For alts, though, I think it's a great idea.
Crazkanuk
----------------
Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
----------------
In addition to XP boosters, Aion NA has a cash shop item called "Secret Remedy of Growth" that directly grants XP (20% of a level's worth per hit), these become more expensive the higher your character's level (176 store points per hit for level <20, increasing to 495 for level 50-54 (thus the highest level you can reach using them is 55 -- current cap is 65).
http://store.aiononline.com/store/category?categoryPath=1_2_51
I find a more telling issue for the genre to be that line above in which almost every MMO is a 'smack monster, get xp' game.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I suppose it's not the same thing as buying levels outright but if you aren't paying for a sub you wouldn't be getting that perk. Similar but not quite the same.
I've modified the OP to include Aion - thanks!
EVE doesn't fall under this definition as I can't 'buy' SP for my character. I can buy another character with higher 'levels' (SP) but that isn't 'my' character that I created. Might be just a technical issue but I wish to keep the OP based on facts.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Very interesting subject you have here.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
I think its stupid and misses the point of what an MMO is about, regardless if you have time to play or not, or simply dont want to grind through the levels. But to each his own.
-Mongoose