$60 For A Level 90?

The hot topic of the week is the cost of the level 90 boost.  It was noticed yesterday on the US server that the option to buy them was there for $60 per boost but the servers went back down to continue maintenance and when they came back the option to boost a 90 was gone.

It is not like there was some mistake here.  Logic dictates that they should not sell 90s until they start taking preorders for warlords which come with the free 90.  The reason for that is because people would end up buying multiple preorders just to get more free 90s, so blizzard might as well sell them at that point.  So there was really no surprise that we only had a quick glimpse of purchasable 90s and they quickly disappeared.

Have no fear if you wanted to buy one, they will be back shortly being the beta is going to be announced shortly, as in extremely shortly, as in you can hold your breath, it will be that soon, and with that announced and out of the way the preorder date will most likely follow and so will our option to buy a level 90 for $60.

So the questions come now and the one that is first and foremost before any others concerning the topic is, what do you think of $60 as the purchase cost?

I think it is dead on and a perfect price.  I honestly was expecting it to be higher. I thought it would be in the $80 range maybe even as high as $100 but I knew they could not really justify 100, I was thinking they might just try it at a higher number.

When I would tell people I was expecting it to be in the $80 to S100 range they said I was crazy but, of course, I disagreed.  My reasoning for why I figured it might be as high as $100 was sound, from a business standpoint.  When warlords comes out you can expect all the previous expansions to be bundled together in a $20 gift pack.  The new expansion will most likely be at least $40 for the non collectors edition.  This means you will need to pay $60 to get yourself the "free" level 90 boost. 

I figured, when making my guess, that people that wanted to buy 90s would buy a full game, which is a $60 cost to get the "free" 90 and then pay an additional $25 to transfer it from that account to their main account instead of paying to keep the additional account active.  This would put the cost of the "free" 90 at $85.  So that is why I figured it would be as low as $80, so it would be cheaper than buying a full new set and transferring the character.  I figured the high end might be $100 because they would know that people might be willing to pay a tiny bit extra, as in $15 more, to not have to deal with the hassle of buying a whole new game set and transferring a character.  So when I guessed $80 to $100 my reasoning was extremely logically and if it were priced in that range no one could really complain because that is why it would cost for a "free" one anyway.

However, we are seeing the forums light up with people barking about the price saying it is out of line, saying it is too much, saying that they pay a subscription so it should be free, saying all types of things that attempt to prove their point that it should not be $60.  If anything when you look at how I explained it I showed without a shadow of a doubt that $60 is in fact quite reasonable.  It is only the cost of buying the game for the "free" 90 and not having to pay for the server transfer.

I think $60 is an excellent price, less than I expected, and a good deal over what it would have cost if they did not offer the option to buy 90s and people just went the other way to keep getting "free" 90s whenever they wanted one.  At a price of $60 blizzard is basically giving people are $25 discount and making peoples lives easier if they were intending to buy a few.

So why are people complaining?  If I were left to guess I would say it could fall into one or more of a few categories. 

Entitlement:  One thing that this generation is known for is that it wants everything handed to them on a silver patter.  We have talked about this before in the game.  Everyone thinks they deserve everything handed to them.  So it is their feeling of entitlement that makes them believe they should not have to pay for something like a level 90 boost.  I would not be surprised if a fair deal of players you see complaining right now fit neatly into this category.

Affordability: The $60 number is not exactly something to sneeze at.  It is a fair deal of cash to part with and even more so if you are out of work, or a student, or a parent with a few kids because you know how that sucks every last free cent from your wallet.  There are many people in many different financial situations and for a fair portion of them $60 for just one level 90 seems like a hell of a lot and I can not disagree with that.  It sure could be.

I can understand people who say they can not afford it but not being able to afford it is not a solid argument against blizzard for selling them for $60.  I don't go around blasting the electronics store because I can not afford that new 108 inch TV that goes for 10 thousand dollars.  Just because you can not afford something does not mean it is over priced, it just means it is not something that is meant for you.  Although I would love that TV in my living room, I am just not in the position where I can throw away ten grand on a television.  It just isn't for me so I will not buy it, but I won't complain about it.  Not being able to afford something is not a good stand point to argue that something costs too much.

Cheapskate:  I feel this might fit a fair deal of players as well.   People who can afford it but just don't want to pay that much.  Everyone wants a deal and even the people that would pay $60 for it would rather pay $40 for it.  There is no denying that fact.  Cheaper is better.  I've seen a lot of people post in various places saying "I can afford it but I would never pay that much" and to them I would say, so don't pay it.  It really is that simple.  The person that can't afford it might have a right to be upset because they would have liked to take advantage of it and can't but when you can afford it and refuse to buy it, you have made your choice and will speak with your wallet by not buying it.  Making that choice and choosing not to buy it is how you can complain.  You have the ability to use the service, you choose not to.  You have a choice, enjoy that fact because there are many that do not have that choice.  Yes, we all would like cheaper prices but the price is not out of line so you are just being a cheapskate if you ever use the line "I can afford it and I want to buy it but I would never pay that much".  If you want to buy it and you can afford it, just buy it.

While we all have the right to complain about things we do not like such as the pricing of the level 90 boost there are times we just have to accept the facts, even more so when they are as plain as the nose on your face which is the case here.  So complain all you want.  I will, I like to complain, I live for it and enjoy doing it, but in this case as odd as it might sound coming from me, blizzard is doing a good thing by their customers.

I'll explain what I mean by blizzard doing a good thing by their customers by pricing it at $60 because I am sure many people will not see it that way.

Blizzard is saving us money.  As I mentioned above, if you wanted an additional "free" 90 it would cost you $85 to get it.  So they are actually saving us money by offering us the ability to purchase one for $60.

Blizzard is making it user friendly.  While me, you and anyone else that reads here might be smart enough to realize that we could buy another copy of the game and get another "free" 90 and transfer it over a vast majority of the player base this does not appear as obvious to.  They might never realize they could get additional 90s by doing that.  This just makes it easier for those people that did not even notice they could do that.

So have fun complaining, we are all entitled too, but in this case I'll say I think $60 is an extremely fair price and quite honestly I am surprised they were reasonable about it.  I was really expecting $80 to $100, which in turn, would have made me complain too.  I would have complained it would be cheaper to buy a new copy of the game and that is exactly why it is not $100.

So I'll end with asking people, now that we know the price, will you take advantage of it?

I don't think I will even if I can afford it, I kind of like leveling so I will keep doing what I enjoy, leveling.  If I find myself "needing" a quick 90 on a server I would go for it because $60 is not really a lot of money and it would save me a little time and I do not mind paying for a little convenience.

However, if the professions being maxed is included for all characters that use the boost that are level 60 or higher already I will be taking advantage of that.  Without a doubt.  I like leveling but professions can sometimes be a bitch, so my new way of playing would be level to 60, boost to 90, continue along.  Leveling to 60 is very fast anyway and sometimes keeping up with professions can be a bitch so I would gladly pay that $60 to skip the last 30 levels and have the professions of my choice maxed out.

If the boost to 90 was included in yesterdays release with the profession boost as well I would have had at least 5 new 90s as of yesterday by boosting a few characters I have sitting in the 60s now with their professions falling behind. Not because I want to skip the leveling process and get to 90 fast, but because of the boost to professions.  To me that is worth more than the boost to 90.

For the average player out there you have to think what is worth more to you, your time or your money.  Do you enjoy leveling or is it just an inconvenience?  When you consider those things you will see if it is worth paying for the boost to 90 but if you do it or not you can be secure in the fact that $60 is in fact a very reasonable price from a logical business stand point and at the end of the day, even if this is a game, blizzard is a business.