AWM: If You Could Tell Who Was Boosted to 90?

I've made many posts over the course of the years where I pick a topic and argue with myself.  It is not always productive but I like to do it to help me see both sides of the story because I believe you can only make an informed opinion if you have, or at least can try to see, both sides of the conversation represented.

So while arguing with myself is nothing new this is the first such post of the type I have made in a long time.  Right now the topic that has me thinking is the new boost to 90 system that is being added to the game.  Either the free one or the purchasable one.  It is still the end result of a free level 90 character.

There is a thread over at mmo-c where they have been going at it for quite a while back and forth with people from both sides bringing up some very valid points.

To start off, before I argue with myself, I would like to share my opinion on the matter.

I have absolutely no real issues with the boost to 90 for the people that wish to use it.  It effectively gives them a character that they can start at the current starter level of content.  So when warlords comes out it would be starting at 90 and you will need to level to 100.  Basically jumping right into the game you purchased.  It would be the same as someone starting at level one in vanilla.  They are starting at the beginning of the game.  This difference is in allowing people to skip over many parts of the game to start at the beginning of an expansion.

With all that said however, my opinion on the matter might not actually fit what I just offered above even if those words are mine and I do fully agree with them.

I do not believe that you should be able to buy a level 90 of a character you do not currently have at level 90.  Which means, if I have a hunter at level 90, I can buy a level 90 hunter.  I can buy two or three or seventeen of them if I so wish.  I leveled a hunter, so why not let me skip that process and catch up with another one on another server, or create an additional one on my current server because I by far enjoy that class the most and it would be me another viable raiding toon.

I do not think that letting someone boost a character to 90 that they have never played should be allowed. It is my personal opinion on the matter and in the end really means nothing.  Blizzard is doing this as a cash grab and a way to get people back because the leveling process has become unnecessary.  It is more a way to waste some time for the people that wish to do it but with the constant focus on end game and end game only, leveling no longer has a place in the game (which is another post in its own all together).

Okay, now that we got my opinion on the whole buy a 90 out of the way, lets get to the heart of the question that they are talking about over in that mmo-c thread that has kept me reading and interested for some time now.

Should there be a way to tell who was boosted to 90?

For:

For the very same reason you see people asking for outrageous requirements for flex like a 560 item level when it can be done in 510 there should be a way to see who has purchased their character.  While the 510 item level druid healer could easily do flex and do well in there a 560 druid healer should do better.  While both could end up bad, or the 510 could be the greatest druid healer ever while the 560 is just someone that never healed and got a lot of off spec drops from his guild raid runs but does not know how to play a druid healer the chances are that the 560 druid healer will be better are a little higher.  Being able to see who bought their character is just a tool in hoping to increase the chances of success, same as taking the better geared player.

Against:

I have seen countless people in pugs that were better geared than I do horrible like in a recent run with my newest hunter where a mage in almost all heroic gear, save 4 pieces, was getting his ass handed to him by me on every fight from my with my half LFR / flex flex geared hunter.  Gear does not equal skill, it just increases maximum potential.  If someone is not playing to their potential, they will still be bad, gear or no gear.  Also, as another example, I never played shadow as a priest but disc was going to take too long to kill stuff so I changed my priests off spec to shadow and used my healing gear and just looked up some guides on how to play shadow and I do just fine with it.  Although my hit rating is way over cap thanks to my spirit from being a healer and my stats are not balanced as they should be I would be hard pressed to think anyone could find anything wrong about how I play the character even if they might question my gearing, gemming and reforging choices.  It does not take a lot of time to learn how to play a character.

For:

But that is talking about damage dealers.  There is a huge gap in playing a fresh damage dealer and a fresh healer.

Against:

But showing who purchased their characters would show everyone that did, not just healers, so using damage dealers as an example is fair game.

For:

Well, back on topic, just like using item level or achievements or any other form of measuring stick before those were used to assemble a raid, shouldn't there be some way to tell who worked their character up and who took the easy route.

Against:

So you are saying that the person learned while leveling their character correct?

For:

Yes, and that is why I would rather take someone that leveled their druid healer than someone that just purchased their druid healer.  Same as I would rather take the 560 geared one over the 510 geared one or the one that has completed the raid before over someone that has never seen the fights.  It is just a measuring method.

Against:

If it were buying instant level capped characters you might have a point, but these characters will not be level capped in warlords, which is where this is intended to be released.  Even if they purchase a level 90 in warlords and have no clue how to play one they still need to manage to make it 10 levels playing that level 90 before they get to the part of the game that matters, the end game.

For:

It should still tell me even if it was something that happened 10 level ago.  Same as the ahead of the curve achievements.  They will be old by the time the next expansion comes out, old and out of date, but it would still show me who played their character in the past and I could easily say that means they still know how to play their character at least to some level of competence.

Against:

So what if I started a new account in warlords, leveled from 1-100 and of course being I am new I would not have those achievements.  Does that mean I am automatically a lesser player because of it.  Or lets say I was not a raider in mists and just wanted to start in warlords?  Or lets say I was in a bad guild that could not down anything and am not the type that likes to pug?  Because I do not have the achievements is means I am a bad player?

For:

No, I am not saying that.  I am just saying that history does matter.  Your history of leveling from 1-100 should matter.  It shows you put the effort into it.  You should be noted as having earned your way to the end game instead of just starting with the new expansion and experiencing nothing.  So either label you are a character that earned their levels or label the people that purchased an instant 90 as people that skipped their entire leveling and learning experience.

Against:

Are you really saying that you believe there is a lot that can be learned from the leveling experience?  Don't get me wrong, I am a firm supporter in the idea that people do learn while leveling.  I think the leveling process should take longer and have more risks which would encourage people to learn.  But with leveling so streamlined that even a person with no heirlooms and no experience will run into little or no resistance on their quest to max level, is skipping that really going to hurt that badly in the learning department.

For:

Whether it does or doesn't shouldn't be the issue.  It is a matter of someone who is trying and someone who isn't.  I would like to know who the people that aren't trying are and there should be a way to tell they are not trying.

Against:

So lets say there was a way to tell people that have been boosted.  I have multiple hunters, I have done the current raid on multiple hunters, I have the legendary on multiple hunters.  So I have more than ample experience in raiding as a hunter and at least at the normal level of content I am more then capable of doing it like the back of my hand being I have done it so often.  So you would call me at the least a person you would like to have along on your pugs as there is nothing in normal that is even remotely challenging to me.  Now lets say I wanted to play on another server with some friends or a different faction.  Lets say my buddy just needs a hunter for his raid team and my dance card of 90s is full but I can make one instantly to help him.  Now I would be marked as someone who bought this hunter.  I know how to play a hunter.  I have multiple 90 hunters already.  Does the fact I decided to buy one instead of level it really matter?  Will leveling my 20th hunter really make me that much better of a hunter? Does it effect how capable of playing the class I am?  Do I deserve to be looked down upon because I decided to skip the leveling process on a class I have already leveled many times?

For:

You are talking about extreme circumstances.  Someone with your experience would just tell people that is an alt hunter.  You would tell them what you have done on your main, or mains as it may be.

Against:

But if it shows that I bought this character you have already prejudged me before you even spoke to me to hear that I have more hunters.  You have already judged me because I bought this character and that is wrong.

For:

Again, you are talking about DPS, lets talk about healing for a moment.  You really do not want someone buying an instant healer do you?  If you see a bad damage dealer you can kick them and move along.  DPS are a dime a dozen and there is an easy tool like recount to show how they are doing.  So you look at damage done, see if they are following mechanics and you can kick them or keep them as need be.  Healers are not so simple when it comes to numbers.  Seeing high healing numbers does not mean they are a good healer.  It could mean that, but doesn't always mean that.  When trying to pick out which healer just is not cutting it being able to see who bought their healer would be a nice tool to have.

Against:

Why would it be a nice tool to have? So you can prejudge them or hold it against them.  You do realize that most people do not level as healers right?  Unless they level through dungeons or in a group that is.  Lets go to my shaman.  Enhancement since the day I created it.  It was all I ever wanted to be.  When cataclysm came out and basically ever healer with a brain quit, it meant idiots like me needed to heal if we wanted to get into a raid and I got myself some crap healing gear, spent a few hours on the forums and guide reading, and started to heal some heroics to start off with.  And do you remember those early pre nerf cataclysm heroics?  They were no laughing matter in a pug, not in the slightest.  I did just fine, I learned how to heal, and I ended up healing the raid until we could recruit some healers that the cataclysm healing model did not scare off.  I had absolutely zero healing experience.  I might as well just have been someone who purchased the character but you would think I was better than I really was just because the character was a few years old?

For:

Again, extreme circumstances. Most people would not put forth the effort you did to learn to play the class.  You where doing it for your guild so you could raid, you put effort into learning how to do it.  You earned the right to be looked at as someone who at least has some experience even if you were new at it.  Seeing who bought a character or who leveled a character is just another measuring stick, once again, the same as looking at a 510 item level compared to a 560 item level.  It will not, can not, be the perfect way to judge but it is something we should be able to look at just like we would item level.

Against:

I am going to end this conversation right now with one little piece of logic.  There will be a way to tell who purchased a 90.  Just look at their achievement and you will see that their level 10, level 20, level 30, etc achievements all on the same day all the way up to 90.  So there will be a way to tell in game already.  I am sure someone will make an addon to check for this, because that is what people do, so why argue if there should or shouldn't be a way to tell when there will be a way to tell, it is already built into the game.

For:

Good, so now I can kick anyone that purchased a 90.

Against:

Oh geez, that is another conversation all together. ~sigh~

End note:

For the record, I do not believe there should be a way to tell if the purchased a 90.  I dislike that people can look at achievements to tell.  I do however believe they should make it that you need to have a 90 of that class to be able to buy another one.  But to each their own.  What do you think about it?

Now to the next topic, do you think people should be kicked for buying an instant 90? 

Note:  There will be no such post, no one should be kicked because they bought something.  Only because or attitude, language, performance or connection, but not because they have some disposable cash.  I can't even argue with myself over that, there is no other side.