Boosting is a controversial topic in World of Warcraft. Should it be allowed? Should it be strictly forbidden? We want your opinion.
In World of Warcraft, there are many topics where the community is divided. This is not surprising, as Blizzard’s MMORPG appeals to different types of players. While some enjoy PvE, others love role-playing, PvP, or simply collecting achievements. However, hardly anything in WoW is discussed as passionately as the topic of boosting.
What is boosting? Boosting can refer to several activities in MMORPGs, but in most cases, it involves an experienced player assisting a less experienced player, helping them to achieve rewards that they could not obtain without this help.
This could be a low-level character who is pulled through dungeons by an experienced player to quickly gain experience points.
It could also be an entire raid group offering to take a player along for a certain fee, so they are present when particularly lucrative bosses are defeated, thereby obtaining achievements, mounts, or other loot.
This also exists in PvP. Here, 2-4 teammates help to increase the PvP rating. This provides access to powerful weapons and solid gear that is also useful in PvE.
These services are usually offered for in-game gold and are thus legal and explicitly allowed. However, there is also illegal boosting, where real money is involved – if this is discovered, the participants usually receive a ban.
This survey aims to focus specifically on boosting in the endgame, that is, achieving a special success in PvE (such as a mythic kill) or PvP, often in connection with significant rewards.
Boosting divides players: The player base of WoW is split on the issue of boosting. Just yesterday, we reported on a well-known streamer who openly admits to getting boosted in PvP to be able to play more effectively in PvE. She has faced harsh criticism for this and is still being confronted with it months later.
Boosting in WoW – Pro and Contra
What speaks for boosting? Users and providers of boosting services have a number of pro arguments that support boosting. These include:
- Boosting as a source of income: Many players do not like to farm gold in traditional ways. With boosting, one can earn gold by helping other players with something they enjoy themselves. A win-win situation.
- Benefit for gold: Wealthy players can buy things they really want with the gold and thereby find a use for their large hoard.
Moreover, WoW is a social game where you often rely on the help of other players. When asking an enchanter for an enchantment and paying for it, it wouldn’t be classified as boosting either. In both cases, the customer is purchasing skills from players that they do not possess themselves.
What speaks against boosting? Counterarguments against boosting are frequently heard. The most important ones include:
- Pay2Win: For some, it is a direct form of “Pay2Win” since WoW gold can be bought with WoW tokens, which in turn can be used to pay the boosters.
- Devaluation of prestige: Some achievements and items in WoW are rare and meant only for the best players. Purchasing these rewards devalues them.
Finally, advertising for boosting services is also a problem, especially in WoW. Many chat channels are only filled with this, and in numerous cases, the group finder is also misused for this purpose. However, this is not permitted in the case of the group finder, which is why such groups can also be reported.
Boosting – Yes or No?
But now let’s get to you. We want to know what you think about boosting. Please select in the survey below which opinion best reflects yours.
If you want to elaborate on your response a bit, please leave a comment and explain how you feel about boosting and why. Your comment might then be used in a follow-up article when it comes to the survey’s evaluation.
