In World of Warcraft some guilds sell their raid runs. This is referred to as boosting. However, not all players think boosting is good. Now, the new WoW head Mike Ybarra has sold raids live on Twitch himself and part of the community is in an uproar.
What has Ybarra done? After the resignation of J. Allen Brack in August 2021, Mike Ybarra and Jen Oneal are the new heads of Blizzard. Ybarra is celebrated by many players because he is considered a “real gamer”. He actively raids and tackles the game’s highest challenges.
Over the weekend, he even showed live on Twitch how his guild sells the heroic version of Sanctum of Dominion, the new raid from Patch 9.1. This is not uncommon in WoW, but some players do not appreciate it.
The fact that the WoW head himself is selling his raids has led to significant discussions.
“It is a farce that a Blizzard employee is boosting”
How does the criticism of Ybarra manifest? On reddit and Twitter, many players express negativity about Ybarra’s behavior. Many of them are generally opposed to boosting and find it concerning when the head of WoW is selling his raids.
They write, for example:
- “It’s bad for the game, but neutral for the community because the community is already completely messed up due to boosting.” (via reddit)
- “It is a farce that an employee at Blizzard is boosting himself.” (via reddit)
- “If you can’t see that a tweet like this harms the community, you should quit your job. Boosting has harmed the game so much. You should work on fixing that and not boost yourself. Guilds need money, but this necessity has destroyed all chat channels and causes many problems.” (via Twitter)
The last statement from user Teflononline refers to the fact that all chats and even the LFG tool have been flooded with the sale of raids in the meantime. Advertising in the LFG tool is now strictly prohibited, whereas it is allowed in the trade chat – as long as only gold is requested in return.
Only a few users defend Ybarra. They argue that a larger raid group must also finance itself in-game, and therefore the selling is completely justified. As long as no real money is involved, they see no problem with selling raids.
Overall, however, the topic of boosting is a double-edged sword in the community.
Boosting is said to destroy the community and is associated with real money
What is behind boosting? Boosting exists in MMORPGs in various forms, but it always involves a stronger player helping a weaker one – often for payment.
In this specific case, it concerns groups selling one or more spots in their raid, allowing the paying players to achieve successes and drops that they would not have obtained otherwise.
Boosts are perceived very differently within the community:
- On one side, there are players who find boosting perfectly fine and say that it is a lucrative source of income for strong players.
- On the other side, players say that boosting destroys the community and especially the value of raids and achievements. If every player can achieve everything as long as they invest enough money, it devalues the success of others.
Another criticism of boosting is that it is often offered not only for in-game currency gold, but also for real money. Additionally, there are players who specifically buy their gold with real money to then invest it in boosting. Therefore, many players directly or indirectly associate boosting with real money trading.
In a survey from March 2021 we wanted to know from MeinMMO how you feel about boosting. The results back then:
- 47% believe that boosting should be fundamentally prohibited
- 45% believe that boosting should only be allowed for in-game currency
- 8% find boosting – whether for gold or real money – acceptable
What do you think about boosting? And do you see a problem with the head of WoW selling his raids? Or does it even make him more likable because he is genuinely “a real gamer”?
Currently, many players are waiting for the new patch 9.1.5 in WoW. We’ve summarized all important information about it here:
WoW Patch 9.1.5: All about the improvements, new features, and release
