Leak shows World of Warcraft players might be able to buy a Level 90 character for … $60

If today’s leak regarding World of Warcraft’s instant level 90 boost is true, it suggests that all lower-level players need to instantly experience the upcoming content in the Warlords of Draenor expansion is a character, money for the monthly subscription fee and the expansion itself — and an extra $60.

During today’s maintenance for the massive multiplayer role-playing game, a member of gaming news website Joystiq’s WoW Insider staff managed to log in to his account, where he saw the $60 boost listed on World of Warcraft’s digital shop between online server restarts.

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World of Warcraft has run since 2004 and charges a $15 per month subscription to play. Today’s news is likely an unintentional leak because the announced fifth expansion for World of Warcraft is not even available for preorder yet. It doesn’t even have a release date.

Here’s how it works: Warlords of Draenor will enable those who purchase it to instantly upgrade one character to the current max level of 90, included in the cost of the expansion. At the same time, it will raise the level cap to 100.

If players want to boost additional characters, that’s where the $60 fee comes into play. Purchasing the shortcut will enable players to instantly bring an extra character to level 90. This level is the properly balanced starting point for Warlords of Draenor, which would be unusually difficult for lower leveled characters.

According to the WoW Insider article and its comments, members of the World of Warcraft community have mixed opinions; the boost essentially values level 90 characters at $60, which is no small amount, and some are appreciative of that. Still, the average player with a level 90 character has spent scores of hours playing the massive game to reach that milestone. Some feel that an instant cash-for-levels exchange undermines their efforts, even though the instant boost costs as much as a new game.