In recent expansions, World of Warcraft players have increasingly voiced concerns about how boosting communities might be manipulating gameplay to protect or promote their services. One alarming theory is that some organized booster groups are purposefully controlling raid and Mythic+ lockouts — not just to profit, but to limit access for regular players and push them toward paid carries.
This control could take the form of “locking out” popular keys, monopolizing group listings, or even griefing public runs by joining only to sabotage them. While hard evidence is difficult to gather, many players have noticed a pattern: groups that mysteriously fall apart, key runs that never finish, or raids with suspiciously strict requirements that seem more about exclusion than success.
If boosters are indeed steering game design from the shadows, the implications are serious. It undermines fair competition, alienates legitimate players, and erodes trust in the core systems of WoW. New or casual players especially suffer, finding it harder to participate in endgame content without paying real money — a sharp shift from the game’s original spirit of community-driven progression.
Blizzard has taken steps to limit boosting advertisements, but if these behaviors continue unchecked behind the scenes, the damage could go deeper. Not just to balance, but to the soul of the game itself.
What do you think? Are we seeing the rise of a pay-to-play meta driven not by design, but by manipulation?
World of Warcraft’s Mythic raid lockout system was designed to create challenge and progression integrity—but in today’s environment, it may be unintentionally fueling the pay-to-play boosting market.
Unlike Normal and Heroic modes, Mythic raid lockouts are character-specific and strict: once you’re locked to a group, you’re tied to that run for the week. This design limits flexibility, especially for players in less organized guilds or those who can’t commit to a consistent raid schedule. If your group falls apart mid-run, your options are gone until next reset.
This rigidity has opened the door for boosting groups to step in and capitalize. Many players now see paid carries as the only reliable way to clear Mythic content, since pugs are risky and you only get one shot a week. Boosting communities offer guaranteed loot and completions—at a price. For players with gold (or real money in shady off-platform deals), it’s easier to pay for progress than to risk wasting a lockout.
The result? A widening gap between casual players and those with access to boosting services. It diminishes the value of effort and teamwork, and it nudges WoW further toward a “pay to play” model, even in its most prestigious content.
Unless Blizzard reconsiders how Mythic lockouts work—or finds better ways to promote fair, accessible group play—the boosting market will continue to thrive, at the expense of the game’s integrity.
Boosting in World of Warcraft—where players pay for help with raids, Mythic+ dungeons, or PvP rating—is more widespread than ever. But how many players are actually participating in this system, either as buyers or sellers?
While Blizzard doesn’t release exact data, community estimates and third-party analytics suggest that a significant portion of the high-end PvE and PvP scene is involved in boosting to some degree. According to various reports and player surveys, anywhere from 15% to 30% of players in competitive brackets (Mythic+, Arena, RBGs) either buy or sell boosts regularly.
This is the support forums, for feedback about the game, notably dungeons Mythic+ its best you’d move or created the thread at the Dungeons, Raids and Scenarios forums.
Which can be easily circumvented by the traditional way: Create your own or join guilds who progress through such content.
While there has been an undoubtably large amount of complaint posts about it, a leaver penalty is scheduled to come.
As has been said in your other topic, this is the support forums, for feedback about the game, notably dungeons Mythic lockouts its best you’d move or created the thread at the Dungeons, Raids and Scenarios forums.
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Edit: The 3 threads were merged together.
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Oh, trust me—I’m well aware that creating your own group or joining a guild can help work around the problem, but I really appreciate you acknowledging that the issue exists.
Hanlon’s Razor comes to mind:
“Never ascribe to malice that which can be easily explained by incompetence”
The behaviours you describe are in my view for the most part skill issues or folks unsuccessfully trying to find group to carry them for free.
Even if boosting communities are behind some of it - given how even someone with my mediocre skills can manage to find more functional groups than ones that fail - they aren’t exactly succeeding!
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dont blame players buy boost if u heve money sure go for it mythic hard most guild cant do it sad to sey it treu