Dear World of Warcraft Development Team,
I am a World of Warcraft player from South Korea, and my current Mythic+ Rating is approximately 4,050 ~ 4150
I mention my rating not to suggest that my opinion should carry more weight than that of other players, but to explain that I am actively participating in the competition for the new seasonal achievement, “Umbral Champion: Midnight Season One.”
I have invested significant time in building groups, learning dungeon routes and mechanics, improving my performance, and completing increasingly difficult Mythic+ keys. From the perspective of a player who is genuinely participating in this competition, I am deeply concerned about the rapidly growing commercial market for Mythic+ rating carries.
1. A Top 1% Achievement Creates Direct Competition Between Players
Umbral Champion is fundamentally different from an ordinary raid achievement, mount, item reward, or fixed-rating achievement.
When a player purchases a raid clear, that player receiving an achievement or item does not normally prevent another player from receiving the same reward. The reward remains available to everyone who eventually completes the required content.
Umbral Champion, however, is awarded only to players who finish the season within the top 1% of Mythic+ Rating in their region.
Because eligibility is percentile-based, every qualifying position has competitive value. When a player purchases enough rating to enter the top 1%, that player may directly displace another player near the cutoff who earned their rating through ordinary group formation, repeated participation, practice, and personal improvement.
For that reason, paid boosting for this achievement cannot be treated as a purely private transaction between a customer and a carry team. It has a direct effect on the broader competitive environment.
2. This Issue Is Not Limited to South Korea
I play in the South Korean region, but this issue does not appear to be limited to Korean servers.
Across Korean and international servers, highly ranked Mythic+ teams appear to be offering high-level timed completions, rating increases, and assistance toward top 1% qualification in exchange for gold, money, or other compensation.
Some services openly advertise rating packages connected to seasonal milestones or qualification for the top 1% achievement. In other cases, customers can repeatedly purchase high-level timed runs from established teams until they reach the rating required for the reward.
Real-money transactions, account piloting, account sharing, and prohibited boosting organizations should already be addressed under Blizzard’s existing policies.
However, even where a customer personally controls their character and pays only with in-game gold, the effect on a percentile-based competition may still be the same: a limited competitive position is effectively being purchased.
This creates a situation in which legitimate players are not competing only against the skill, effort, consistency, and dedication of other players. They may also be competing against the financial resources or in-game wealth of customers who can repeatedly hire elite Mythic+ teams.
3. Specific Examples From the Korean Region
This concern is not merely hypothetical.
On major World of Warcraft community and group-recruitment boards in South Korea, posts have repeatedly appeared advertising Mythic+ carry services specifically for the purpose of obtaining the top 1% seasonal reward associated with Umbral Champion: Midnight Season One.
Based on what I have observed, since June 2026, dozens of similar recruitment posts have appeared on Korean World of Warcraft community boards. They recruit customers for level 21, level 22, and other high-level Mythic+ keys while offering rating increases in exchange for gold or other compensation.
Many of these advertisements go beyond offering an ordinary dungeon completion or item-acquisition service. They specifically use terms such as “top 1%,” “top 1% mount,” and “rating increase” as the primary purpose of the service.
This suggests that a commercial market has already developed around selling access to a limited percentile-based competitive reward.
As an outside player, I cannot independently confirm whether every listed service uses real money, in-game gold, or another form of payment. I also cannot verify whether every advertised transaction was ultimately completed.
However, the repeated recruitment of customers for specific high-level keys, combined with explicit references to top 1% qualification and invitations to continue transaction discussions through external chat services, provides concrete circumstances that Blizzard should investigate.
I also understand that similar services are being advertised outside Korea. This should therefore be reviewed not as an isolated problem affecting one regional community, but as a broader international issue that may undermine the credibility of percentile-based Mythic+ rewards.
4. The Current System Disproportionately Disadvantages Legitimate Competitors
A normal Mythic+ player must find teammates, practice dungeon routes, understand mechanics, adapt to seasonal and weekly conditions, improve execution, and recover from failed keys.
By contrast, a customer may purchase repeated runs with four exceptionally skilled players who can compensate for that customer’s weaker performance and generate rating that the customer would not otherwise be able to obtain at that level.
Both players are then placed on the same regional ranking and compete for the same limited top 1% reward.
This is especially unfair to players near the final cutoff.
One boosted character may affect the cutoff only slightly. However, when an organized market repeatedly sells rating to many customers, the cumulative effect can raise the qualification threshold and remove legitimate competitors from the eligible top 1%.
A player who would otherwise have qualified may lose their position not because another competitor played better, practiced more, or demonstrated greater consistency, but because another character repeatedly purchased access to an elite team.
This also damages the credibility and meaning of the achievement.
When another player sees the Umbral Champion reward, they should reasonably be able to believe that its owner personally demonstrated sustained high-level Mythic+ performance during the season.
If the reward can instead be obtained primarily through the performance of a purchased group, it becomes difficult to distinguish genuine achievement from commercially purchased access.
5. This Appears Inconsistent With Blizzard’s Intended Purpose
I respectfully ask whether this is truly how Blizzard intended the Umbral Champion achievement to function.
Was the purpose of the achievement to recognize players who personally demonstrated exceptional Mythic+ skill, dungeon knowledge, consistency, and dedication throughout the season?
Or was it intended to reward any character that reaches the required rating, even when a substantial portion of that rating was obtained through repeated commercial carry services?
I do not believe Blizzard introduced an exclusive top 1% achievement so that qualification could become another commercially traded service.
The achievement appears intended to create aspiration, competition, and recognition for the strongest and most committed Mythic+ players of the season.
Without additional safeguards, however, it may instead create a seasonal market in which access to a limited competitive reward is sold to customers who can afford to repeatedly hire top-level teams.
That outcome would be contrary to the spirit of fair competition and could significantly reduce the motivation of players who are attempting to qualify through their own participation and improvement.
6. This Concern Is Not About Ordinary Play Between Friends
I am not asking Blizzard to prohibit friends from helping one another, prevent guild members of different skill levels from playing together, or punish every party with an uneven distribution of skill.
Social cooperation is a fundamental part of World of Warcraft. It would be unreasonable to treat every strong player helping a friend as misconduct.
However, there is a meaningful difference between occasional assistance among friends and the organized commercial sale of repeated high-level runs specifically intended to purchase qualification for a limited top 1% reward.
Normal social and guild play should remain protected.
At the same time, a percentile-based competitive achievement should not be allowed to become a product that can be systematically purchased through organized rating services.
7. Effective Action Is Needed Beyond a General Policy Explanation
Because Umbral Champion is a relative, percentile-based reward, I do not believe it is sufficient to apply only the general principle that certain in-game services may be sold for in-game gold.
An ordinary raid carry, item-acquisition service, or fixed-rating achievement does not have the same competitive effect as selling access to a limited regional top 1% ranking.
The commercial sale of Mythic+ rating for the purpose of entering the top 1% should therefore be reviewed under a separate and more specific policy.
I respectfully request that Blizzard consider the following actions:
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Investigate teams and organizations advertising top 1% qualification services through Korean and international community websites, in-game channels, external chat services, and other advertising platforms.
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Actively enforce penalties where real-money trading, account piloting, account sharing, or prohibited boosting organizations are identified.
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Establish a separate policy for the repeated commercial sale of Mythic+ rating for percentile-based rewards, even where the customer personally controls their character and pays with in-game gold.
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Disqualify characters that obtained qualification through real-money trading, account piloting, prohibited boosting organizations, or other violations of Blizzard policy.
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Consider removing rewards from organized commercial operations that repeatedly sell top 1% qualification to multiple characters where prohibited conduct is identified.
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Publish a clear policy explaining how paid carry services apply specifically to percentile-based Mythic+ achievements.
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Introduce eligibility criteria that better demonstrate sustained personal participation and meaningful contribution throughout the season.
I understand that no automated system can perfectly determine whether every player was simply helped by friends or purchased a commercial service.
Nevertheless, the difficulty of enforcement should not prevent Blizzard from clarifying the intended standards or taking action against clear and organized commercial abuse.
8. Conclusion
As a South Korean player currently at approximately 4,070 Mythic+ Rating, I am personally committed to competing for this achievement through my own participation, practice, and improvement.
I fully accept that competition for the top 1% should be difficult. I also accept that the cutoff will rise as skilled players improve throughout the season.
Legitimate players can accept losing their position because another player performed better, practiced more, or demonstrated greater skill and consistency.
What is much more difficult to accept is losing a limited top 1% position because another character repeatedly purchased access to an elite Mythic+ team.
Fair competition does not mean that every player must receive the same result. It means that the result should primarily reflect each participant’s performance, effort, consistency, and achievement under reasonably comparable conditions.
When qualification for a limited top 1% reward is openly and repeatedly marketed as a commercial service, the result cannot reasonably be viewed as fair competition.
This issue is no longer theoretical. Recruitment posts specifically advertising assistance toward the top 1% reward are already appearing repeatedly, and similar commercial services appear to exist across multiple regions.
I would therefore like to ask Blizzard directly:
Is this truly the form of competition Blizzard intended when creating Umbral Champion: Midnight Season One?
The widespread commercial sale of Mythic+ Rating risks harming legitimate competitors, weakening the credibility of the reward, and undermining the purpose of recognizing the most skilled, consistent, and dedicated Mythic+ players of the season.
I strongly urge Blizzard to review this issue, publish a clear policy, investigate organized commercial rating services, and introduce effective measures to prevent or substantially discourage the sale of qualification for this percentile-based achievement.
Such action is necessary to protect the competitive integrity, credibility, and meaning of Umbral Champion: Midnight Season One.
Thank you for taking the time to review this feedback.
Sincerely,
A World of Warcraft player from South Korea
Current Mythic+ Rating: Approximately 4,050 ~ 4150