free-levels
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The Soapbox: Instant leveling and the whining fringe
Over the weekend at Blizzcon 2013, Blizzard Entertainment announced the fifth World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor. The content add-on brings most of the things one might expect from an expansion -- new zone, new features, new quests, new dungeons -- but perhaps most notably includes the option to instantly raise any one of your characters to WoW's current level cap of 90. While you'll still face 10 levels of Warlords of Draenor questing, killing, and fetching if you opt to take the insta-level, the feature has re-ignited the argument among MMO fans as to whether offering players a maxed-out character somehow violates the core rules of the MMO genre. Should developers really provide high-level characters just to get/keep players in the game? The short answer, of course, is "duh." Here's the long answer.
Recruit-a-Friend free levels restored (if all goes well)
Tipster vpr pointed our way to the forums where Blizzard poster Orlyla acknowledges the issue about Patch 3.0.2 removing the levels that could be granted from the Recruit-a-Friend program and says that the issue is being addressed by today's maintenance. It's a reassuring and appropriate response to the issue which makes up for Game Master Issuntril's initial unsympathetic "sorry for the inconvenience" remark. As many of you readers pointed out in a related post, Blizzard could open themselves up to a potential class action lawsuit if the levels aren't restored. The free levels gained are part of the appeal of the Recruit-a-Friend program or product, and is one that I suspect really gets a lot of conversions. Of course, Orlyla is keeping his (or her... you never know with these Blizzard people...) fingers crossed, too, saying that the levels should be working fine once the servers are back up "if all goes well". As Dan pointed out a couple of times, all has not been going well in Azeroth lately. I'm hoping to see this issue fixed, and even though some of you guys have expressed disapproval of the free levels feature, I personally think it's a great and much-needed way to reach the endgame quickly. I already have several 70s, I seriously don't want to go through the pain of leveling through the same zones all over again. Some people might enjoy that, but I don't. I just wish I actually had friends to recruit -- pretty much all of them already play the game!
Recruit-a-Friend levels fizzle in Patch 3.0.2
So much for power-leveling to 60 in under 20 minutes. Tipster Chopstix pointed out that the much awaited and celebrated Echoes of Doom patch borked the bonus levels obtained through the Refer-a-Friend program stashed away by some players. Players hoping to zip towards the end game were surprised to find that the free levels gained before the patch could no longer be conferred to characters after the patch.Even more surprising was a dismissive response by Game Master Issuntril that basically said, "they're gone, sorry for the inconvenience." Naturally, there was an uproar over at the forums over this as the free levels are one of the most appealing benefits of the program (no, it's not the Zebra, really). Subsequent responses from other GMs were more sympathetic and advised a wait-and-see attitude stating that Blizzard was aware of the problem and were looking into solutions on how to fix it. Hopefully this problem gets resolved. While it's understandable that intangibles such as free levels might be harder to restore, these are arguably as important as gear. Considering how swiftly Blizzard hotfixed the issue with pets and mounts (not the selling part yet, unfortunately), there's hope for a resolution yet.
Forum post of the day: Broken records incoming
Although at times contentious, the current recruitment promotion has certainly sped up leveling. The triple experience point bonus comes to mind first, but the ability to give levels at a rate of one per two gained is also a real boon. The rule is that the levels can be applied to a character lower than the givers current level, capped at level 60. Theoretically someone who has reached level 60 could donate enough levels to raise another character from 30-59* in a matter of minutes. This new mechanic is pretty easy to use and potentially abuse. Málfurion of Wildhammer is not happy with the change. To quote "I just saw a Warlock go from level 31-59 in 10 seconds in front of my eyes... The new recruit a friend is bull > <.... NERF NERF NERF!" The post was met with some disbelief, but it clearly is a possibility. Some players indicated that they have something similar in mind. Abilene of Aegwynn believes that this practice ruins the game for some.
