Honestly, I only have one problem with this..Okay, it brings 1 character to your friends server, and brings one to level 80. Clearly meant to help people who quit at a low level catch up to their friend while bringing their toon. However in, I feel, a majority of cases, the friend will already have one, or multiple 80s or even 85s. So one character will switch(probably their main, which is 80 or 85), AND it'll level another toon to 80, which is a waste or they'll need to pay 25 dollars anyway to server swap that toon.

Either that but, what if all your friends are on the same server/faction side anyway which is highly likely. Then its a waste of the server/faction change because its AUTOMATIC you don't get to pick what server you want, or if you want to switch faction. You pick a toon and it does it by what your friend is(to my understanding).

I'm not so sure this "must be an existing character" part is correct.  I read on the WoW forums where a person took the SOR invite, first rolled a new character on the same server/faction as the inviter, and then ran the "Claim Rewards" taking it directly to level 80.

I can't find the post, their forum is moving crazy fast, so treat this as hearsay until verified.

this is absolutely a sign of the problem with mmos.

it's like no one wants to actually play the game anymore. they just want to play endgame. i don't know why so many mmos even bother having levels, especially with this kind of farce.

it shows the absolute confidance that people will love the content of your game by helping them skip it all.

shameful. absolutely shameful.

[Mod Edit]

Originally posted by Valua

Don't even care if people call this deperate, this is amazing, all MMO's should have incentives like these to play again. 

You're absolutely right. Amazingly desperate :)

Found Cataclysm in the bargain bin @ $5 a few months ago, resubbed for a month, played 5 days.

2 weeks ago had a "7 days free" offer (baah could have used 2 months ago) and got a questionaire mostly focused on "have you seen and understood our really nice 1 yr offer with diablo 3 and please tell us how much you plan to play GW2?"

WoW is a nice game - some fans will stay indefinately - The rest of us: Moved on, now we and Bobby K. just need to accept that :)

Originally posted by ActionMMORPG

I'm not so sure this "must be an existing character" part is correct.  I read on the WoW forums where a person took the SOR invite, first rolled a new character on the same server/faction as the inviter, and then ran the "Claim Rewards" taking it directly to level 80.

 

I can't find the post, their forum is moving crazy fast, so treat this as hearsay until verified.

Well, while its under the same "Cant find it treat it as hearsay until verified" but I saw a post saying you had to use to rewards before you can even log in fully.

Originally posted by ActionMMORPG

I'm not so sure this "must be an existing character" part is correct.  I read on the WoW forums where a person took the SOR invite, first rolled a new character on the same server/faction as the inviter, and then ran the "Claim Rewards" taking it directly to level 80.

 

I can't find the post, their forum is moving crazy fast, so treat this as hearsay until verified.

I heard the opposite second hand also.. so much like you,  unconfirmed.  What I had heard is that your 7 free days do not get started untli you login to battlenet and do the entire process, which includes selecting the character you want to get to 80.  Reading my other post,  I probably shouldn´t have sounded so authoritative, since I only heard it mentioned twice I think.   But it is similar to the realm and faction changes.. I believe they only allow you to switch to the server and faction that your friend is on.  It is not like a paid one and it cannot be saved for future use.

I do think the lvl 80 part is overblown because you still have to level through the cata content to get to 85... which is plenty of time to get yourself back into the flow of the game.

As a long term player, I have no problems with people getting boosted to 80, just like I had no problems with RAF.  Grinding more than 20 quests is not going to help you learn your character better.

Originally posted by Azrile

Originally posted by ActionMMORPG

I'm not so sure this "must be an existing character" part is correct.  I read on the WoW forums where a person took the SOR invite, first rolled a new character on the same server/faction as the inviter, and then ran the "Claim Rewards" taking it directly to level 80.

 

I can't find the post, their forum is moving crazy fast, so treat this as hearsay until verified.

I heard the opposite second hand also.. so much like you,  unconfirmed.  What I had heard is that your 7 free days do not get started untli you login to battlenet and do the entire process, which includes selecting the character you want to get to 80.  Reading my other post,  I probably shouldn´t have sounded so authoritative, since I only heard it mentioned twice I think.   But it is similar to the realm and faction changes.. I believe they only allow you to switch to the server and faction that your friend is on.  It is not like a paid one and it cannot be saved for future use.

I do think the lvl 80 part is overblown because you still have to level through the cata content to get to 85... which is plenty of time to get yourself back into the flow of the game.

As a long term player, I have no problems with people getting boosted to 80, just like I had no problems with RAF.  Grinding more than 20 quests is not going to help you learn your character better.

Not to mention end game is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BALL-GAME THEN LEVELING ANYWAY! so all you need to know is the basics then you need to re-learn everything anyway..

Blizzard needs to try harder to get me back, maybe throw in a free hookers and blow.

I have enjoyed World of Warcraft since launch and I usually have come to the defense of this game  on everything. Until now....

You see, I'm a pretty casual gamer. If I spend 3-4 hours a day playing MMO, that's  pretty hight amount for me. So, to tell you that it took quite a bit of time and work for me to get my character to level 80, would be an underrstatement. From the time that I started him (and there were months where I wasn't subbed) it took about two years to hit level 80 and it was a great moment for me when it happened. Hell, I even saved the in-game letter congratuating me on my accomplishment.

It feels like a slap in the face to see a returning player instantly get to have one of their toons become an instant level 80. I mean, I really don't even know what to say to that. It just is frustrating. Now, I know Blizzard is trying to do everything they can to curb the number of people leaving the game but there's just a part of me that feels bitter knowing that the easiest way for me to reach level 80 was for me to have actully quit the game. Can someone explain that to me?

Now you dont even have to play the game to get to 80!  Now thats just swell !  Oboy!  So amazing. 

Sounds desperate and sad to me.  Im not saying WoW is going down the tubes any time soon and its still the major success of its time, but come on.  Invite a friend and get a free level 80?   What? 

Originally posted by Jakard

I have enjoyed World of Warcraft since launch and I usually have come to the defense of this game  on everything. Until now....

You see, I'm a pretty casual gamer. If I spend 3-4 hours a day playing MMO, that's  pretty hight amount for me. So, to tell you that it took quite a bit of time and work for me to get my character to level 80, would be an underrstatement. From the time that I started him (and there were months where I wasn't subbed) it took about two years to hit level 80 and it was a great moment for me when it happened. Hell, I even saved the in-game letter congratuating me on my accomplishment.

It feels like a slap in the face to see a returning player instantly get to have one of their toons become an instant level 80. I mean, I really don't even know what to say to that. It just is frustrating. Now, I know Blizzard is trying to do everything they can to curb the number of people leaving the game but there's just a part of me that feels bitter knowing that the easiest way for me to reach level 80 was for me to have actully quit the game. Can someone explain that to me?

This is a joke post right?

I mean a slap in the face because they give level 80 for free? You didn't misread that to be level 85, full Latest Raid Tier gear, right?

First of all, why it bothers you what others get because of their friends?

Second, even if you are a casual (as am I) you are surely aware that getting level 80 is no real accomplishment in WoW. Everyone can do it and since CATA everyone can do it in a quite relatively short amount of time (Hey look at that, I just started a new shaman, I can play 1-4 hours a day.... but not all days, some days I do not play at all, some week ends I play more... and he is level 74. Not 80 yet, but I started maybe a month ago. I am slow... but come on, level 80 is nothing really!)

So even if it took a long time for you, realize that for most people it is nothing special, trivial even. So getting your pants in a twist because they are giving something trivial away? When that does not affect you at all? Nope, I call joke post.

To me this all seems like the wrong way to get people to come back...I wish Blizzard would go the Trion route of keeping their players. Monthly meaty content patches do more than Scroll of Resurrection incentives I think.

Originally posted by girdisorder

Blizzard needs to try harder to get me back, maybe throw in a free hookers and blow.

given blizz's track record, the hookers would be leftovers from tera (pre-jiggly, which is why they're leftovers) and the blow would come in the form of a hayfever spray (which wouldn't actually ease your hayfever and has a disclaimer on the bottle telling you it may cause inflammation of your sinuses).

i know one way blizz could've doubled their subs.

they could've talked anet into offering free beta weekends to everyone who subbed.

i'm going for it. i play solo and since i'm retired and i can play 24/7. i play nonstop for a one month sub and then don't play again for a year. i think i have played about 6 months total and i think i have a level 78 or 79. i'll probably play nonstop for the 7 days and not resub.

Originally posted by Azrile

Originally posted by fivoroth

OMFG, I can get a mage (the only class I don't have) instantly leveled to 80 :O 

This deal is just ridiculously good to be real. I already have cata and I am on one of the most populated EU servers but the instant level 80 is pure win for someone who has levelled a million toons :D

 

If you don´t currently have it, then you can´t get it jumped to 80.   When you accept this offer, you choose one of your old characters to get the boost.  You cannot use it on a new character ( you do it before you actually log into the game.).

Wrong.  If you read the Scroll of Resurrection FAQ, you'd know that you can create a new character and boost it after accepting the invite.

Originally posted by Valua

Originally posted by Deathofsage

I'll bite.

MMOs should not give away nearly level-capped characters. It creates a plethora of new/returning players that don't understand the class they're playing. "What? What totems? I'm a shaman dude." or "What do you mean Moonkin can't heal?"

 

That's only true in games were classes are actually hard to play.

 

The classes in WoW can almost be mastered in a couple of hours of play, so hopefully within those 5 levels the player will know the general gist of their character when they hit 85.

 

But yeah, I don't really like the sounds of players running around not knowing what to do :/

And this is ok? WoW = easy mode and because WoW is the industry standered, other games in the genre follow suit. See the problem?

Originally posted by kantseeme

Originally posted by Valua

Originally posted by Deathofsage

I'll bite.

MMOs should not give away nearly level-capped characters. It creates a plethora of new/returning players that don't understand the class they're playing. "What? What totems? I'm a shaman dude." or "What do you mean Moonkin can't heal?"

 

That's only true in games were classes are actually hard to play.

 

The classes in WoW can almost be mastered in a couple of hours of play, so hopefully within those 5 levels the player will know the general gist of their character when they hit 85.

 

But yeah, I don't really like the sounds of players running around not knowing what to do :/

And this is ok? WoW = easy mode and because WoW is the industry standered, other games in the genre follow suit. See the problem?

He never said it was a good thing, he just said BECAUSE WoW classes are so easy to play, that alone isn't an excuse to damn the "bring a character to level 80!" part of the incentives.

I think devolpers will soon realize that gamers won't tolerate second rate WoW-Ripoffs or even games that follow too closely to the formula. AION, RIFT, SWTOR, I'm sure a few more, are testiment to that.

Not sure why WoW players are cool with. If you want to know why this is by far the most retarded idea ever introduced into mmo's look at what I searched on google below

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=O0G-HED6DQm8CmQVQiphcA&cp=9&gs_id=6t&xhr=t&q=buy+wow+characters&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=buy+wow+c&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=bfbad756b3e0f08f&biw=1101&bih=532

^ DO NOT CLICK ANY OF THE RESULT LINKS. JUST FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES

This is easily one of the greatest changes to a mmorpg in the history of them if you run a RMT account selling site. It is impossible to state the amount of money these guys are about to pull in. This is a purely greedy move by Blizzard which in no way shape or form takes into account the consequences of their actions on the playerbase.