After their initial announcement about making it a premium service the backlash was huge. To have made it a premium service would have made a lot of people very angry. Something that Blizzard can't afford right now.
To be honest, a decent competitor to WoW is a good thing. I think Rift is doing that. Its an actual competitor. It will most likely not kill WoW, but it'll bring some much needed consistent competition to the playing field. This will force Blizzard to more carefully evaluate its decisions and changes. That is a good atmosphere for us the consumer.
Real ID Party Feature is Officially Live and Free
World of Warcraft's new Real ID Party system is officially live and free to everyone! When the feature entered testing last month, Blizzard said that there would be premium-based aspects of the system, but it looked like they've changed their minds. However, Blizzard mentions in the FAQ that it's always possible they'll add features and functionality with a premium component.
The Real ID Party system allows players to invite Real ID friends of the same faction to a 5-player normal or Heroic dungeon, regardless of what realm their friends are on. To invite a Real ID friend to a party, just open up your friends list and click on the “Plus” button to send an invitation to a Real ID friend. A party leader can invite any combination of Real ID friends from any realm, guildmates from the same realm, or other characters from the same realm to the same party. If the party leader isn’t able to fill up the entire party, the Dungeon Finder can fill in the missing roles.
For more details, check out the FAQ after the jump.
Real ID Party System FAQ
Q: How do I invite Real ID friends to a Real ID Party?
A: Inviting a Real ID friend to a Real ID Party is simple. Just open up your friends list to see which Real ID friends are online. Click on the “Plus” button to send an invitation to a Real ID friend to join your group. You can continue to add Real ID friends to your party until the group is complete. If you cannot complete the group with Real ID friends, you are free to join the Dungeon Finder to fill in the missing roles.
Q: Does a player need to have Real ID enabled to accept a Real ID group invite?
A: Yes, a player must have Real ID enabled, and both players must be Real ID friends to accept or initiate Real ID party invitations.
Q: Can a party leader invite a mix of Real ID friends, character-level friends, guildmates, or random players to the same party?
A: A party leader can invite any combination of Real ID friends from any realm, guildmates from the same realm, or other characters from the same realm to the same party. If the party leader isn’t able to fill up the entire party, the Dungeon Finder can fill in the missing roles.
Q: Can I invite someone who is not a Real ID friend?
A: You can only invite members to a party if they are on your Real ID friends list or if they are on the same realm as you are.
Q: Can I invite a friend of a Real ID friend?
A: No, you can only invite your own Real ID friends the party.
Q. Are you considering expanding the system to work with raids, Battlegrounds, Arenas, or to allow cross-faction play?
A: We're always looking into ways to improve features like this to make it more convenient for real-life friends to play together. However, we don't have any further announcements to share at this time.
Q: Will any future aspects of the Real ID Party system be premium-based?
A: It's always possible that we'll add features and functionality that could have a premium component, but we don't have any specific details to share at this time.
Tags: News, WorldofWarcraft