Breakfast Topic: Recruiting regrets
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 12th 2007 at 8:26AM
I've never recruited anyone to the game (I have helped convince a friend to play, actually, but the truth is that he didn't need much convincing), so I've never imagined a situation like the one that faces Aerna: she and another friend recruited a third friend to play WoW with them, but now he's become nothing but an annoyance. He begs for powerleveling, doesn't know how to play his class, and generally makes a mess of things, forcing her to run away from him to play Horde (so it's not a complete loss..).So what can she do? I'm trying to figure out why they're friends in the first place-- can it really be true that someone you like hanging out with in RL can turn into a menace inside Azeroth? It could be that he just needs some guidance on ingame etiquette and strategy. On the other hand, I can definitely see how two people who don't have much in common (co-workers, maybe) might find their relationship pushed to the limit when brought to the world of Azeroth. Have you ever recruited someone to play the game that actually ruined the experience for you?
Filed under: Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Toolio Mar 12th 2007 8:43AM
I brought my brother in to the game and he quickly out-leveled me. That was annoying.
cheesebanana Mar 12th 2007 8:59AM
I want to share WoW with a few people that may be slightly interested but this is the reason i dont.
And having spoke from experience in other games, its SO hard to be high level, knowledgeable and steeped in the game's every aspect and have a level 7 constantly ask simple questions which you HAVE to answer.
That being said i wouldn't mind more RL friends in WoW, even if they annoyed me. I usually just sit and witter to myself about class nerfs or something while my mates are talking about politics or some crap like that :P
Navéen Mar 12th 2007 9:12AM
I 'recruited' an IRL friend to the game when i was around lvl 60. I knew the risks, but i took em.
When he was playing he would occasionally ask me questions, but I liked helpin him get into the game more. Eventually he got better at the game, learnt more about it, and now, its perfect, we talk endlessly about the game in-game and IRL. Im now lvl 70, and he is cathing up fast.
Basically, i dont see why this is bad, sure it can be annoying at times when you are at a certain boss in an instance and you are endlessly questioned by a 'noob'. But that phase passes and it gets better.
Navéen
TVC
Aurendar Mar 16th 2007 11:27AM
This is exactly one of the reasons why Blizzard needs to incorporate an 'invisible' setting into social tab in the game. There are times when I just want to PLAY rather than "hook up". Don't get me wrong, I love everyone on my friends list but sometimes, I just want to do my own thing.
Shawee Mar 12th 2007 9:37AM
If you don't want to take the time to help someone out and answer dumb question then recruiting them to play WoW is absolutely the wrong thing to do. On the other hand it could have great rewards. My boyfriend took a couple months from raiding on his level 60 to make a new toon with me and level together all the way to 60, so we could start raiding together. But now his warrior has a holy priest anytime he wants to run an instance (and I am around). I am sure I was annoying, asked dumb questions and lacked WoW etiquette in the beginning but I learned.
Lolsbot Mar 12th 2007 9:30AM
Its TERRIBLE
THEY WONT LET ME QUIT PLAYING!
drew Mar 12th 2007 9:40AM
No the worst is when a guildie you like gets their friend to play and all day in guild chat you see HEY SOMEONE RUN SFK FOR ME!
Becca Mar 12th 2007 9:46AM
My boyfriend and I know of this guy (not really a 'friend', because that would imply that we like to be around him) that loved playing RPGs through cheating (Gameshark and such) and the only other MMORPG he had ever played was a Ragnarok Online private high level server, where you hit the max level in under 10 minutes.
One day he saw us playing World of Warcraft together and the next day he purchased the game and wanted to know what server we play on. We just picked a random server from the list and told him we played Alliance on there. Looking back at it now, it sounds kind of mean, but we weren't going to spend our time holding his hand and walking him through the game; what would he learn from it?
Last I heard of him, he's got a level 12 lady Night Elf hunter. He says it takes too long to level, so he pays the $15 a month to strip his elf down to her skivvies and watch her dance.
Usul Mar 12th 2007 10:21AM
I was actually recruited to play WOW by a friend who was already heavily involved in the game. When I noticed that his "instruction" after a botched BFD run was taking a toll on our friendship, my fiance and I bailed on the legacy server he was established on and found a home on Turalyon.
Now, we are both 70 and run one of the greatest guilds I have ever been a part of. The people are fantastic and some of them I would definitely say could develop into real life friendships.
I don't regret leaving the old server, because it preserved my friendship. I do think its a great thing to share your interests with someone....but by god...let them know they have the option of seeking their own path.
Oh, and NEVER invite your boss to play. I did that...he logged in and I soon realized that I no longer had any escape. :) Luckily, he lost interest quickly because there was too much typing involved ;)
Cantii Mar 12th 2007 10:40AM
I've had 2 different experiences...
1.I recruited one of my very close friends, and very hot girl. Since she got the game, her leveling has been extremely quick, she's really good at warlock (yet still sucks at PvP....o well) and everyone in my guild likes her...plus, it gives us something to talk about alot more.... equalling to us getting closer...
2. The other case. We got a friend of ours that we can only really tolerate in small doses to play... It took him 3 months to get to 30, and spent a majority of his time sitting in SW at making fun of random people and trying to be funny...luckily, he quit my big guild (bout 110 members, most lvl 30-70) and formed his own little one that...gulp...roleplays the night elves...*shiver*
thedog Mar 12th 2007 10:43AM
I got my girlfriend to play and we leveled all the way to 53 together. I had quit and come back so I knew the game pretty well.
Then, we broke up. Now, the one thing that was my escape has turned depressing because it reminds me she is gone.
Angusailde Mar 12th 2007 10:51AM
There's this guy that comes into my store that nobody can stand for any long amount of time, and I made the mistake of telling him which server I played on, and that it'd be cool if he switched servers.
He did as such when BC came out, and he was leveling pretty fast, but the whole time he would ask my friends and I to take him through instances to get items he would replace the next day. Then he hit level 45, and basically stopped leveling, instead deciding to come up with long convoluted schemes to make very small amounts of money at a time, "for his epic and flying mounts" when I told him you make money way faster once you get to Outland.
johnnyamerika Mar 12th 2007 9:48PM
I recruited a buddy of mine to play almost a year ago, and I rerolled to start a character with him. At first we'd play almost exclusively together, and if either of us couldn't play we would play another character. I would end up teaching him a whole lot, and getting frustrated when he did things wrong, which was quite often in my eyes because I'm a launch player.
We both took a break for about 4 months and have returned now that BC is out. We've resumed playing together, but this time I told him that I think he should play his character without me more than with me. I've noticed already his skills have improved dramatically from playing by himself. I think that by me playing with him all the time and hurrying him through everything, I had stunted his wow development. It was my fault he didn't know as much as me, because he never got to learn on his own. Now I enjoy playing together much more.
Mizuiro Mar 12th 2007 12:22PM
I "recruited" my boyfriend to play by letting him start a toon on my account. Silly me: he's too cheap to buy the game himself, so I get to spend hours staring at his back while he plays on MY computer...On the up side, I can blackmail him with threats of deleting his precious pally.
steve Mar 12th 2007 1:20PM
I'm teaching my dog how to play. I'm quite proud, he made over to where the wolves and rabbits are in the gnome starting area, and just barks at them when he gets there.
I'm pretty sure thats as far as he's going in this game.
Brad Mar 12th 2007 1:16PM
This reminds me of some recruiting I did, which is kind of the opposite of the topic. A friend of mine who had been opposed to WoW forever moved a few states away from me.
To keep in touch, he decided to get into WoW so that he could play with me and another guy back home. So we tell him we'll all start fresh with him on a new server with new characters.
Problem was, this was exactly the time BC game out. Hence he ended up playing completely by himself, and I feel like a douche bag.
Mrtheman Mar 12th 2007 3:08PM
oh my have i ever run into this, for the most part it's been good(there's about 5 rl friends i got to play wow) but one in particular just won't find out things for himself and it makes me want to delete my toon it's so annoying
for the most part it's awesome being able to get together and play wow or just talk wow in general but in one case it's nearly unbairable
Blkmasta Mar 12th 2007 3:54PM
I recruited 2 of my friends (one of which had about 10 levels over me by the next day, kinda annoying), who helped me get 2 other friends into it, then they invited others.... now most of the people I know play. WoW is scary like that.
Jeff Mar 12th 2007 3:56PM
Hehe reminds me when I recruited a friend of mine who's all in the Action/Arcade games and didnt know what RPG meant... I told him WoW was action anyways, with fierce fight and quick button mashing so he bought the game.
Lol he made a warrior and he named it Arthuriuz, which seemed to me the most generic name ever lol :)
Then we ran his first VC, he was level 17 and we were two 60 (mage & hunter) to be sure all would be ok lol... But still arthuriuz was charging forward in the elites pak, he was taking the lead as a warrior lol, with us trying very hard not let him die by retaking aggro of all the mobs very quickly. hehe it was my most challenging high level VC run.
The funniest part was that we were on Vent and we were always shouting "Watch out Arthuriuz!" "No ! Careful Arthuriuz! " like if it was a ZG or something like it...Since then Arthuriuz has kept his reputation of the suicide warrior lol
Antenora Mar 12th 2007 5:26PM
Well, I have a similar experience..
I didn't recruit this person, but I love to hang out with him in real life, but in Azeroth and the Outlands he makes me want to shoot myself in the face.
Basically, he's a priest that thinks he's a mage. He even rolled NEED on a Mage dungeon set 3 drop...AGAINST ANOTHER MAGE!!