Is Recruit-A-Friend a game-killer?
by Natalie Mootz 
Sep 4th 2008 at 7:30PM
After reading Outland Bound's amusing tale of an encounter with a level 59 "Recruit-A-Friend" player wearing level 26 pants because of the triple-leveling benefit, I got to thinking about the gameplay ramifications of this promotion. As a marketing professional as well as a student of game design, this promotion seems to me at best a bad idea and, at worst, a game-killer. As tight as the Blizzard team claims it is, and as much as it professes to act only in the best interest of gameplay, this promotion may have been poorly conceived. It seems like the Marketing Department had a great idea to accomplish two goals: (1) acquire more accountholders and (2) encourage current accountholders to stay. However, I wonder how well this idea was vetted by the game design team. My guess is: not well at all.
The point of leveling -- at least the way WoW was originally designed, although maybe not so much lately -- is to teach the player how to use class skills. You get spells and talents over time, along with the chance to practice them before you learn more new spells. What happens if you level too quickly? The same thing that happened to me as a Death Knight: you end up having no idea what you're doing, mashing random buttons and crossing your fingers. Pugging instances is hard enough as it is without having to teach level 59 players how to use their spells or wasting all your mana healing them because their gear is too low. Although the Recruit-A-Friend promotion was likely a business response by Blizzard to allay some of the ennui (and ensuing account closures) that has arisen in advance of the Wrath expansion, I wonder how much (not if) it will hurt the game. Perhaps they have the metrics to suggest that a promotion of this type will hold enough borderline accounts to combat churn, but I'm not sure if they anticipated counter-churn, which is what happens when customers leave as a result of players acquired by the promotion.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
woexer Sep 4th 2008 7:35PM
Orly?
dbh Sep 4th 2008 7:47PM
The negative effects from Recruit-a-Friend are minimal. Your concern that players will not be familiar with their abilities at 70 is legitimate at first blush; however, you forget that the first-time users to WoW are not the users leveling at lightspeed. These users are the ones that are still snail speeding, learning at a moderately decent rate. Besides, everyone I know constantly claims they learned more about their class's abilities (specifically from a more advanced angle) at level 60 or 70 while raiding. Your average leveler, before Recruit-a-Friend or now, doesn't have a clue about half the abilities they have (Divine Intervention is one that most Paladins, for example, really did not understand until 60+).
Are quests being skipped? Entire zones? Instances galore? You bet they are... but that's okay. From a completely new user's perspective, Blizzard is trying to provide a window to a game these users missed out on for years, while not forcing them to dedicate months upon months of work in the process (meanwhile their friends, if they have any in-game, are already 70).
Most of the people using the Recruit-a-Friend program, at least the ones I know, are all using it to powerlevel alts (either by dualboxing or by doing it with a friend for fun). In this case, the program is working as intended as well.
Thus, I feel that Blizzard has not only achieved what they wanted from a business perspective, but also from a game design perspective (this coming, by the way, from a professional game designer/programmer).
bayareateg Sep 4th 2008 7:49PM
I disagree. As a person coming back to WoW from a 6+ month break (no longer have any of my old accounts) I do not think I would have the will power to level one class back up to 60 without having the RAF xp boost, let alone 2-3 different classes.
Also, since you can only give out levels up to the referred toon's level, that lvl 59 either: quested at 3x XP to 59 or had one of his referred accounts give him levels (which is more likely i think). This means that the player already has at least 1 60 (on the referred account.)
I guess what I am trying to say is that it is not as "easy" to get a lvl 60 from giving levels, because A: you have to level at least one 60 on your referred account, and B: you are stuck at 60 on your shiny new toon with no gear. Making further progress much more difficult.
Your reasoning that servers will be full on nubs that do not know their class is not really valid, as there are countless people who fail at their class already.
Group with people you know, or if you have to PUG, don't stay in a group that is bound to fail, it's a waste of time.
ArielB Sep 4th 2008 8:34PM
Is that elitism in the air? :)
There's many new players that want to get to Wrath, they don't want to spend 6 months playing "old" content. That's what this program is for. And more than that, if you can start a DK at 55, what makes you think you can't level a rogue to 55 and start one there? The game implications are the same.
Bunyipee Sep 5th 2008 3:23AM
I have to say I agree with most comments and really disagree with the article.
I count myself now as quite a good wow player knowing the mechanics but when I was 60 on my rogue for about 2 months I didnt even know what feint was ( got told it on a strat run) I would say I learned most of wow when I reached 60.
Most of WoW is anyway an end level game it was 60 is 70 now and will be 80. The leveling period is just a minute part of the game and one which while fun is not too important nor do I think it really teaches you so many skills.
Lucas Sep 5th 2008 4:07AM
*sigh*
I'm sick and tired of listening to all this recruit a friend, mostly becus in Denmark it's not possible to utilize this feature, and becus I dont believe it to neither a spoiler nor a game breaker...
Every gamer knows that ones you have played tru lvl 1-60 once... or twice... you're not really going to enjoy the 3rd, or 6th time, they are just something that must be completed fast.
Also, if a new person joins the game, and is going to play with his friends, I'd be damned if I wanted to start a lvl 1 char again just to make htis happen, odds are he/she and I are just gonna get bored with the leveling (I know I am) .
I'm not the first to say "it should be easy" I'm just once again raising the flags for those who have already played 3 years or more, and saying that there should be some perks for these people, to do stuff for others.
Anyway... no more recruit a friend talk please.. it's burning my ears.
//Tallens'out
joyu Sep 11th 2008 2:42PM
most of the players who uses this are veterans, who wants to lvl fast alts.
any player who uses this will have low rep and no gold for mounts and skills
Zoidberg Sep 5th 2008 10:17AM
Wow. Another completely moronic wowinsider post. Does someone edit these things?
How about explaining why this will kill the game? Having low level pants when is not going to kill the game until you get to Outland. Leveling by using the same 2-4 buttons over and over again is not going to teach you to play. Leveling with a friend might.
Noah Heredia Sep 6th 2008 12:46PM
Let's not forget the fact that if someone pays for their own account they are free to do whatever they want with the account they have. If they don't know the game very well and are learning on their own you can't blame them for that. The point of the game is to have fun, not "Progress" or "PvP." Many of the casual players or the players that are being recruited are playing the game with the intention to enjoy themselves, not necessarily play the game the way others (who aren't even paying for their account) want them to. I'm not saying this because I am in fact still learning the game because I have played WoW for 3 years now. But you cannot get mad at someone for playing the game and learning at the pace they want to learn it at. Everyone is different and you have to accept the fact that it is just a game.
Omestes Sep 5th 2008 3:09PM
When I first started playing WoW (about 2mos after release), I had a couple of friends who were at the cap. Bascially they conned me into playing Alliance (Horde ftw), gave me a couple gold, and were generally too busy to ever do much with my little main between the MC/Onyxia rotations.
This gives me a dual view on this. I probably would have talked to them more online (outside of RL smoke breaks), if I could have approached them quicker. Which would have been a good thing.
On the other hand, I sloughed my way to 60, greatly enjoyed the actual content of the game, and made even more new lowbie friends, some of whom eventually spent too much time with my in MC/Onyxia and other old endgame raids. I'm going to say this was better than rushing to 60 just to hang out.
When I rerolled after TBC, I sloughed my way to 70 with a couple RL friends (and serveral new ones along the way), and would never want to rush that either. I still like the original world (much better than TBC), and I still like meeting fellow lowbies, it builds a sense of community, and its nice to have a full freinds list at 70 of people who you spent 70 levels learning how they play, just to make pugs that much easier, and more clockwork.
I think the recruit a friend people are missing out on a lot, if not actually hampering gameplay.
Whats so bad about WORKING for what you get? But then again I'm a member of a minority camp that thinks that WoW is about more than the endgame (I generally quit pretty soon after I hit the level cap, since I really can't stand raiding).
But, then again, this is a game. So I doubt that this is the end of the world, it just gives me more incentive to extend my "I will never do anything with you again" list, which is always a joyous occasion.
Dorlan Sep 4th 2008 7:40PM
Game-killer? I'd say exactly the opposite. No new player is going to start WoW after Wrath knowing they have months of grinding ahead just to get to the new content. The alternative would have been to allow new players to create a level 58 or 60 character from scratch, which would have been even worse. Is this an ideal answer? No. Was it necessary? Absolutely. Even before this there were level 60's that didn't know how to play; I don't see much difference now.
lightning4 Sep 4th 2008 7:45PM
One problem with that theory. Wouldn't all of the content, including the "old world" content be fresh and new to a new player? Granted, some of the old world quests could definitely be improved...
Hoggersbud Sep 4th 2008 11:21PM
Unfortunately, it'd also be devoid of other players, and ultimately you'd know you were just killing time before you got where the real action was, the stuff you were promised...
Barth Sep 5th 2008 10:02AM
Exactly what I was going to say.. there have always been, and always will be idiots in the game regardless of whether or not they actually had to play from lvl 48-59. There was a story on the WoW forums a while back about a rogue in the mid-40s who someone noticed was only using one sword... he asked if the guy needed to repair, and was told "no I'm fine." Turns out the rogue didn't know he could have been dual wielding since lvl 10.
matt Sep 4th 2008 7:41PM
Is RaF a game-killer? Will hyperbole DESTROY THE WORLD!?
Jane Gray Sep 5th 2008 3:34AM
HAHAHA Win.
with RAF you only get the extra xp if you are grouped with the referring account. 75% of those people are just running alts, while the others are with friends, ostensibly experienced players that are helping them learn the ropes.
Wither Sep 5th 2008 8:58AM
Touché. :)
Seriously, get over it already.
Zali Sep 5th 2008 9:07AM
Voted: Winner of the Most Apt Comment award.
Niiru Sep 4th 2008 7:45PM
Your article seems to be based upon the premise that the average PuG'ed player had any idea how to use their abilities prior to the Recruit-A-Friend promotion.
Tinwhisker Sep 4th 2008 7:50PM
This is true; I find it unlikely the the number of drooling morons has increased by a noticeable amount.
Let's not forget just how easy it is to level without actually learning any of the skills your class needs to work with a team in any instance. There have always been 'huntards', the RaF program did not magically create them over the summer.