Recruit-a-Friend levels fizzle in Patch 3.0.2
by Zach Yonzon 
Oct 19th 2008 at 2:00PM
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.
Filed under: Patches, Bugs, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Josh Oct 19th 2008 2:13PM
You have to be @#$@ing kidding me, WTF are they snorten up their? "Their gone, sorry, post patch should be good"...... WELL Blizz if I knew I would loose everything prior to the !@#@!in patch I would have spent the mothers instead of waiting.....
I honestly will buy a botting program if this shite isnt fixxed cause thats the only way I see getting what I paid for....
Thiosion Oct 19th 2008 2:26PM
Recruit-a-friend.
WARNING: May contain some risk of dependancy. If you experience the urge to shout obscenities or believe you have entered a nerdrage, consult your doctor as it may be a sign of a rare and serious side effect.
xtyle Oct 20th 2008 2:43PM
In some severe cases... homophones might be completely misused. The most common of which would be "their".
(2 in a row bud? wow! I'm not normally the grammar guy, but I couldn't help but laugh aloud at this one. 2 in row, back to back.. dang! Thanks for makin' me smile.)
insidiousraven Oct 19th 2008 8:22PM
wow that's bullcrap.
Shuuya Oct 19th 2008 2:16PM
lol
T Oct 19th 2008 2:30PM
That whole program is a bad idea anyway, and should not have been implemented at all. No one should ever be able to power level a character that fast.
That said, no one should ever be screwed out of it when promised the opportunity. It should be removed from the game entirely, but Blizzard needs to notify everyone of a date and time for that to happen, so that those counting on it can get it done. Typical of Blizzard...introduce an unpopular game feature, and then just to make sure everyone is good and pissed off, screw over those who find it worthwhile and want to use it. Participants should get their levels, period. THEN remove it from the game.
Keyra Oct 19th 2008 2:32PM
I was actually having fun in-game prior to 3.0.2, but not so much anymore. Suddenly, there was a new learning curve (achievements - do they even matter to anyone under level 40???) and having to respec all of my characters (when I was happy the way they were), none of my add-ons worked and all of the attention that Blizzard seems focused on is what I might be able to do 30-odd levels down the road. Then things like this start cropping up, and their overall attitude toward it is..."Oops, sorry. Oh well. Sucks to be you."???
The fun seems to have gone out of it. Maybe I need to take a hiatus from WoW until they get their collective heads out of certain orifices. I'll try back after the beginning of '09.
I might feel differently if I had a couple of level 70s, but I don't. I'm a level 37...and lately Blizzard seems to regard us as the red-headed bastard stepchildren - or holds the attitude of "Why can't you be more like your [level 65 resto druid] brother?"
Elementalist Oct 19th 2008 2:33PM
At last!
Sinystra Oct 19th 2008 2:47PM
It states that my benefits of RAF are good into Nov... so them cutting it off early isn't what was signed up for.
Luckily, I've levelled all the alts I needed to lvl.
I agree that, for most, the RAF isn't a good idea. But... for those alt heavy players who want to get a few more into the realm of end game it was a nice addition. You still have to lvl 60-70 the hard way.
If you complain about RAF... you should also complain about getting a free DK at lvl 55.
Amaxe Oct 19th 2008 2:56PM
I thought the RAF was overpowered and a bad idea. So in one respect, I simply don't care.
However, I think it would be a bad thing to let Blizzard get away with this sort of thing. If they can bungle this and be allowed to get away with it, who knows what else they might think they don't have to fix when it goes bad.
I understand a game like this is always in flux and needing hotfixes and repairs of course, but we should never let them think they can get away with letting broken concepts remain unfixed.
Roto Oct 19th 2008 3:06PM
So if you started a RAF account after the patch you'll get to use the free levels, right ??
Tural Oct 19th 2008 3:00PM
This makes me glad I've had my friend grant levels to my Druid every 5-10 levels. I lost about 6 with the patch, but most of them got used.
Iwanttobeasleep Oct 19th 2008 3:07PM
From what I can see, they're saying that, like the pet thing, they're working on the problem and don't want people hounding the already overburdened GMs who can't do anything about it anyway. It sucks for the people who suddenly can't play their alts (since the pet thing was largely cosmetic or could be fixed with a small amount of gold), but if you're worried about giving money for a glitchy game, you should just cancel it for a month after a major patch, because this is how it works.
kietnong Oct 19th 2008 6:14PM
You will be fine. It only affects those who saved up levels before the patch. Apparently the data that represents this was not stored before the patch was released, which frankly I find careless!
kolo Oct 19th 2008 3:20PM
FYI, in Europe atleast, the GMs will replace your Darkmoon Cards & Pets for free.
I think the major problem with this is the false advertising. If someone sells you a product and it doesnt deliver what it promises, its a bit of a con. Funnily enough the games industry is one of the only places that can actually get away with this.
Scrooge Oct 19th 2008 3:46PM
Well, I'm hoping that Blizz gets it figured out, because I lost 5 levels on the deal. And it just annoys me, because if I'd known it was going to happen with the patch I would have dumped them onto my rogue. However, I've spoken with a GM and he made it sound like they were going to get it fixed somehow. So, hopefully he was being honest and was not just blowing sunshine up my you know what. Anyone know of a blizz forum link where they are updating people on the situation.
Osi Oct 19th 2008 3:50PM
Well this is simple. Blizzard is legally required to fix this, as if they dont, they break both federal and state laws. AKA, not providing services paid for. Which basically means they can and probably will be shut down.
Here's hoping they get their act together and fix this.
G Oct 19th 2008 4:24PM
LoL! More self-righteous nerdrage about a game. You should probably play for your levels instead of litigating them. Then you'd notice things like the low level quest tracker really are there. At least you can spell and form a sentence, unlike your buddy Josh.
Pip Oct 19th 2008 4:36PM
No. Blizzard (So obviously) covers themselves completely from this kind of thing.
Osi Oct 19th 2008 4:38PM
G: ... and why does your kind exist? So you can be bullet fodder for wars.
Pip: Umm ... no they didnt.