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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsRecruit-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 2 of 4)
Kemikalkadet Oct 19th 2008 6:07PM
It'd be a good idea to check any info you have from when you signed up to the program. Just like any contract, it should state the service you recieve and the term (time the service is valid for). Also check any exemplaries.. probably in small print somewhere.
If it states that free levels are part of the service (which they obviously are) and a date where the ability to grant free levels stops, then you're entitled to recieve that service until the specified date. Of course, be sure to check all the small details carefully, things like ToS are designed to give the company as little liability as possible. Something like "we reserve the right to change the term at any point". If something like that exists then there's nothing you can do as it's something you agreed to when you first signed up to RaF.
whm Oct 19th 2008 4:12PM
Jesus I just lost 20 Levels. ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
Markov Oct 19th 2008 4:28PM
I lost over 60 levels. :(
Dah Oct 19th 2008 4:42PM
DON'T WORRY EVERYONE, DON'T WORRY!!!!
YOU CAN STILL GET THE RETARDED UNICORN MOUNT!!!
Mask Oct 19th 2008 5:30PM
haha RAF is broken
AHAHAHAA
Why can't I stop laughing?
ahahhaa
just play the game, stop exploiting it.
Kaphik Oct 19th 2008 5:48PM
Silly troll, it's not an exploit. It's a part of the game that Blizzard put in as incentive to get new accounts.
Sarah Oct 20th 2008 8:27AM
Aw, is billy-no-mates bitter? Your tears taste so good.
Clarick Oct 19th 2008 5:23PM
First off...anyone who thinks they would be breaking laws if they don't give you their property back (ie Levels) please read your EULA. Better yet get an actual lawyer to read it as you will find that technically blizzard has the right to take all your toons away and there is nothing you can do about it. Now before you nerdlings freak out and decided to run off to another game please keep in mind EVERY game maker has a similar EULA. In short thier lawyers are better then you.
As far as the RAF, that sucks. I have a friend who was doing the power level thing to level a priest with the free levels and I don't think he was able to get it done before the patch.
Here is how it goes...everyone is SOL as at the end of the day "All your toons are belong to Blizzard" and as long as you remember that you are renting your toons you will have a little less angst about them.
Glen Hays Oct 20th 2008 12:05AM
The EULA does not give Blizzard the right to renege on advertised promises. That can easily be challenged in court.
Then there is all the negative publicity that would coincide with the release of WotLK. I think it is a lot cheaper for Blizzard to follow through on what they owe their customers than the alternative.
Prauche Oct 20th 2008 12:38PM
It's called deceptive trade practices or false advertising. You cannot promise X, take folks' money based on X and then remove the certain of the key promises of X that you used to receive the money. It's also commonly called a 'bait-and-switch,' though there are certain principles involved in bait-and-switch that are not PRECISELY what we have here.
Maximara Oct 23rd 2008 2:38AM
As cases like Step-Saver Data Systems, Inc. v. Wyse Technology, Softman v. Adobe and Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc. all shows not all parts of a EULA past the legal test. So just because something is in a EULA doesn't mean that it is legal in the locality it was agreed to or is even enforceable.
Kaphik Oct 19th 2008 5:47PM
I noticed the Summon Friend option wasn't working for som eof my characters between linked accounts, either.
Ikarus Oct 20th 2008 11:46AM
The summon is working for me and my friend, but I noticed that the xp gained from killing mobs is lower when grouped with my recruit a friend than when I kill things out of group. Should be the other way around. At least the xp for quest turn-in's is still tripled.
Blackhorn Oct 20th 2008 12:35PM
Ikarus, it's basic math.
If you kill things outside of a group, you're getting 200% of normal experience (Rest Meter!). if you kill things INSIDE a group you are getting 300% of normal experience divided by TWO because you're in a group. So it actually, and always has, worked out to 150% of normal XP per kill. The quest XP was the major draw.
Ikarus Oct 20th 2008 4:00PM
Hmm, then i stand corrected. I could have sworn I was getting more XP for kills pre-patch. Funny thing is I opened a ticket and spoke with a GM about it. He seemed to think it was an issue too. So if you right, they need to screen their GM's a little better.
PimpyMicPimp Oct 19th 2008 6:23PM
Good. RAF was badly implemented.
Josh Oct 19th 2008 6:26PM
well for one if I misspelled, kiss my a$$ and grow up, dont you have better things to do then check my grammar?
the other, RAF was blizz big thing to bring people in for WOTLK to bump up their numbers. So thats why RAF was put in. Plus to use RAF you have to level a char up to 60 even to grant 30 levels.. I seriously dont know why theirs those out their that say RAF is horrible. Its just like a name change or a server change, instead I get to increase my leveling time so I can spend the rest doing end game content were the majority of people are at already... I mean really do you think Blizz is gonna make a mistake like EQ and leave no other way to level up? I PAID for two accounts, and took their trail offer. I EXPECT too have my grant levels restored... otherwise this is fraud.... plain and simple... This is a advertised item that is now being backed out of. I mean really if you dont care about the RAF issues why post on the GD article? Whats bull is that they didn't have a system in place to track this and now they gotta figure it out.
jenks Oct 19th 2008 7:09PM
Please note the FAQ has mysteriously vanished:
http://eu.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=30562
Note: I am narked because i have 20+ levels owed!
Axxel Oct 20th 2008 4:56AM
The FAQ is up and running again and it still says you can grant levels to chars lower than you... They better fix this - I lost 28 lvls
jenks Oct 20th 2008 6:01AM
Alix is correct, ignore my previous comment. It is up again.