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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsCross-realm Dungeon Finder premium service coming soon
by Mathew McCurley 
May 17th 2011 at 4:20PM
This new feature will be part of a premium package of WoW features requiring an extra fee to use. Blizzard says that only the person doing the invites and creating the cross-server party will need to have access to the premium feature for the system to work. Currently, there is no release date, and the service is being described as a complex one to develop. Blizzard is most likely getting out in front of the news sites and datamining sites now, since pieces of this new system will begin to hit the PTR soon and Blizzard doesn't want too much speculation.
I personally think that this system is really cool for players who have an already-established friends base on other servers but don't want to leave their current home or don't have the money to do so and pay for a premium server transfer. For instance, Sacco and I can finally run some dungeons together. You hear that, Sacco? It's dungeon time.
Premium services always receive some type of backlash in the WoW community, and this one will be no different, so for caution's sake, let's wait until pricing information is officially announced before we explode with indignation. This is, however, a feature that many players have been asking for and will be very popular.
With the continued popularity of the Dungeon Finder, many players have been asking for a way to group up with real-life friends who play on other realms to take on instances together. Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about a new feature currently in development that will allow players to invite Real ID friends of the same faction to a party regardless of the realm they play on, and then queue up for a 5-player regular or Heroic dungeon.
As this is a fairly complex service to develop, we don't have a release date to share quite yet. It's important to note that as with some of the other convenience- and connectivity-oriented features we offer, certain elements of the cross-realm Real ID party system will be premium-based, though only the player sending the invitations will need to have access to the premium service. We'll have more details to share with you as development progresses -- in the meantime, you may begin to see elements of the feature appear on the World of Warcraft PTR.
As this is a fairly complex service to develop, we don't have a release date to share quite yet. It's important to note that as with some of the other convenience- and connectivity-oriented features we offer, certain elements of the cross-realm Real ID party system will be premium-based, though only the player sending the invitations will need to have access to the premium service. We'll have more details to share with you as development progresses -- in the meantime, you may begin to see elements of the feature appear on the World of Warcraft PTR.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 13)
Kaphik May 17th 2011 4:31PM
I would pay for the premium service just for this one feature alone. I have some good friends who didn't want to server transfer when I did on my main, so I don't have the chance to run 5-mans with them at all on my good 85s. This is going to make things a heck of a lot of fun for some people.
Edge May 17th 2011 7:16PM
It's going to be cheaper in the end to just do a server transfer. If this is a one time fee similar to doing a service transfer than MAYBE it might be ok. If this is part of a monthly fee like the chat and auction services, who in their right mind would bother with it, unless they include it as a part of those other services. Even then it's nothing but a ripoff, money grab, which in and of itself is not right or wrong, just business as usual, loyal customers be damned.
Xotzalqual May 17th 2011 4:33PM
I never thought the day would come when I would be actually happy that none of my RL friends still play WoW. If they did, I would be tempted to get this just to run instances with them. As is, it's nice that it exists, but I won't be getting it... no need!
Ah yes, notch another one up to sad, lonely, friendless existence. Thanks Blizz for giving me a silver lining :P
-X
Legobro May 17th 2011 4:33PM
Blizzard is like the abusive boyfriend. You love them, but they keep hitting you with micro transactions.
Dnizzle May 17th 2011 4:35PM
cool, the country is in a recession and just like the banks, blizzard finds a way to stack fees upon something that should be included in the 15/month package we pay for.
It seems to be that every time they are gonna incorporate something that should have been part of the coding foundation in the beginning that we will be charged.
Nvm the fact that classes are still badly unbalanced, i would rather have them fix the actual gameplay first then the extra curricular options
kamodius May 17th 2011 4:35PM
Unimpressive. This is functionality that should be built into the game. The LFD tool is such a misery, making users pay more to avoid misery is just... heinous.
dengarsw May 17th 2011 4:34PM
Too bad most of my friends play alliance.
Plainswander May 17th 2011 4:35PM
Make the traitorous pansies re-roll. Horde FTW.
Plainswander May 17th 2011 4:34PM
if the price is reasonable, *or* if they wrap it into the "Wow plus" I allready pay for (AH, GChat, and Calendar serice) then I am all for this. I have a lot of IRL friends on different servers who I would love to play with, and this would lift "real id" from being a mostly useless PITA to something that would actually enhance my game.
Of course, if they charge a ridiculous sum, then the heck with it.
trefpoid May 17th 2011 4:35PM
This premium services have kept our game at 15 dollars a month, so I can only encourage them. It's a miracle the game hasn't gotten more expensive with all the upgrades that have been made to it, so I really hope more services like this appear and that people pay for them to keep the game as cheap as it is.
RogueJedi86 May 17th 2011 10:17PM
Then what's your monthly fee for, if not to pay for Blizzard's WoW development costs? Everything before now could be done with the millions from the monthly fee, but this one feature suddenly cost more than the monthly fees can provide?
Xotzalqual May 18th 2011 12:46PM
I agree with RogueJedi86. $15 a month from 11 million players comes to 165 million in revenue. That doesn't take into account the money made from the premium services of mobile AH and Gchat, or vanity pets/sparkleponies.
I was always ok with those "premium" services because they didn't really affect my gameplay, just spiced it up, but now this new feature does affect it directly. How, you ask? Well, the have-nots will remain PUG dependant, while the Haves can pick and choose good PUGers and start making cross server alliances to allow for easier/more effective dungeon runs. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I expect the Blizz forums will be a joy for the next few months.
SlimPickens42 May 17th 2011 4:35PM
I assume that by being part of the "Premium Package" it means that it will be part of the same fee that includes Mobile AH and Gchat.
Plainswander May 17th 2011 4:42PM
That would be freakin awesome.
Eldoron May 17th 2011 4:36PM
It's not like race, faction and server changes weren't up for microtransactions so far..
Phil May 17th 2011 4:38PM
I'll pay for it IF they let Horde and Alliance run dungeons together with this. If they do that i'd probably pay 5 to 10 bucks a month.
Izzy May 17th 2011 4:40PM
I'll gladly pay for this, I've got plenty of friends cross-realm I've wanted to be able to queue with forever. I'm not entirely sure why MMO players feel so much entitlement as to cause backlash like this does. You want an extra service you pay for it, welcome to the real world. Everything added by Blizzard is done for the most part for free in order to entice people to keep their subscription. All those patches with content you get, you get for free. Your monthly fee only gives you access to current content, it entitles you to nothing else.
This service gives no one a specific advantage over the other, and doesn't keep you from enjoying current content on your realm. If you don't like it don't buy it.
Kelly May 17th 2011 4:40PM
"With the continued popularity of the Dungeon Finder"
Is it just me, or is this wishful thinking to the nth degree!? Most people that I talk to HATE the LFD. Sure, they love the convenience of NOT travelling to the dungeon to start it, but random pugging to get gear is a near Sisyphean effort.
I didn't play Rift for long (didn't like it compared to WoW), but it was nice getting to see people from my realm and add them to my "would play with again" or "would not play with again" list, so that I began to get a sense of the community, instead of, "Played with, will never meet again" mentality that the LFD has created.
If they were to take two things and combine them, it would be a great tool - You have to sit in SW, Org, and get your group together, and then click a button to be taken to a random instance... WINNING! Now you get to know your realm, and yet you still get the VP, etc that comes with random dungeons.
"But, my server is mainly a Horde/Alliance server, that would mean I don't get to play as much!" Yeah, that's an issue, but that would force you to look for a guild, and then make friends with the guild. Unless your server is 99.999999999% the opposing faction (I'm sure there's no server out there with that stat), there will STILL be plenty of people with whom you can run dungeons.
Another wonderful by-product of this: No more "anonymous" behavior in dungeons. You'll have to BEHAVE and act like a human! No more tank shortage (most say the way they are treated is the reason they gave up the LFD), no more rage-quits, no more "I'm not running this dungeon, I'm outta here" behavior, because people would simply stop allowing them in their groups... This almost sounds like a return to pre-Wrath days.... Funny how that's considered the high-point of WoW.
Fizzyl May 17th 2011 4:55PM
"If they were to take two things and combine them, it would be a great tool - You have to sit in SW, Org, and get your group together, and then click a button to be taken to a random instance… WINNING"
You mean, like … getting a couple of friends and inviting them into a group and maybe PuGging Trade for another couple, and then opening the Dungeon Finder and hitting "Join As Group" for the random heroic queue so you all get the Valor Points and gold reward?
Because I think that works pretty well to do what you're rhapsodizing over.
And no one does it because PuGging in Trade sucks now as much as it sucked in Burning Crusade, although less than it sucked in classic since now at least you're not PuGging 14 for UBRS and paying a rogue out the nose to unlock the door if no one with a Seal is online.
Jack Spicer May 17th 2011 5:12PM
@Kelly
It sounds like you just dislike PUGs.