Posts with tag scroll-of-resurrection

Chances are you've caught the news that Blizzard's Scroll of Resurrection program, which offered a boost to level 80 and some free gametime for lapsed players, is about to reach its end. But, really, this is a change you might not be feeling: Blizzard hasn't updated the program in a while and it's a little challenging to find players who have been gone long enough -- nearly two years -- to qualify to receive a Scroll so you can reap the rewards.

With Warlords offering players a boost to level 90, we have to wonder if the Scroll of Resurrection just doesn't make sense anymore. When you can get a level 90 character to play just by buying the expansion, why bother getting a friend to send you a Scroll for a level boost, even if Blizzard did update the rewards to be at-level to Mists or Warlords.

So tell us, readers -- do you think the upcoming expansion's instant level 90 was the end of the Scroll of Resurrection? Or do you think we'll see an updated SoR program at some future date?

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The Scroll of Resurrection, a longstanding incentive for current WoW plays to bring lapsed players back into the fold, is reaching the end of its tenure. On February 18th, one week from today, the Scroll will be removed from the game and no longer available to send. Players who have received Scrolls by that point will have up to 30 days from the day it was sent to activate it.

If you or someone you know has been considering returning to the game, now might be the time to make the jump. The Scroll's perks include a fancy Spectral Gryphon or Windrider for the sender, and 7 free days' of game play for the recipient.

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Update: This article has been updated to remove references to the now-defunct Scroll of Resurrection program and remove mentions of holiday sale pricing for World of Warcraft.

If you're looking to bring your friends in to World of Warcraft, Blizzard is eager to lend you a hand with Recruit A Friend (for bringing in new players) and Scroll of Resurrection (for bringing back old players). Both programs offer bonuses for both you and whomever you're inviting to play with you -- you get cool mounts, and they get easier leveling options. So if you have a friend who might enjoy the game, taking advantage of one of these programs will help out both of you. And if you're looking to get into the game, it's worth your while to find a friend who can recruit you.

But just what do these programs do and how can you -- and your friends -- take advantage of them? We'll lay out all the details below.

Last week, I wrote an article discussing some way you could prepare now for your new monk. One of the open questions at the end of that article was whether the Scroll of Resurrection's free 80 bonus would be applicable to new monks, as that could significantly impact the race for realm firsts.

Today, a Blizzard blog post clarified the situation, and the results are in: No free level 80 monk for you.

Blizzard Entertainment

With the upcoming release of Mists of Pandaria, the Scroll of Resurrection system will be updated to accommodate the new talent specialization system, monk class, and pandaren race. The following changes will be made in an upcoming patch prior to the expansion's release:

• The Scroll of Resurrection leveling system will be updated to work with Mists of Pandaria's new specialization and talent system.
• Resurrected characters will no longer have their talents preselected for them; however, a specialization will still available to be selected prior to entering the game.
• Players who receive a Scroll of Resurrection will not be able to apply rewards (e.g. boost to level 80) to monk characters.
• Players who send or receive a Scroll of Resurrection will not be able to apply rewards (e.g. in-game mount, boost to level 80) to pandaren characters that have not yet chosen a faction.

To learn more about the Scroll of Resurrection, read the FAQ.

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While this still leaves open the question of whether Recruit-A-Friend's level-granting bonuses will work for new monks, at least now the playing field is balanced for all who will be competing. While my intuition tells me that Recruit-A-Friend bonuses will probably be allowed for monks, you may want to start acquiring some heirlooms, just in case. (EDIT: Yes, RaF is allowed for monks.)

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Since the Scroll of Resurrection was revamped and brought back, it's been a system that has generated a lot of interest in the playerbase. Due to some of the amazing rewards such as a spectral mount for the SoR sender and a boosted level 80 character and a free copy of Cataclysm for the receiver, a lot of players have spent the past month trying to navigate through the confusing system to send a SoR.

As an answer to their confusion, Blizzard released two detailed Scroll of Resurrection videos in a blog post yesterday, which thankfully answer some of the common concerns brought up in our post last week.

Our updated Scroll of Resurrection campaign is well underway, and many players are taking advantage of this opportunity to bring friends and former guildmates back to the game. We've noticed that many of you have questions about how the program works. We're here to provide answers, and one of the ways that we're doing so is with this pair of quick tutorial videos. The first is for those of you who are sending Scrolls of Resurrection, and the second is for those receiving them.

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One video shows you everything you need to do to send a SoR to a friend whose time has lapsed, including instructions for claiming your mount. The other is a guide to accepting a Scroll of Resurrection, showing you how to get back into the game quickly and efficiently. As an added bonus, the voice of the second video has an excellent British accent.

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Many players seem to be having a difficult time deciphering the intricacies of the revamped Scroll of Resurrection system. Whether that's because the Scroll of Resurrection Walkthrough support page isn't visible enough or the system is just that complicated, we don't know. What we do know is that Blizzard has offered us a pretty cool opportunity -- a Q&A about the Scroll of Resurrection system, with the questions coming from WoW Insider readers.

Are you not sure how the system works? Have you run into an issue that you don't quite understand? Aspects of the system that you think could be improved, perhaps? Drop all of that in the comments below, and we'll forward the most common questions on to Blizzard.

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Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same.

World of Warcraft experienced numerous cataclysms over the last year and a half as Blizzard, the community, and everything in between had a weird hiccup moment. Mists of Pandaria seems to be shaping up to pull many lapsed players back into the World of Warcraft ranks, and the Scroll of Resurrection is a none-too-subtle way of facilitating that goal. Old players who thought WoW was down and out have been pulled back because of instant access to a lot of the features once reserved for the especially dedicated.

Last week, I gave you some tips on what to install on your brand new player's game in order to facilitate a smoother first-game experience. This week, we're going to address old players from all past eras of WoW's lifespan and help them get back into the game without too many bumps along the way. It's a very different game, but the core components are exactly the same. Blizzard correctly pointed out that when WoW's got you and your character's boots on the ground, the game works the best.

But first, before we begin with the article proper, I wanted to proclaim victory for the WoW community with regard to AoE looting. Blizzard has announced that AoE looting will be making the release of Mists of Pandaria, and I could not be happier. I've been championing AoE looting for some time now, and I want to send the happiest thoughts possible to the dev who got this feature on the launch list. You have no idea what types of quality of life changes that this will bring to everything from old raid farming to time spent waiting around in dungeons.

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and cohost of the For the Lore and Raid Warning podcasts), shows you how

The Scroll of Resurrection revamp has been a topic of hot debate recently. Whether you love it or hate it, the feature's still an opportunity for our healing brethren to come back after a long break. To be honest, one of my friends has done just that.

But being away from the game for any period of time, whether it is an entire expansion or just a content patch, can be jarring. So when my friend reactivated, I asked him what his most pressing concerns were coming back to Cataclysm. What did he want to know the most to get back up to speed? I thought that were probably quite a few number of folks coming back to the game who might have the same questions, so I figured now would be the perfect time to talk about that, as well as some news regarding the new level 90 talents that we just received.

Oh, and the video has nothing to do with today's post ... I just had that song stuck in my head.

Blizzard has posted a more detailed explanation of the revamped Scroll of Resurrection feature, allowing current players to send their friends seven free days to come back to the game, a free bump for one character to level 80, and a free server and faction change to your friend's new server. For the current player, you'll be given a faction-specific spectral mount if your resurrected friend pays for a month. All in all, it's an ambitious package to entice old players to return to Azeroth.

These new clarifications make sure that players understand the rules of the promotion and that this is a limited time deal. Blizzard will be letting everyone know with ample time before the promotion ends, but if you're interested in the mount, it might behoove you to get your Scroll of Resurrection out of the way early. What that says to me is a potential for rotating rewards for the Scroll of Resurrection. Multiple rewards or a new reward each year is a great way to get players to do their own grassroots advertising to get old players back into the game to sate their collector compulsions.

Hit the jump for the full list of clarifications.

Are you one of those loyal WoW players trying to convince your friends to take a Scroll of Resurrection? Yeah, so is Wowcrendor. And it seems when you present an exciting, well-reasoned case to bring those friends back into our fold, you get one, single answer. That's the premise of this video.

This is a pretty short video, which is often for the best. Wowcrendor manages to make a full, satisfying video out of a single joke. I have a lot of respect for his brevity; dragging a video out when it's not necessary just turns it into a bore.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Blizzard's new Scroll of Resurrection program, along with a personal anecdote, have got me asking the simple question: Is this the perfect time to start playing World of Warcraft? My immediate thought was that of course it's not -- Mists of Pandaria is presumably close, and we are in the dreaded pre-expansion lull. As I thought more about it, my answer got a little more complex. When my friend Will came to me asking for an MMO recommendation a few days ago, I found myself parsing through all of the options and ended up recommending World of Warcraft.

Will doesn't have much time to play MMOs. He used to play a little bit of WoW, but it was way back in the day when things were still so new. That got me thinking -- my own WoW experience has become much more of a casual endeavor, which has shown me the light in many regards. This is a game you can play for 30 to 60 minutes a night if you so desire. The new Cataclysm questing is top notch for any MMO. A free level 80 character means you can show your friend cool content right out the gate (old world raids, fun zones, etc.) and not worry about the whole "Well, I'll never get to your level to play with you" problem.

I'll be sending my friend a Scroll of Resurrection invite because I believe that this time between now and Mists of Pandaria, during the relative calm before the storm when raiding has slowed and people get a little bit lazy, is the perfect time to help a friend get into the game. There is actually time to go and help a friend.

Do you think this is actually a perfect time to play WoW, when things are quiet and settled?

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Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mathew McCurley (@gomatgo) will be your host today.

It's, uh ... for work. I swear.

I'll take one of the old ones -- that's totally fine. Not the old old one, though. Only one old ago.

Jamie asked:

How long do you think it'll be before we'll be able to buy a previous expansion level capped character from Blizzard?

Technically, you can do it now with the Scroll of Resurrection, if you have a second account that you've deactivated for some reason. Might I remind all of you out there who RAF'd for Swift Zhevras or X-53 rockets and have an account lying around that it would be perfect for resurrecting, granting a level 80 character, and then transferring that character back to your main account? That's essentially purchasing a level 80 character, no?

As for whether you will be purchasing already-leveled characters from Blizzard, the answer is most likely no. However, I could see Blizzard setting up something like Diablo III's character sales on the Auction House. Who knows? Maybe one day, you could buy new characters with your Blizzard wallet from other players. The bottom line is that I think Blizzard likes the idea of player-on-player transactions for game/power-related items, which I'm fine with.

This afternoon, we discovered the revamped Scroll of Resurrection system was being rolled out on live realms. The service didn't stay active long (and most likely wasn't meant to be active at all), so details were rare. However, this evening Blizzard has released all of the details of the system. The entire release is fairly lengthy, so we'll keep most of that behind the cut. However, here are the core goodies.

Scroll of Resurrection - Resurrected Soon!

Once your friend accepts your scroll and pays for at least 30 days of game, you unlock your choice of the following rewards:

• A Free Spectral Gryphon for an Alliance character
• Or a Free Spectral Wind Rider for a Horde character

And, to enable you and your friend to play together in Cataclysm's newest content, any friend who accepts your Scroll will also receive the following epic benefits:

• A single character immediately boosted all the way to level 80 -- DING!
• A FREE upgrade to Cataclysm -- regardless of your friend's original box level
• An optional FREE character move -- to your realm and faction so you can play together
• 7 FREE days of game time -- available immediately

A few other prerequisites apply -- such as a free upgrade to a Battle.net account for players who haven't played since 2009 or earlier -- so be sure to check out the FAQ below for full eligibility details.

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Do note that the official release notes that when this system goes live, the offer will only be available for a limited time. Head over to Battle.net for the full release, or just click through the cut below.