Patch 3.3.5 landed on WoW’s US servers yesterday and caused some issues which kept the servers offline until about 5:00pm PST when some became available.  This patch is actually pretty important for WoW. It introduces the Real ID system which connects all Battle.net games together, granting players the ability to communicate with friends no matter which game they are playing. We first saw the system in action during StarCraft 2’s beta and it functioned well. 
This patch integrated the Real ID into WoW by enhancing the friends list. You can now add a friend and choose whether or not to make them just a WoW friend or a “Real ID” aka “Real Life” friend. It’s important to note that they really should be someone you’re comfortable with because they get your real name.  They also get to see exactly what game you’re playing and what character you are playing on and can view friends of friends. Some people are freaking out over this, but at the same time this information is fully disclosed to you before you make the decision to make someone a “real” friend.
How does it work? Simply enough, when a friend is added they now appear in your list with a lot more information. When you message them it appears in your chat window like normal abut with their real name instead of their character. You can create conversations between you and other friends which creates a new tab for you to chat in. There is also the option to make a “broadcast” similar to what you would put on your facebook wall — a message like “Eating waffles!” or something stupid like that. Notifications for when Real ID friends come online, go offline, or make a broadcast appear in the lower left (defaulted there for me). I like the system and will put it to great use, especially when other Blizzard games release using the feature.
In this patch we also receive the Ruby Sanctum. Sadly it won’t be available until all regions receive this patch (EU might be next week) because of people wanting a fair opportunity to be the “world first” or something silly like that. I know that my guild is looking forward to this raid because it’s another activity for us to schedule each week. It’s also a bunch of dragons and we love us some dragon slaying. Extra loot doesn’t hurt either.
The K&G WoW Guild (Happy Fun Guyz) is progressing nicely in ICC 10. Last week we downed the first and second wings + Blood Princes and Valithria. This week we’ll take down the Blood Queen and hopefully start making attempts on Sindragosa. The ICC buff which increases damage done, healing done, and gives additional HP has been raised to 25% with this patch as well. The purpose of the buff is to help ensure that everyone gets to see the ICC content before Cataclysm renders it obsolete. I love the buff and now that it’s been raised an additional 5% it only means good things for us. We’ll take what we can get! We’ll hopefully be able to take down the Lich King within a few weeks time. It’s great to progress in content with friends and feel that excitement that comes from successful teamwork.
go team go!
Why not just use a handle/toon name. Using a real name is a dealbreaker.
are you always going to use that guild name, happy fun guyz, for all the mmorpg’s you play? i like to rp and that’s just such a non rp name.
@Sleepysam: My understanding is that they want this to be a “real friend” type thing. It’s like using your handle/character name on Facebook. I think an option to enable real name or handle it 100% warranted though, regardless of the direction they intend for this tool.
@Johnny Lane: Maybe. Maybe not. We’re not a roleplaying guild though, so that’s not apart of our decision making process when we think of names. It’s the name we used in Warhammer Online as a predominantly Greenskin guild (hence the “Fun Guys” –> Fungi’s) and whimsical nature of the name. In Darkfall we were Haven. In future games if we have a guild presence we will look at what to name ourselves. It works for us in WoW right now.
cool, thx
Yo Keen. I recently quit WoW, for 3 reasons, first the guild im in has slowly started to die due to attendance issues, secondly for issues relating to failed recruiting goals met and lastly because for personal reasons. The loss of content that was announced at last years Blizzcon has me in a fit of despair.
I was an adamant supporter of WoW and always thought the 1 major thing the game lacked was some sort of AA (Alternate Advancement) system, with the loss of path of the titans and guild talents I feel the Devs have put a firm resounding endgame scenario of raid raid raid as the only means for advancement.
So with that being said I ask you, have you looked at any other MMO coming out other then SW:ToR? I too feel this game has a ton of potential however that was until I saw the E3 Presentation for Rift: Planes of Telera.
Rift looks amazing and the E3 vid’s show very nice art work and character model/movement/animations on par with anything WoW has to offer. (I always thought WoW has the best character animations) Look at the website and all the coverage if you already havnt, its got WAR’s PQ’s done right, an amazing and I repeat AMAZING Character advancement system with an almost unlimited character advancement system that is heads and shoulders above anything ive ever seen.
Im not lieing when I say ive got a serious fanboy atitude about this game. check it out: http://www.riftgame.com/en/
Oops forgot to mention its being produced by a western market and Adam Gershowitz (ex-WAR) is a Dev on the team.
I could have handled the real name thing (though I’d prefer the RealID to be JUST a first name, not both) but what really seems like a bad idea to me is that anyone you put on your RealID list can see EVERYONE ELSE you have friended through the system.
This bothers me. I might add a few people that I think i can trust, but now I have to consider whether or not I want absolutely everyone I know to be exposed to everyone else I know. Why would this system even be on there? What’s the point of giving people unlimited access to everyone you’ve ever made a RealID friend?
I like the feature and I like the ability to talk to people no matter what server or faction or Blizzard Game I’m playing, but I don’t like that they’ve made it so transparent. I basically feel like I should only put family members on the list because I don’t feel like my friend from an old alliance guild should know everyone I add from my horde guild, and vice versa.
@ Music-chan: I completely agree. There needs to be a setting for “trust levels” which determines who can see whom and what details are displayed for each friend. And it needs an option to disable it completely — there are times I just want to be left alone and I don’t want people, even friends, to see that I’m online.
As it’s currently implemented, I don’t feel particularly excited to use it.
Apparently, Activision-Blizzard now deems itself above the need for diplomacy, and works to actively deride those of us players who (after 5 damn years of being a loyal customer) decided to quit because of Real ID.
I take this as a personal insult and slap in the face, though I can see the drones/sheep that will sell their soul to keep playing Wow laughing at it. If you are like me and use common sense, and value privacy, I suggest you share this link all over the net to show what utter creeps this company has turned into:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/items/tinfoilhat.xml
By the way, here’s an example of one of the VERY long, ignored threads concerning Real ID that was conveniently deleted by Blizzard.
http://www.threadmeters.com/rOwso7/Real_IDs_Real_flaw/
Note what happens if you try to click the link at the bottom to read it in the actual wow forums. Free speech at it’s finest eh?
I think the new Real ID feature is great for close friends to have, but I can also see the feature becoming abused. I doubt that I’ll add many people onto my list unless Blizzard decides to possibly change the feature a little bit.