The real reason for the XP nerf of the “Refer a Friend” system in WoW seems to be content stretching. We explain why.
For several days now, it has been possible to preorder the upcoming expansion of World of Warcraft, Battle for Azeroth. Those who decide to do so (and meet the requirements) can already create and play Allied Race characters right now. As a special incentive, there is the stylish “Heritage Armor”, a special armor set of the respective race, only if you level the character from 20 to 110 without using a level boost.
A week prior, we reported that Blizzard has reduced the XP bonus of the “Refer a Friend” system from 200% to 50%.
You don’t have to be a genius to see the connection between these two changes. For many players, the hunt for a special transmog set is a big incentive, and – whether you like transmog or not – it’s a form of content that many players enjoy.
With the old system, players would have received the armor in just a few hours
With the old “Refer a Friend” system, it would have been very easy to unlock the corresponding armor within just a few hours. Leveling at triple experience (+200%) would probably have been completed in one to two days of pure playtime.
In retrospect, the justification for the XP reduction of the “Refer a Friend” system seems like typical PR “blah blah”.
Of course, it’s smart to hide the particularly stylish Heritage Armor behind lengthy “work”, as special rewards should always be obtainable only through a difficult or time-consuming task. But it’s obvious that this is merely “filler” content until Battle for Azeroth launches in late summer.
However, from the standpoint that both systems were introduced so closely together, it feels “wrong” to many players – as if Blizzard wants to use the thousands of quests of the Old World as temporary “fresh content” until the expansion?
Is that legitimate? Definitely. Does it leave a strange taste? Yup.
What do you think about this? Is it a legitimate change to make the Heritage Armor of the Allied Races valuable? Or is it just a cheap timesink to fill the remaining 8 months until Battle for Azeroth?
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