July 14, 2011
Blizzard Entertainment announced that its new World of Warcraft feature, Real ID Party, is now available for public testing. According to Blizzard this feature allows World of Warcraft players to invite their 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 normal or Heroic dungeon.
Blizzard also sent along a handy dandy mini-FAQ, which you can read below. For even more information on this feature, check out the Battle.net Real ID.
Real ID Party FAQ
Q: What is the Real ID Party feature?
A: Players can now invite Real ID friends of the same faction to a 5-player normal or Heroic dungeon group, regardless of what realm their friends are on. This system is designed to make it easier for real-life friends to play together.
Q: How do I invite Real ID friends to a Real ID party?
A: Inviting a Real ID friend to a Real ID Party is simple. Just open up your Friends list to see which Real ID friends are online. Click on the “Plus” button to send an invitation to a Real ID friend to join your group. You can continue to add Real ID friends to your party until the group is complete. If you cannot complete the group with Real ID friends, you are free to join the Dungeon Finder to fill in the missing roles.
Q: Does a player need to have Real ID enabled to accept a Real ID group invite?
A: Yes, a player must have Real ID enabled, and both players must be Real ID friends to accept or initiate Real ID party invitations.
Q: Can a party leader invite a mix of Real ID friends, character-level friends, guildmates, or random players to the same party?
A: A party leader can invite any combination of Real ID friends from any realm, guildmates from the same realm, or other characters from the same realm to the same party. If the party leader isn’t able to fill up the entire party, the Dungeon Finder can fill in the missing roles.
Q: Can I invite someone who is not a Real ID friend?
A: You can only invite members to a party if they are on your Real ID friends list or if they are on the same realm as you are.
Q: Can I invite a friend of a Real ID friend?
A: No, you can only invite your own Real ID friends to the party.
Q: How long will the testing period last?
A: We haven’t yet determined how long the testing period will last. We'll keep you updated on the status and inform you when the test period is going to end in the future.
Q: Will aspects of the Real ID Party system be premium-based?
We'll have information on this toward the end of the testing period.
Comments
Re: WoW Real ID Party Ready for Testing
I've had a problem for a long time with my co-workers playing on one realm and my friends playing on another. Last night I grouped with my husband, a member of my raiding guild, a co-worker, and a friend of mine - 3 different servers were involved. It went beautifully :) Oddly enough, it still counted as though my friend was partying with 4 different people, giving her the "Looking for More" achievement. Not sure if that was intended or an oversight on Blizzard's part. We're not complaining :P
If they can impliment this for raids and/or battlegrounds, I'd be very happy indeed.
Of course, it doesn't solve every problem.... I then had a friend in a former Alliance guild I used to be in whisper me with "damn your Hordiness - it won't let me group with you!" :)
Re: WoW Real ID Party Ready for Testing
I did two cross-realm dungeons today with a real ID friend and they worked flawlessly. I love this idea