New Real ID Party Feature Now Live, Remains Free

[webdonkey]

2 much QQ over the past months... so now it remains free.... funny how they act like that are giving us something... we didnt even ask for it in the first place.... and no blizz... realy... we didnt !

[khh]

make ones wonder why they stick with that "realm" model, i would had much more fun in wow if every time i meet someone else that plays too wasn't in another realm unable to play togetheris not like is impossible, GW1 was like that, many free mmos have servers divided in channels. not saying those were good implementations, but better than be isolated in your realm

[Verdris]

Anyone think this was all a calculated PR move by Blizzard?

[Kaeleena]

Q: Will any future aspects of the Real ID Party system be premium-based?
A: It's always possible that we'll add features and functionality that could have a premium component, but we don't have any specific details to share at this time.

It was a trick all along for them to make players feel like they were giving them something included in the standard subscription that they could possibly charge for. Just wait. Now the deluge of premium features begins.

[CaptainClaw]

Scyo summed it up pretty perfectly. I would like to add to that, Blizzard are no doubt feeling an amount of pressure with regards to Rift changing the way MMOs operate - the updates have been coming thick and fast, and services such as cross-realm transfers are completely free. Ironically, it's not the quality of gameplay in Rift that Blizzard are worried about, but how they are showing that selling an MMO isn't just about squeezing every last penny out of it's customers. Good will from the developers creates good will amongst the players (who would have thought that?).