Here’s an interesting story out of Blizzard. According to this post on the Blizzard forums, World of Warcraft will see the introduction of cross-realm dungeon finder, for players who have friends on different realms, but still want to go through dungeons and heroics together. A new system in development will allow players with RealID friendships to dungeon together, regardless of what realm they are on, as long as they’re on the same faction.
Of course for Blizzard this spells l-o-d-s of e-m-o-n-e, and what does that spell? Loadsa money! Probly…
It’s important to note that as with some of the other convenience- and connectivity-oriented features we offer, certain elements of the cross-realm Real ID party system will be premium-based, though only the player sending the invitations will need to have access to the premium service.
The above is causing quite a bit of discussion on the thread about whether this violates Blizzard’s promise to not charge for services that offer an advantage, as well as questioning the necessity in charging for a service that is hardly a technological feat at this point in World of Warcraft’s lifespan (The game already supports cross-realm dungeons and realid invites).
So much for Bobby Kotick not having his greedy little fingers in Blizzard’s pie. Big thanks to Verterdegete on the MMORPG.com forums for pointing this out. I’m guessing the service will be just as successful as the $25 pet, although I know plenty of people who are hoping this is thrown out with the mandatory real-name forum update.
MMO Fallout 