Recruit A Friend Update (Patch 8.0)

[Quintessence]

Blizzard updated the RAF system and removed the Base Game requirement. To earn RAF rewards, all your recruit needs to do is apply 3 months of Game Time to their account.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/recruit-a-friend/

This streamlines the process which is great for us!

Cost differences
Old cost (non-sale): $60 (base game) + $30 (2 months game time) = $90
Old cost (on sale): $5 (battlechest) + $30 (2 months game time) = $35

New cost: $45 (3 months game time) or $42 (3 month subscription)

Cheaper when compared to non-sale RAF'ing, and slightly more expensive when compared to RAF'ing during a Blizzard sale. I've never seen Game Time go on sale, so I think $45 will be the standard. Keep in mind WoW Tokens are an option too.

[Ligament]

So I just sent myself a RaF email. Linked up the new account. No inclination that it contains 110 content. No real noticeable change from the previous times I've done this. Before I pour 600k into trying it, I'd like to know that they have their ducks in a row in regards to this new way working.

Has anyone seen something different?

[Quintessence]

Come July 24 I'll have confirmation on whether or not the updated RAF process works out fine.

The only major change is the RAF account doesn't require the base game or Battlechest anymore, so you don't get the 1 month free game time on the RAF and you don't automatically upgrade to a Normal Account.

As of 8.0, RAF accounts are Starter Edition accounts until game time or a subscription is applied to it. Starter Edition accounts cannot trade, access mail, or use the Auction House, so Tokens won't work on it until you upgrade it from "Starter" to "Normal".

Update 7/25: They changed the reward cooldown to 8 days (up from 7), but I can confirm that the updated RAF system works fine.

[Ligament]

So what's the result?

[Quintessence]

Everything worked out fine. They changed the reward cooldown from 7 days to 8 days. But other than that, I was able to claim my reward, no problem.

[Calydor]

I'm not quite sure I understand this, so let me ask like a stupid person. Can I send a RaF invite to an existing account of a friend I've played with often, and he just needs to pay for three months on his usual account for me to get the RaF rewards?

[Quintessence]

I'm not quite sure I understand this, so let me ask like a stupid person. Can I send a RaF invite to an existing account of a friend I've played with often, and he just needs to pay for three months on his usual account for me to get the RaF rewards?

Not a stupid question at all!

Yes, you can send a RAF invite to an existing Bnet account - it can even be your account. Your friend would then need to pay for 3 months game time on his newly added RAF account, not his "main" account. Once he is billed for 3 months (either a subscription or game time) you just need to wait 8 days for an in-game alert notifying you that you have a reward to claim.

Here's a guide on RAF'ing, written with the intent of recruiting yourself, but it can easily apply to recruiting a friend with an existing Bnet account.

[Calydor]

Ahh, alright. So it's still a really expensive shop pet/mount and not something you can get by doing things you'd do anyway, that's a shame.

[Uduwudu]

Hi,

I have given up on this a long time ago.

I got my friend his account, and helped him and all that, and I got nothing for it. That account is now more than a year old, and the player is still in the game, and his characters are all very high.

I don't enjoy being deceived and promised something that is not delivered, specially if there is a technicality to ensure that you do not get the "gift", that is totally trivial in the game anyway! The whole thing is sad, for me, and I am not trying to be an old chap complaining about the pains ... of old age!

Takes a lot of the appreciation of the human spirit out of the equation!

[Ligament]

Ok, so I'm running into an issue. Trading is disabled. Mail is disabled. So how do we give our RaF account the gold to pay for the 3 months?

Quint, did you just use RL money with a subscription? Or did you find some way around this?

[Quintessence]

If you want to use tokens on a RAF account, you need to upgrade it from a "Starter Account" to a normal one. Add one month game time or a 1 month subscription (and then cancel the sub) first. Once that's been applied, the RAF account should be able to trade, access mail, and use the AH.

Blizzard pretty much reduced the number of WoW Tokens you can use on a RAF account for the rewards (can only use 2 Tokens now, down from 3).

For my RAF, I just paid for a 3 month subscription and then canceled the sub immediately.

[Saviya]

I still have some codes from a past battle chest sale ($5), so I sent in a ticket asking about it and they said if you use the code for it, it'll count as 1 month gametime instead. for anyone who may have stocked up at some point for future rafing

[Razpoutine]

I just completed RAF in patch 8.0.1 and ran into some surprises, so I figured that I would post the whole process step by step to ease the minds of those who are about to do this.

1. To send the recruitment email, click on the Social button (or hit O) and click the Recruit a Friend button. Fill out the email (this can be the email associated with your bnet, or any other), put in a note and Send the invitation. The email address above will receive a message with the invitation.
2. Click the Play Free Now button. This brings up a web page asking if you have a Blizzard Account. If you want to use the same bnet, click YES - Continue. Log into the bnet page that pops up. You will now be in the game management screen for the new account you just created (called WoW1 for the first, WoW2 for the second and so on). Keep this website in the background for step 5.
3. Bring up the Launcher, set the Account dropdown to the account named above (WoW1), click Play, and create a new toon. You would expect this toon to be created on the server you invited from. You would be wrong. If you actually want to play this toon and use the resources on your server, hit the Back button, Change Realm and choose your server. This also makes it easier to send yourself money to buy tokens.
4. Create your new toon. Make your way to the nearest city if you will need mail and/or AH to buy tokens.
5. You now need to add a month of subscription. Battle Chests still work and count for 1 month, so if you bought one for $5 in one of the sales and hung on to it, you are in luck. Just hit the Enter a Key button on the website in step 2 and enter the key from the Battle Chest. Otherwise you can Subscribe or use a game card.
6. At this point you would expect that there would be some acknowledgement, in the client or on the website, that you have a referral underway. Especially in the Referrals And Rewards section of the website. You would be wrong. Apparently the website has been broken for years now. As far as I can tell, there is no way to verify that the RAF is underway, or what stage it is at. If you only applied 1 month of time above, you can now send your new toon enough money to buy 2 tokens. Buy the tokens and apply them. If you prefer to subscribe for the remaining time, keep in mind that it doesn't count until after the current month is over, so you are delaying everything by a month.
7. Now you wait. 8 days to be exact. Again, there is no indication that this is happening, or that you have done everything right. Patience is a virtue. On the 8th day, when you log into a toon on ANY account attached to your bnet, you will see a message box beside the Social button telling you that you have a gift waiting. Click the social button, click the gift button, choose the gift and accept. The gift will go into your bag.

Hope this helps someone.