by Jeremy Waxman on Dec 09, 2015
In today's patch for Heroes of the Storm, a brand new refer a friend program has been introduced, which you can read about right here. While a good way to get new players involved in theory, it actually has presented a real problem for the game.
In actuality, the problem is two-fold. Firstly, given the amount of time the game has been out, many veteran players have already recruited any friends who might be interested, making it very difficult to find anyone to refer in an attempt to get the rewards.
@TaylorGorder Very sorry to our veteran players. =( We did get this in late. We believe it is good for the long term health of the game.
— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) December 8, 2015
Secondly, with the program being the only way to obtain the in-game rewards, there are player reports that masses of alternate accounts are now flooding the game, as veterans attempt to simply use alts to satisfy the requirements necessary to obtain the Vulture mount.
@collegedog909 @TaylorGorder That was not the intent. You are correct, that is not good.
— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) December 9, 2015
Interestingly, the Heroes team didn't have to look any further than their competition at Riot Games to have been able to foresee this outcome. League of Legends' own refer a friend system was abused in much the same way, and Riot was eventually forced to pull the plug on the program and exclusive rewards (champion skins that couldn't be obtained by other means) as a result.
Given that Game Director Dustin Browder has acknowledged that this hasn't quite worked out the way the team had planned, it's fair to wonder if there will be changes to the program in the near future. Until anything is announced, however, brace yourself for the possibility of smurf accounts in any game you play.