Recruit A Friend

Recruit A Friend UI as of patch 10.0.7.

The Recruit A Friend, often referred to as RaF, program is a referral system, through which players can recruit friends or family members into World of Warcraft. A player can generate a link (that can only recruit 4 friends every 30 days) that can be sent to a player they want to recruit and the recruitee can choose an already existing account that hadn't had a subscription for a year or create a new free trial account which would be linked to the recruiter. Players can also recruit themselves by linking a new free trial account on the same Battle.net account. Each recruit can provide 12 months toward the rewards.

The Recruit-A-Friend program was closed on 11 June 2019 until patch 8.2.5 with a redesigned system and new Explorers' League-themed rewards. On 12 December 2022, accounts can be recruited after having no game time for a year instead of two. Patch 10.0.7 once again introduced new rewards but kept the Explorers' League-themed rewards available for "Legacy recruits".

Benefits

• The recruited friend receives an  [Extra-Spacious Knapsack] on every new character which is mailed to the character's mailbox after completing the Exile's Reach storyline or by reaching level 50.
• Both players can summon their linked friend every 30 minutes from the Friends list.
• Each recruited friend has special quests that, if done together via Party Sync, rewards currency for the Recruiter:
  •  [1-70] Storied Partnerships
  •  [1-70] Dungeon Adventure
  •  [1-70] Battleforged Team

Current rewards

Goblin-themed rewards

Patch 10.0.7 introduced goblin-themed rewards. New recruits since the patch will count toward the rewards below.

X Months	Reward
1	[Volatile Self-Driving Toolbox]
2	[Shredderizing Glove]
3	[Sappy Buddy]
4	[Game Time]
5	[S.C.A.N.N.E.R. Mk3]
6	[Rocket Shredder 9001]
Every three months (9, 12, etc.)	[Game Time]

Legacy rewards

Explorers' League-themed rewards.

Those who were recruited prior to the release of patch 10.0.7 are considered "Legacy recruits" and will only provide criteria toward the Explorers' League-themed rewards. Any new recruits will count toward the Recruiter rewards above.

X Months	Reward
1	[Rikki's Pith Helmet]
2	[Game Time]
3	[Reins of the Explorer's Dunetrekker]
4	[Explorer's Certification] (Title: Renowned Explorer)
5	[Game Time]
6	[Illusion: Stinging Sands]
7	[Renowned Explorer's Tabard]
8	[Game Time]
9	[Keys to the Explorer's Jungle Hopper]
10	[Renowned Explorer's Rucksack]
11	[Game Time]
12	[Ensemble: Renowned Explorer's Attire]
Every three months (15, 18, etc.)	[Game Time]

Mists of Pandaria system

The Mists of Pandaria system was introduced on 12 November 2013 after patch 5.4.1 and introduced a selection of rewards that consisted of past RAF mounts and previously Asian-only promo companions. With patch 7.3.5, the XP boost was reduced from 200% to 50% and heirlooms no longer stacked with the boost. This program closed on 11 June 2019 prior to the revamp that was introduced with patch 8.2.5.

When a player chooses to recruit someone, the recruit is emailed an activation link for a Starter Edition account. Accounts created through this referral system become "linked" with the recruiter's account. If the trial account is upgraded to a paid subscription, both the recruiter and the recruit gain benefits when they play World of Warcraft together.

How to recruit a friend

Friends List

Log into a character in-game. Open the "Social" tab. Click the "Recruit A Friend" button ( ). Enter your friend's email address, and a custom message if desired. Now, your friend must open the email sent by Blizzard, and follow the link to create an account. Once the account is created, they need to verify it with Blizzard, through a follow-up email. Then they can follow the link in the invitation email again, and they will be prompted to choose which account to RAF link. Typically, this is WoW1. After this point, the accounts should be linked.

Original benefits

Benefits for the original system lasted for 90 days after the recruitment.

• Both the recruit and the recruiter can summon each other while partied. This "Summon Friend" ability has a 30-minute cooldown. The summoned character must be level 89 or below and on the same realm as the summoner.
• Both the recruit and the recruiter gain triple experience points (up to level 90) while partied and within 100 yards of each other. Unlike rested EXP, this applies to experience from quests and kills.
  • This does not stack with rested XP, however killing mobs and farming nodes does not consume rested XP, either.
  • Prior to patch 7.3.5, this did stack with the 5-10% XP bonus from heirloom items, and said items can be shared between WoW accounts if they're tied to the same Battle.net account.
  • If both characters are not within 4 levels of each other, only the lower-level character will gain extra experience.
  • If a mob or quest is trivial (grey) to either character, neither will receive triple experience.
• Recruit characters gain one "grantable" level for every two levels earned (up to 44 levels per character). Recruit characters may then grant these levels to the veteran's lower-level characters. When the characters are grouped, the recruit may target and right-click on the veteran character's nameplate and an option "Grant a Level" should appear in the context menu.
  • The character receiving the levels must be lower than the granter's level, and below level 90. In other words, a level 65 recruit can grant levels to get the veteran up to level 65, but no higher. A level 92 recruit can grant levels to get the veteran up to level 90.
  • The character receiving the levels may decline the grant when prompted and then nothing happens.
  • Any levels not already granted when the account link is broken are lost. However, unlike the early version of RaF, the recruit does not lose the ability to grant levels simply because he/she has reached level 90. Those levels can still be granted any time during the 90-day period.
  • The level grants grant a complete level. The XP bar remains the same in the new level, so a good strategy is to gain experience on the veteran character until they are at 99%. The character will then be 99% of the way to whatever level he reaches after the granted levels. Eg: A level 2 who is 99% of the way to level 3 will then be 99% of the way to level 91 when granted 88 levels.
  • Recruits can grant levels to any character on the veteran's account, and one veteran may accept granted levels from multiple recruits. The veteran can start a level 1 character and receive free levels from multiple recruits up to the RaF cap, as seen here.
  • Levels are granted one at a time, and may be distributed among veteran characters; the recruit may grant 26 levels to Veteran Character A and 18 levels to Veteran Character B, or any combination desired.
  • The 44 grantable level limit applies to each character on the recruited account. If the recruit levels multiple characters to 90, each character can grant 44 levels, to the same player or different players (within the above limits, of course).
  • Granted levels are earned regardless of whether the recruit and veteran were adventuring together when the levels were earned.
• The 90 days starts from the day the R-A-F invitation is accepted, not when the account is upgraded, so be certain when the link ends. This can be done from the recruitment status page under Account Management.

Time-independent rewards

The rewards that were available as of patch 6.2.0.

Prior to patch 8.0.1, the recruit had to purchase a full copy of World of Warcraft and one month of game time so the recruiter could receive the 30-day game credit. If the recruit purchased an additional month of game time, the recruiter receives a special mount or pet of their choice (listed below). Since purchasing World of Warcraft was made redundant with patch 8.0.1 (requiring only game time to play), the RAF program was also updated to accommodate these changes:

• The recruiter receives a 30-day game credit for each recruit who purchases two months of game time.
• The recruiter receives a special mount or pet of their choice after the recruit pays for a third month of game time.
  • Mounts:  [Swift Zhevra],  [X-53 Touring Rocket],  [Heart of the Nightwing],  [Emerald Hippogryph], and  [Cindermane Charger]
  • Pets:  [Golden Pig Coin],  [Silver Pig Coin],  [Enchanted Jade], and the  [Enchanted Purple Jade]

Original system

The first and original iteration of the Recruit A Friend program started on 5 August 2008 after patch 2.4.3 with the  [Swift Zhevra] mount. This iteration of the program closed on 15 October 2013.

The benefits were mostly the same as the Mists of Pandaria system with only a couple differences:

• Grantable levels were only allowed up to level 60. Mists of Pandaria increased this limit to 85, and later expansions further increased it.
• The rewards only consisted of one mount and would eventually be replaced with a newer mount, making the previous mount unobtainable. Mists of Pandaria introduced all these previous rewards and introduced new ones, allowing a selection of rewards.
• The way to recruit friends was more convoluted. The Mists of Pandaria system simplified this with a simple button and UI feature in-game.

The following mounts were offered during this program:

1.  [Swift Zhevra] (replaced 27 April 2010)
2.  [X-53 Touring Rocket] (replaced 15 July 2012)
3.  [Heart of the Nightwing]

Trivia

• Originally used to last only until level 60. However, with the release of Mists of Pandaria, this was changed to 85 (with grantable level maximum increased from 30 to 42) and again changed to 90 with Warlords of Draenor (with grantable level maximum increased from 42 to 44). This would continue to increase with each new expansion release, being changed to the previous expansion's level cap, e.g. Legion increased it to the Warlords of Draenor level cap of 100.
• Since a single Battle.net account can hold multiple World of Warcraft accounts, a player can recruit themselves with the RAF program.

Gallery

• 

  Patch 10.0.7 rewards

• 

  Patch 8.2.5 rewards

• 

  Receiving a reward

Patch changes

• Patch 10.2.0 (2023-11-07): The "Remove Recruit" option has been removed from the right click menu in the Recruit a Friend pane.
  
• Patch 10.0.7 (2023-03-21): New rewards with a new visual between current and legacy recruits.
  
• Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): UI updated.
  
• Patch 8.2.5 (2019-09-24): Revamped with new rewards.
  
• Hotfix (2019-06-11): Disabled (any accounts already linked would need to purchase game time within 90 days to trigger any rewards).
  
• Hotfix (2018-01-22): The XP boost was reduced from 200% to 50% and heirlooms no longer stack with the boost.
  
• Hotfix (2013-11-12): New program started. Multiple new rewards, includes mounts (past RAF mounts and a new one) and companions originally from Asian-only promotions.
  
• Patch 5.4.1 (2013-10-29): Added new UI elements for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria program.
  
• Hotfix (2013-10-15): Disabled (any accounts already linked are not affected by this and any unclaimed rewards will be available once the program returns).
  

See also

• Scroll of Resurrection

External links

• World of Warcraft Community Site Recruit-A-Friend
• Blizzard Support Recruiting a Friend in WoW - Article ID: 72345
• Blizzard Support In-Game Bonuses - Article ID: 11009
• Blizzard Support Mounts and Pets - Article ID: 146538