wow Updated - Official 8.2.5 Party Sync Preview

[Starym 3,800]

 

Update: It seems there was a typo in the article and it was meant to say that 8.2.5 would be coming in the next few weeks and not months!

Today we're getting an official look at the new Party Sync feature coming with patch 8.2.5. However, the party sync level scaling effect isn't exact, as it will be scaling higher level players down to the level cap of the appropriate expansion - so if your friend is level 20, you'll be scaled to level 60. The feature will also place all party members on the same phase and quest state when activated, and players will be able to use the replay quest feature, which will be reusable once per day for the rewards, so you can play with many different friends and go through their progress and get a reward for it as well.

We took a look at the system on the PTR as well, and you can check our in-depth preview right here.

And while the influx of 8.2.5 news recently make it seem that the patch is really close, the ending of this preview actually mentions that it's months away.

Typo Update (source)

We fixed the typo a few minutes ago. It’s been updated to ‘next few weeks’. Thanks for the callout.

 

Party Sync (source)

Playing with friends when your characters are different levels is now easier than ever with Party Sync.

If you’d like to play WoW with your friends without having to worry about whether your characters’ levels are too far apart, the new Party Sync feature is for you!

Relive Azeroth’s History Together

When players activate Party Sync, everyone in the party becomes aligned to the same quest state and phase. By mousing over a quest in your tracker, you can see who’s on a given quest, what their progress is, and who’s ready to turn it in. You’ll also have access to a “replay quest” feature that allows players who have already completed certain quests to replay them with friends who haven’t for rewards that are appropriate to their current actual level, regardless of the original level of the quest. Quests can be replayed for rewards once a day.

While most quests can be replayed, there are some exceptions. Repeatable quests, such as dailies and World Quests, can’t be replayed. We’ve also excluded some quests with story implications from being replayed. These are determined on a case-by-case basis, and may include quests like the Demon Hunter starting zone quests, or quests where you might choose to betray the Warchief (how could you!).

Sync to Their Level

With Party Sync, you can choose to have your level temporarily adjusted, making it so higher-level players can quest and experience outdoor content with lower-level friends as they level up.

Accept the sync request to join your friends on their adventure!

Levels will be scaled down to the cap of the expansion content your lowest-level party member qualifies for. As an example, if your lowest-level player is level 83 your level will be scaled down to level 90. However if they’re level 21, your character will be scaled down to level 60.

Original WoW	Level 60
The Burning Crusade	Level 80
Wrath of the Lich King	Level 80
Cataclysm	Level 90
Mists of Pandaria	Level 90
Warlords of Draenor	Level 100
Legion	Level 110

While Party Sync is active, party members’ stats are reduced and skills are limited to a set that reflects their temporary level, including disabling some items that are beyond the scope of the experience at that level. This keeps the focus on helping lower-level party members. Unlike in Timewalking, when your level is scaled through Party Sync, you will temporarily lose access to abilities and powers (such as Azerite Traits and spells, abilities, talents, and trinket effects) with requirements that exceed your reduced level.

Set Up Instructions

To begin Party Sync:

1. Invite and accept players into a party.
2. Open your Map & Quest Log (hotkey: M).
3. Click Start Party Sync in the lower-right hand corner.
4. Have all partied players click Accept on the Party Sync confirmation dialogue box.

Once all players have accepted, quest status will be synced and levels will become adjusted so you can play together!

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While questing in Party Sync, you may see quests you’ve already done before—those are Replay Quests! Accept them as normal and quest together, but remember that Replay Quests are temporary and go away when the Party Sync ends. Additionally, some quests can become deactivated if your group no longer meets the requirements. Quests that can’t be replayed won’t display an icon, while a grayed-out icon indicates quests that your party sync group does not qualify for that are in your log. You can’t complete these quests until you leave Party Sync. To do so, click Stop Party Sync at the bottom of the Map & Quest Log.

Lead with Confidence

To help you help your friends, we’ve created a brand-new RAF panel in-game to help you know when to expect your next reward and given your access to Party Sync. The RAF panel also lists special activities available to players who participate in the program. Complete these in-game challenges with your recruits to earn even more rewards.

Go Forth with Friends

Party Sync will become available when the upcoming 8.2.5 content update goes live in the next few months.

[Frogspoison 63]

Yea, basically a waste of developer time with all those idiotic caps. Should lower your level to EXACTLY that of your friend, and keep sync with it.

Also, too much resources spent on "ensuring" that max lvl items, skills, ect don't come into play at low lvls.

Seriously, you can chain pull packs of 20 at low lvl and kill them off easily, if there were that many mobs. May as well just scale down the lvl/stats and nothing else. #Don'tcostusaraidtier.

[Ragingwolf 310]

I really don't have a significant urge to try this feature...it looks great on paper and if you wanted to play tour guide through select zones from previous content then ok....But it's not a significant source of xp grinding judging from the in depth notes.  As of now a lot of my fellow friends and Guildies don't want to quest outdoors and prefer a quick dungeon grind clear instead.  

We tested a theory of trying to run a Lv.100 character through a Legion(normal) dungeon with a 120 to see what the xp gain was like with the aid of Heirlooms and the xp potion.  End result was 1 bar of xp gained from clearing 82% of the Dungeon (Eye of Ashara) trash along will all bosses killed.  Unfortunately none of us in the Guild have twinks to see if this had a different impact or not.

Now,if Blizzard would  implement a feature where as 4 out of 5 players, in a group, that were 120 and a low level person (Lv.100) and say that the max level players that were going to get xp from killing mobs in said dungeons actually funnel that into the lowbie for 4x the actual amount.  eg) 1 mob kill = 222 xp with just a 120 in the group; where as 1 mob kill = 888 xp with four 120's in the group for the lowbie player.  I would be more keen of setting up leveling dates on the weekend to help get people leveled up quicker.

 

[jinsu2301 273]

1 hour ago, Frogspoison said:

Yea, basically a waste of developer time with all those idiotic caps. Should lower your level to EXACTLY that of your friend, and keep sync with it.

Also, too much resources spent on "ensuring" that max lvl items, skills, ect don't come into play at low lvls.

It's not gonna cost that much dev time since the scaling process has been mostly automated in the last few years. And even items and talents shouldn't be too big a hurdle since you are essentially just reversing the legacy system that prevents you from using low-level items like legendaries at higher levels.

1 hour ago, Frogspoison said:

#Don'tcostusaraidtier.

The system developers and encounter designers are completely seperate teams. The worst that could happen would be no brand new boss mechanics that rely on additional coding, and seeing that 99% of all boss mechanics are either based on existing tech or just recycled from older encounters anyway, I really don't see that as a hindrance for a new raid.

[Znifler 58]

On 9/16/2019 at 7:32 PM, Frogspoison said:

Yea, basically a waste of developer time with all those idiotic caps. Should lower your level to EXACTLY that of your friend, and keep sync with it.

Also, too much resources spent on "ensuring" that max lvl items, skills, ect don't come into play at low lvls.

Seriously, you can chain pull packs of 20 at low lvl and kill them off easily, if there were that many mobs. May as well just scale down the lvl/stats and nothing else. #Don'tcostusaraidtier.

You might be right in some instances, BUT no you cannot pull packs of 20 in general. Heck you can't even do that at max lvl given that you do not have great gear (AND it depends on the mobs too). Started lvling my mage from 110 now, and she just dies like a flie to mobs. More than 4 mobs means I have to pull out some serious kiting and dps not to get nuked down. But then again, it all depends on many factors. Tanks have an easy time sure, but I was presuming you were talking about 'normal' standards here so DPS only. A friend of mine started playing WoW a few months back, and hell he took his time. Pulling low numbers of mobs to singletarget kill them, and still die at times. WoW isn't like Classic sure, but Classic isn't harder - it just takes longer =/= harder. Once I got enough nostalgia out of the system, I stopped playing Classic and went back to Retail. I presume you enjoy the hate on Retail because it's a mindless thing to do, and hating on things that many enjoy is a common thing for sure - and I do not blame you for being simple minded.