World of Warcraft: Forever places a strong emphasis on social features. Blizzard has discussed the idea of friction and how that leads to a more social experience in recent interviews. The Game Informer Interview highlights that some inconveniences, such as running to a dungeon or a long flight path, can actually lead to players being more social.
Similarly, in the Windows Central Interview, Blizzard noted that reducing friction tends to end up with a more solitary experience, whereas friction typically leads to more social connections. This can be seen in the lack of shared mob tagging, which incentivizes players to group up.
With this in mind, WoW: Forever includes the Recent Allies window as a feature.
Every time you group with a player in WoW: Forever, their record gets saved in the Recent Allies pane. This saves their name, current level, class, the location where you interacted, and what activity you did together. If they are online, there's a one-click invite button as well!
In addition, you can also pin some of your recent allies so that they're always listed at the top of the window. If you play with them enough, maybe you'll invite them to your friends list instead!
The Recent Allies pane, as an extension of the Friends List, could be useful in a game that is focusing on the social experience. Whether you're questing and grouping to take down a dangerous enemy, or grouping for a dungeon, your Recent Allies list will be full of players as you adventure through Azeroth. Maybe you find that one person who is always down to do a dungeon with you, or a person who always seems to be in the same questing areas. Reach out, and maybe you'll make a new friend in the process!
