Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWoW goes free-to-play through level 20
by Michael Sacco 
Jun 28th 2011 at 7:00PM
If you do get the hankering for more WoW thanks to the trial, you can get the digital Battle Chest, which includes classic WoW and The Burning Crusade, for $19.99 (as soon as the Blizzard site works again, anyway).
Trying out WoW for the first time with one of these trials? Have a friend who's just starting out and needs a push in the right direction? Check out WoW Rookie, our resource for new or casual players, with topics like:
- Turn WoW into quality time by playing with a partner
- Pick the class that's right for you
- Learn how to run dungeons with groups
Trial Account Restrictions
- A level cap of 20.
- A maximum of 10 gold.
- Trade skills are capped at 100 ranks.
- Unable to trade via the Auction House, mailbox, or player-to-player.
- In-game access to public chat channels unavailable. Players are limited to communicating using only say, party, or whisper.
- Characters will be unable to create or join guilds.
- Characters are not able to send whispers to other characters unless they have been added to the characters' friends lists or have received a whisper from a character first.
- Characters will not be able to invite other players into a party.
- Characters will not be able to join parties with other characters above level 20.
- Voice chat disabled on Starter Edition accounts.
- Realms experiencing login queues will prioritize players who have full, paid accounts.
- Starter Edition accounts are not eligible for character transfers
- RealID features are disabled on all Starter Edition Accounts.
- A maximum of 10 gold.
- Trade skills are capped at 100 ranks.
- Unable to trade via the Auction House, mailbox, or player-to-player.
- In-game access to public chat channels unavailable. Players are limited to communicating using only say, party, or whisper.
- Characters will be unable to create or join guilds.
- Characters are not able to send whispers to other characters unless they have been added to the characters' friends lists or have received a whisper from a character first.
- Characters will not be able to invite other players into a party.
- Characters will not be able to join parties with other characters above level 20.
- Voice chat disabled on Starter Edition accounts.
- Realms experiencing login queues will prioritize players who have full, paid accounts.
- Starter Edition accounts are not eligible for character transfers
- RealID features are disabled on all Starter Edition Accounts.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!Filed under: Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
Zhiva Jun 28th 2011 10:38PM
With all the stuff happening to MMO these days I feel like popcorn cat.
jonham013 Jun 28th 2011 10:47PM
Putting your desire that I was deceased aside, lets examine something shall we?
You've been playing since the original beta, your attitude, while it stinks, also shows clear evidence of entitlement. You see it all the time in retail, people show up, decide that they are the only human being there and proceed to treat everyone else like crap. Are you owed anything because you started in the original beta? Of course not. You have been paying your fee, and Blizzard have been delivering the service you paid for. End of Transaction.
I frequently roll new Paladins and run through the Dungeons up till lvl 60. I have a hefty amount of /say macros to stimulate discussion as we faceroll the nerfed vanilla's. I meet a heck of a lot of new people, and I teach them how to play their class. I show them how to behave in parties, I am polite and engaging.
Their response? They learn, they do better, and in the end they become valuable members of the WoW community.
I would take one of them over a hundred people like you in a heartbeat.
Blizzard would too.
What is the single most frequent complaint on any forum discussing this game? Do you know?
"The WoW community and playerbase is the most disgusting thing in the game."
If that is what is causing a large portion of Account Cancellations, and I would wager it is, although the people cancelling are not going to announce it to the world, then Blizzards obvious response is to bring out the Baygon, and kill the bugs.
An influx of new players could be the most beneficial thing to happen to this game since Sparkle Pony (whom I love).
Craig Jun 28th 2011 11:23PM
I can assuredly say that I have no problem playing to level 20 10 more times and for free. Is it super great no but will it give me my fix when I need it yes. Yay Blizz!
dj.clayden Jun 28th 2011 11:31PM
"- Voice chat disabled on Starter Edition accounts."
Everything else was reasonable, but this? Too far - how are they gunna get hooked to the game without the wonder that is in-game voice chat?
Tri Jul 1st 2011 6:13PM
Honestly, it's a bit of a shame they don't spend a few ressources making the ingame voice chat actually work. Would be nice for pugs etc. (at least for those people who like using voice chat..)
Sharing your login info to your private TS or vent server to random people isn't always the best plan...
appljaxe Jun 28th 2011 11:50PM
I wanna be a gold farmer i can play free on level 20. oohhh emmm gee!!!
Artificial Jun 29th 2011 1:57AM
Yeah... good luck making it worthwhile with that 10 gold limit.
elizabeththomson20 Jun 29th 2011 5:59AM
And you can't whisper, use the mailbox, use channels or yell... have fun advertising too!
Oh yeah, and trade skills are capped at 100. :)
Kaida Jun 29th 2011 12:17AM
This change *would* come only a few weeks after I get my sister in Azeroth...
Artificial Jun 29th 2011 2:03AM
From "kool aid" to "parent's basement". Obvious troll is obvious. Too stupid to think up cogent arguments? Fling incendiary insults! No one will catch on...
Hob Jun 29th 2011 4:58AM
Undoubtedly the average WoW player have gotten worse (however anyone cares to define it) than an original Vanilla player. But that really should be expected. I think it's fair to say that World of Warcraft was initially populated by people who played the original Warcraft games, as well as people who were actively raiding in a variety of other competitive MMOs.
In the seven years since beta and original launch, World of Warcraft has advertised heavily on TV, has been parodied by South Park, and added "Leeroy Jenkins" to the canon of pop culture. The new, average player (let's say post-Vanilla) probably didn't play the Warcraft series, is probably new to MMOs in general, and was either recruited by a friend or family member or was intrigued enough by ads / pop culture to try it out.
Does World of Warcraft have the worst community in an MMO? Possibly. I've played around with some other MMOs, and noticed that the general chat was quite subdued compared to WoW. On the other hand, those games didn't have the kind of subscriber base as WoW. Pretty much every large, heavily-trafficked website that I've seen has a similar level of toxicity when comments are allowed. The comments on any given Yahoo! News story, for example, are not worth reading because it's not much more than a cesspit of malice and trollery. I would tend to say that if WoW has a bad community, it's because it's very large, and the Greater Internet F***wad Theory is holding true.
Dude Jun 29th 2011 5:20AM
I thought I was out. I thought I was free of WoW. Oh well. Yippppeeeeee!
Denjerre Jun 29th 2011 5:54AM
As someone who is very greedy and has survived on countless of trial accounts, allow me to say YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHPOYIHGBPHBPRSFIHBNPTDMKYJ FMKIUHTYPOHUNFMIYUNFMOUNFMYO!!!!1!!!
Duncan Jun 29th 2011 7:52AM
I'm not sure if levels 1-20 is a good example of the game really. but you have to start somewhere I guess. I do think that this is in response to the Subs that are were canceled tho. But they will never admit that.
Duncan Jun 29th 2011 7:54AM
"In-game access to public chat channels unavailable."
Is that because they don't want them talking in public chat channels or because they don't want them to read whats said in them? =)
Cricket Jun 29th 2011 8:12AM
Yes.
VioletArrows Jul 2nd 2011 1:14AM
Actually you can read them as much you ... not like, but I guess tolerate works. You just can't say anything.
bayeauxguy Jun 29th 2011 8:53AM
Yes, I was thinking that twinks sometimes have a high level friend run them through wailing caverns and other starter instances to get decent stuff. I've never played a twink though so I wasn't really sure about that.
ConGamer Jun 29th 2011 9:47AM
It's a perfect way to test the waters of free-to-play gaming, and it completely removes any barrier to entry. I think it's a great move, and I have a number of friends who have been on the fence about WoW who will now jump in for an extended test drive. :)
DarkWalker Jun 29th 2011 1:27PM
The barrier of entry to go from trial to the full game is still the roughly $100 to get the new $20 Battlechest, $40 WotLK, and $40 Cataclysm (prices from 5 minutes ago on Blizzard's own store). It's still a quite hefty price tag.
The only difference is that trial players can evaluate the game for more than 10/14/whatever days.
It's a step in the right direction, though.