Sucked into Starter Edition

The other week Colin wrote up his experience of revisiting World of Warcraft via Blizzard’s new Free to Play version, or rather, untimed trial, of WoW, the Starter Edition. I, however, had never played WoW before a few weeks ago… so this is my spin on things.

One of my hang-ups for games is the idea of subscriptions. I hate the idea of a game turning into a guilt-ridden gym visit because I need to get my money’s worth every month. I also have no intention of investing my time into building a character up in a game that can be taken away from me as soon as I stop paying to play.

The main issues with the Starter Edition for freeloaders like me is the level 20 cap and 10 gold cap. There’s also this whole “limited communication” lark, but I honestly couldn’t care much less. Yes, I’m afraid I’m a bit of a misanthrope when it comes to playing with others online. These limits create a sort of new game plan. A similar idea has been around in WoW for some time, limiting your character’s level and maxing out their gear to succeed in your WoW Battleground level bracket. It’s an interesting idea I’d suggest looking into, but in reality googling “wow twinks” could lead to some… unintended results.

You can create dozens of characters in the Starter Edition, so it’s perfect for familiarising oneself with all the different races and classes to decide which fits best with your playstyle. In turn, you could take advantage of this, max out a bunch of characters at level 20 with great gear, two level 100 primary skills and maxed secondary skills. That way if you do decide to upgrade you will be able to level up ten or so more levels in no time even through solo play.

As a newcomer to WoW I have been more than happy to spend a couple of dozen hours playing around with my first Hunter class. I’ve braved treacherous landscapes wholly unintended for a character of my level and collected as many intriguing companions, mounts and hunter pets as I can. Sure, some of them might take a few hours to spawn, but you’re talking to an obsessive-compulsive Pokémon Breeder here. Some things I’d happily throw money at Blizzard for are the companions and mounts available on the Blizzard Store. However, they can’t be linked to trial accounts, despite loot codes from the WoW Trading Card Game working a treat. Damn you, Blizzard, why won’t you take my money!?

With a bit of ingenuity or the help of a friend who’s paying for his or her WoW sub you can even get to a bunch of areas in Cataclysm to go fishing for the rare Sea Turtle mount or explore even more areas you shouldn’t be in at your level. When a game’s free to play it’s only a matter of time before someone comes up with new ways to play. Why not load it up and go sightseeing on one of the busier servers with a camera (read: Print Screen button) in hand and snap some shots of what real-life players are up to? It’s not hard to max out all the graphical settings in WoW on a gaming PC these days, and once you do it’s a real looker in some areas.

The Starter Edition of WoW is undoubtedly intended for newbies like me, but it’s also a nice option for people wanting to max out low-level characters either for fun or preparation for paid play. I’ve even read of WoW auctioneers using a second PC and the Starter Edition to keep tabs on auction house prices without having to pay for a second subscription. Colin’s right, there is very little here for current or retired WoW players, but I’d certainly say it’s worth a shot for newbies like me to get a taste and get to grips with the mechanics, ideas and feel of the WoW universe.

World of Warcraft: Starter Edition is out now. Danny is happy to accept WoW TCG loot codes, WoW subs and other bribes in general, but probably doesn’t want to play with you online any time.