World of Warcraft may be going free-to-play

A new Veteran Edition of World of Warcraft has been unearthed, which may hint at a free-to-play future for the popular MMO.

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Blizzard’s World of Warcraft may be adding a free-to-play option, according to newly discovered files within Patch 6.1.

MMO-Champion did some digging through World of Warcraft’s Patch 6.1 and found a number of files that make reference to something called “Veteran Edition.” The Veteran Edition of World of Warcraft looks to offer some similar gameplay options the current Trial Edition of the game includes. The Trial Edition allows players to hit level 20 without having to subscribe to the game or submit any other form of payment to Blizzard.

The Veteran Edition looks to have some limitations as the patch notes includes both a level and money cap as well as limits to how many whispers can be sent and to who. Guild charters won’t be accessible nor with the Looking For Group feature. Guilds aren’t completely inaccessible as those who have characters already in one will be able to join guilds.

If the Veteran Edition of World of Warcraft does turn out to be a free-to-play version of the popular MMO, that could be the spark to get those who gave up Warcrack years ago to dip their toe in again. I know I would be interested in checking out a F2P version of World of Warcraft, although I’m hoping it won’t suck me in too deep as I spent days playing the game when it was extremely popular.

Senior Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 15, 2015 8:45 AM

    Daniel Perez posted a new article, World of Warcraft may be going free-to-play

    • reply
      January 15, 2015 8:47 AM

      I might poke around again with it if it were F2P. Maybe. There were dark times induced by that game.

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      January 15, 2015 8:49 AM

      A better non-misleading title would be "World of Warcraft may be expanding it's free trial edition program."

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        January 15, 2015 8:54 AM

        Yeah this is not a true transition to F2P, it's just a new trial for old players. Clickbait headline.

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      January 15, 2015 8:50 AM

      RIP BUZZARD #WREKT

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      January 15, 2015 8:53 AM

      Fox News Headline

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      January 15, 2015 9:01 AM

      [deleted]

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        January 15, 2015 9:02 AM

        I disagree about The Old Republic, but I have not played it in well over a year. I was upset about the running and resurrection restrictions. Also I really hated the loot where it would show you what you COULD have gotten.

        I like Star Trek Online's F2P system the best. They got it just right.

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        January 15, 2015 10:03 AM

        Old Republic's F2Play system is garbage and severely cuts you out of regular play.

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      January 15, 2015 10:45 AM

      terrible headline

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      January 15, 2015 10:52 AM

      veteran edition = free vanilla? good way to reuse all that content no one does anymore.

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      January 15, 2015 11:02 AM

      Interesting way to poopulate servers... if that's what Blizzard is trying to accomplish.

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      January 15, 2015 12:10 PM

      Have you guys tried to get back into an MMO after a long break (like 2-5 years) and when you loaded the client you realize you just have NO idea how the new stuff works? Or even how some of the old stuff used to work?

      This happened to me once going back to EQ after several expansions. Didn't even know which zone my toon was in. This kinda happened with EQ after checking out the Panda stuff when I stopped for a few years. Not sure I got my money out of the expansion before I stopped. The Panda area was just too short.

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        January 15, 2015 12:16 PM

        Yeah I've done that. It made it easy to not bother to resub and go find something else to do.

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        January 15, 2015 12:26 PM

        Yeah, but that feeling lasts about 20 minutes before I've figured out how it all works again.

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      January 15, 2015 12:24 PM

      As if they need MORE people on their servers. They had enough trouble getting their servers fixed for the first month of Draenor.

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      January 15, 2015 2:47 PM

      [deleted]

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