After months of waiting, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is in the home stretch! Yesterday, Blizzard released their prepatch to help prepare the title for the coming expansion.
There were some hiccups, and at times calling the game “playable” might have been a bit kind, but Blizzard is working towards fixing plenty of issues while the prepatch continues. With so many changes, there’s plenty for everyone – developers included – to focus on.
One of the changes that might go unnoticed by most of the player base is the changes Blizzard has brought in for starter accounts. These changes won’t affect the account of anyone paying for the game, but if you’re looking to get into the title, now’s a good time to see the changes that trial accounts have endured.
Despite the leveling squish, trial accounts are still able to go to level 20. This allows them to see a much larger portion of the game than before, though there are plenty of restrictions in place as well.
Starter accounts won’t be able to choose a starting zone to level with, having to go through the new Exile’s Reach until level 10. Afterwards, they won’t be able to use the new Chromie Time feature, as the feature requires players to go through the Battle for Azeroth expansion up to 50 on one character to unlock the feature.
That said, players will now be able to go to the BfA zones on trial accounts, letting them see much more of the higher tier of the game. Previously, they were forced to utilize the Vanilla zones without ever seeing anything from even the earliest expansions.
There are a few other restrictions. Trial accounts can only whisper friends if they’ve been added, as well as only being able to chat in the Newcomer chat as part of the Guide system. They can also utilize the /say and /party channels without restriction.
The reason for this is simply to stop spammers and troll accounts. If trial accounts could speak freely, it wouldn’t be long before gold-sellers and other bots swarmed the chat non-stop.
Trial accounts can also only earn and carry a maximum of 1,000 gold, to stop players from exploiting a trial account into a cash cow. This also serves to discourage/stop gold-sellers and bots with the above change.
Additionally, starter accounts can now learn professions, which is crucial to helping to learn the mechanics of the game. This also can help with farming, which makes the 1,000 gold cap a much more important mechanic to note.
All in all, trial accounts have seen a sizeable upgrade with these changes. If you’ve been wanting to get a friend into the MMORPG, or just try it out yourself, there’s no time like the present.
