I dunno how your circle of friends is handling the World of Warcraft patch and Shadowlands expansion plan, but over here at Massively OP, several writers are toying with playing, going back, or even trying out the game for the first time. Good news for all of them, then, as Blizzard announced today that it’s rolling out a free-play event today through November 8th – assuming you had an inactive account to begin with.
“Shadowlands is nearly here, and you and your allies are needed back on the front lines. This weekend, we’re giving all players with inactive World of Warcraft accounts full access to the game* and all of your characters without a subscription. You’ll be able to access all expansions including Battle for Azeroth, so you can play the most recent content and be ready for Shadowlands when it launches on November 23, 2020 at 3 p.m. PST. Rejoin your guild, rally your comrades, and prepare to brave the beyond. Return to World of Warcraft FREE from November 5 to November 8. […] If you’re new to World of Warcraft or you’ve been away for a while, you can play through the new starting experience starting at level 1 to learn the ropes.
“Players who have already experienced Battle for Azeroth and reached level 50 on at least one character can choose to level any subsequent characters in a different expansion using Timewalking Campaigns. This new feature makes it so content from locations like Northrend or Pandaria scales to a player’s level, so they can adventure from level 10 all the way to 50 and experience the stories in these areas at their originally intended pacing. Visit Chromie near the embassies in Stormwind or Orgrimmar to select your expansion leveling experience. If you’d like to select a different expansion to level through, simply speak to Chromie again.”
Do note that while the event lands you Battle for Azeroth for free and allows you to play past the free-trial level cap, you’d still have to buy Shadowlands to play that on launch. And logically, WoW Classic isn’t included in the free play fun.
