In World of Warcraft , the announced Veteran Mode will be significantly less exciting than expected. According to data mining information, it seemed like a step towards “Free2Play.” That hope can be buried.
A few days ago, dataminers found hints of a “Veteran Status” in the code of patch 6.1 for World of Warcraft. At the same time, it’s been known for a few weeks that Blizzard is creating the possibility to indirectly trade “Gold for Game Time,” similar to games like WildStar, ArcheAge, or EVE that have had this feature for a while.
Some, including our Nico, saw a connection: Could it be possible for players without an active account to log in temporarily and then buy game time with their “old” gold from other players who purchased it for “real money” from Blizzard? That would be a win-win-win for everyone. Old players could play WoW “for free” again, existing players could exchange euros for gold without violating the EULA, and Blizzard would get more subscribers and thus more money.
It all sounded logical. But if that ever happens, it has nothing to do with the Veteran Mode. Because it is much more boring than expected.
What is behind the new “Veteran Mode?”
What data miners found regarding the Veteran Mode is, in practice, a pretty mundane affair, as posts from WoW Community Manager Bashiok in the US forum show.
The Veteran Mode is pretty much the same as the Starter “Edition,” which are trial accounts.
Players who once had an account can log in with that account and create new characters or play existing heroes (but none at level 21 or above). The only benefit is that, in principle: Ex-players do not have to create a new trial account but can create a level-1 hero with their old account and run around with them or with former mini-twinks.
All restrictions are active like in the Starter Edition, so no trading, no chatting, no leveling up. The only difference is: The characters can join a guild.
