This came as a surprise. Those who want to play WoW now have it easier. The game no longer needs to be purchased! The base game of WoW, along with all expansions up to Legion, is free, but subscription costs remain.
With the launch of the Pre-Patch 8.0.1 for World of Warcraft, Blizzard has not only changed many things in Azeroth but also in the real world. The barriers to entry for World of Warcraft have now decreased. Those who want to start with World of Warcraft no longer need to buy the base game. Instead, it is enough to subscribe, and you can start playing right away.
WoW now a mix of Free2Play and Pay2Play
Legion is free for all players. With the launch of the Pre-Patch, all accounts are now automatically upgraded up to “World of Warcraft: Legion”. So anyone who starts with Battle for Azeroth only needs to purchase the upcoming expansion and can then enjoy all new content. This also aligns with Blizzard’s earlier approach to integrating outdated expansions into the base game.
Generosity with refunds: Those who recently decided to purchase “Legion” and are now angry about having “wasted” their money should contact Blizzard support. According to several reports on Reddit, Blizzard appears to be quite generous and refunds the purchase price of the outdated expansion for many players if the purchase was made only a few days ago. However, there seems to be no claim to it.
Battle Chest is gone. With the removal of the necessity of the base game, the Battle Chest has also been discontinued. This was an offer from Blizzard that included all old expansions. Since now only the purchase of Battle for Azeroth is necessary, the usefulness and purpose of the Battle Chest diminish, which is why it is no longer available.
Just a different label? Some players point out that fundamentally, not much has changed. Because when purchasing the base game, 30 days of playtime were included. Now you just have to buy the playtime, which essentially still costs the same as the previous purchase of the game with the inclusive playtime.
But it certainly sounds nicer to say: For WoW, you now only need a subscription.
