What WoW Free to Play players can and cannot do
- A Starter Edition player cannot send or receive mail. So you can't mail bags, gold, or even an empty welcome note to Veronica.
- Pet Battles are off limits for free to play people, but they can purchase the training -- unfortunately.
- Veronica will be able to create a Pandaren, just not a monk.
- FTP players cannot whisper except in reply or if on the recipient's friends list. If you want Veronica to be able to send you a tell without you having to whisper her first, friend her.
- Veronica will only be able to chat in /party, /say and /whisper. She can join raids and custom chat channels, but can't speak. She will be able to see what everyone is saying, though.
- Starter Edition players cannot invite people to groups, but can be made leader of them.
- Death knights can be chosen and customized, but cannot be created as a free to play character. Such a tease.
- Veronica will be able to learn tradeskills, but 100 is the highest rank she'll be able to achieve.
- No Real ID for Starter Edition players. So you can only chat on the same server.
- Guilds cannot be joined or created by free to play players.
- No in-game voice chat for Veronica! (Does anyone actually use voice chat?)
- The auction house is searchable and it will even let Starter Edition players attempt to make bids, but then the red text will pop up to chastise them.
- If there is a login queue for her server, Veronica will be queued behind subscribed players.
- Free to play players can only possess 10 gold at a time and only reach level 20.
- Battlegrounds will be accessible to Veronica, but turning off experience gains will not.
- Starter Edition players do collect achievements.
Overall, the restrictions and the constant reminders to upgrade are annoying, but there is still fun to be had as a free to play player.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion