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World of Warcraft dispels free-to-play 'Veteran Edition' rumors
Pretty much anything in the world will start the World of Warcraft free-to-play rumors these days, but this set of rumors had a bit of basis in reality, at least. Datamining uncovered references to a "Veteran Edition" for players, which prompted speculation that it would be a preferred account status for players who were on the free side but still had played in the past. It turns out that's not quite accurate, but it's also not entirely wrong: Veteran Edition will allow players to play for free, essentially, with Starter Edition restrictions. Community Manager Bashiok addressed the rumors, explaining that while someone who never had played the game before could jump in with Starter Edition restrictions, veteran players could not. Veteran Edition, then, places almost all of the same restrictions on players, but it will allow you to roll up a new character and play through level 20 or at least log in to chat with friends. No word on exactly when this will be rolled out, but it should put the free-to-play rumors to bed until they start again in a month.
Will a Veteran's Edition join WoW's free to play ranks? UPDATED
Update: We've gotten an official announcement from Blizzard saying that Veteran Edition is coming with patch 6.1 as a way for players who have ever had a subscription to log on, chat (with restrictions) and play (also with restrictions) even after their subscription has lapsed. This version of the game will have all of the restrictions the Starter Edition has, but let you check in with the game (and your friends) without paying for subscription time. Original post: Since the patch 6.1 files well and thoroughly datamined, another rumor about free to play WoW has started making the rounds. Hidden in the patch data is a new account type called Veteran Edition which is set up to have similar restrictions to the Starter Edition, in which you can play for free up to level 20. However, just what those restrictions are aren't yet defined: all we know now is that there are new strings in the patch file that refer to a Veteran Edition. Though there are plenty of military personal who play and love World of Warcraft, we really can't say what this Veteran Edition is -- but if it gave military or veterans a chance to revisit WoW that only seems like a good thing. However, it might yet turn out to be nothing at all... or just an idea that wound up in the patch files that may vanish by the next PTR release. Though Blizzard has expanded the game's microtransactions, sparking rumors that WoW itself would be going free to play, Blizzard has said before that there are no plans to make the game free to play. So even if we do get a Veteran Edition, it's probably not a segue towards a free to play game -- but we're definitely curious as to where this is headed. [Via Cnet]
Rumor: World of Warcraft may be prepping a free 'veteran' edition
World of Warcraft dataminers, while diving into the piles of information for the upcoming Patch 6.1, may have found game-changing evidence that the title is preparing a new free-to-play option. The data files include several references to a "Veteran Edition," in a similar fashion to the already-existing Trial Edition, which allows players to level to 20 for free. The Veteran Edition has several limitations listed, including a level cap, money cap, and chat channel restrictions. There's a lot of speculation going on right now as to whether or not the Veteran Edition will happen, and if it does what it will entail. MMO blogger Superior Realities theorizes that WoW will allow subscription-lapsed accounts to continue playing with the above restrictions. [Thanks to Tyler for the tip!]
What you need to start playing WoW
So your friends have been talking about World of Warcraft, and you've finally decided to jump in and give the game a try. But when we're talking about a massively multiplayer game with five expansion packs to date, just where does a new player get started? Trust us, it's not as difficult as it seems: we'll walk you through everything you need to get going with World of Warcraft. System requirements World of Warcraft will run on both Mac and Windows PCs, and before you buy the game you should definitely make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements. They're fairly modest, so there's a good chance you're fine unless you're using an older computer.
StarCraft 2 adds 'spawning' system (it's not as gross as it sounds)
Blizzard has instituted a spawning system in StarCraft 2, granting free access to gameplay features when moochers party up with players who have purchased the game. When you jump into multiplayer, you play the most current version of the game owned by at least one person in the party. If you have the Starter Edition and you're playing with someone who has purchased StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, for instance, you'll both play Heart of the Swarm. The same goes for parties greater than two. Spawning is being rolled out globally today. Not all regions have access to it yet, but Blizzard assures us it's in progress.
What WoW Free to Play players can and cannot do
The World of Warcraft Starter Edition is Blizzard's free to play option for WoW. While it is a good way to get to know the game, don't go running out to tell all your friends to play with you for free until you know a few things about this edition. In order to avoid pronoun trouble, your friend is named Veronica. 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. More free to play info after the break.
Play Diablo III for free up to level 13
The last time we wrote about Diablo III's starter edition, the circumstances were pretty painful and we were pretty ornery. Its original release was glitchy, and for a time, digital purchasers of D3 were limited to the starter edition despite paying full price for the game. Now, though, Blizzard has righted the ship and released a proper D3 trial to the masses, exclusively via Battle.net. Tire-kickers can advance to level 13 and confront the game's first boss, the Skeleton King. Try it out for yourself via the game's official website.
Diablo 3 Starter Edition no longer requires a disc
Now you can get your hands on the Diablo 3 Starter Edition without borrowing a disc from someone else – we're speaking to the approximately one person who is interested in Diablo 3 and hasn't played it yet.All you have to do is log into your Battle.net account and sign up through "Your Game Accounts" – or, if you're a non-Battle.net person, create a new account and you'll have the license automatically. You could be enjoying a limited sample of Diablo 3 in no time!
Diablo III forces digital consumers to wait up to 72 hours to access full game
Chalk this up to another great moment in customer service history. With Diablo III's 1.0.3 patch came an interesting change that's hurting those who purchased the title as a digital download. Blizzard's made it so that only a small part of the game is accessible for up to 72 hours following its purchase, after which the rest of the game will unlock. Digital download customers are now restricted to the starter edition section of the game: part of Act 1, a level cap of 13, no auction house access, and limited interaction with other players. These restrictions do not apply to those who purchased the retail box of the game. A Blizzard employee explained the unlock delay in a forum post: "Outside of the issue that we fixed, digital purchases do require a review period before they kick over from Starter to Full editions. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it is a necessary step to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can weaken everyone's play experience. The delay is no longer than three days, and is often much quicker than that. Hang tight." This follows this morning's news that the South Korean government is twisting Blizzard's arm to make the studio issue refunds for dissatisfied customers. [Thanks to Marc for the tip!]
Diablo 3 'Starter Edition' is a quickfire demo
Diablo 3's Starter Edition gives hesitant players a free trial of the game, available for a limited audience for 30 days following its launch tomorrow. The Starter Edition will first be accessible with a Guest Pass key, which can be found in all boxed versions of Diablo 3, and without a Guest Pass after one month. It includes the same contents as the beta: Play up to the Skeleton King in Act 1, and to character level 13. Starter Edition players won't be able to access the real-money auction house and will be able to use Matchmaking only with other Starter Edition players.The Starter Edition was leaked during the beta in April, but the hole was patched before we discovered if it was a demo, trial or nuclear launch code.Blizzard has also detailed the Character Profiles feature, which will populate the official Diablo 3 website and allow players to read character stats and track their progress.
Diablo 3 beta servers down after accidental 'Starter Edition' release
The Diablo 3 beta servers have been temporarily taken offline, after users discovered a glitch allowing free access to anyone with a Battle.net account. Community manager "Nethaera" said an update on the outages will be issued at approximately 11am PDT (2pm EDT). The beta is currently "unavailable until further notice."Ars Technica reports that starting around 6am EDT, a glitch inadvertently allowed free access to something called the "Starter Edition" of Diablo 3 to anyone with a Battle.net account, whether or not they had access to the Diablo 3 beta.Here's where it gets really interesting, as if free Diablo 3 weren't already interesting. The previously unannounced "Starter Edition" that was distributed in this manner had all the features of the beta, Ars reports, but occasionally asked players to buy the complete game. In other words, it was a free-to-play version of Diablo 3, or a feature-rich demo. Those are kind of the same thing.
Windows 8 registry shows nine separate flavors to choose from
With each subsequent release of Windows we're left bracing for what will surely be another overwhelming assortment of retail packaging options. With Windows 7 there was a dizzying 6 SKUs to choose from and we're sorry to say that, at least for now, there are even more coming with Windows 8. As noted by windows 8 beta the registry contains the keys for all current versions of the OS and, with a quick trip to Regedit we were able to verify with the screenshot above. That boils down to the following list: Windows 8 Starter Windows 8 Home Basic Windows 8 Home Premium Windows 8 Professional Windows 8 Professional Plus Windows 8 Enterprise Windows 8 Enterprise Eval Windows 8 Ultimate Windows 8 ARM editionWe will of course point out that this is from the Consumer Preview, so not necessarily a final tally, and the Enterprise Eval version is of course just for trials, but it's interesting to note the addition of Professional Plus. Office 2010 Pro Plus adds in extra integration with Sharepoint and Office Communications Server, leaving us to wonder if this flavor of Windows 8 won't offer some similar collaborative tools. And then there's just that one, lonely ARM edition, which could leave non-x86 hardware buyers out of the cross-shopping fun altogether.Update: As Jack Schofield points out, you couldn't actually choose from all those Windows 7 SKUs, there were only three boxed products available in the US. It remains to be seen how many of these Windows 8 variants will appear at retail here.[Thanks, Sagar]
World of Warcraft's Rage of the Firelands brings indefinite free trial
In a display of what can only be described as showmanship (given the fact that we can probably count on one hand the number of people who haven't dabbled in World of Warcraft at this point), Blizzard has announced that the coming of WoW's patch 4.2 will also herald the arrival of something known as the World of Warcraft Starter Edition. That's right, now that the Rage of the Firelands is upon Azeroth, the Alliance and Horde are going to need all the help they can get. Thankfully, the free trial -- which previously spanned 14 days -- now lasts indefinitely, though trial players are capped at level 20 until they purchase the full game. Do note that the Starter Edition does not include Cataclysm content but does include some Burning Crusade content such as the ability to roll Blood Elves and Draenei. And for those who decide to upgrade, the World of Warcraft Battle Chest (which includes vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade expansion) is on sale for a paltry $19.99. And of course, there's more to patch 4.2 than the Starter Edition, and our sister site WoW Insider has your bases covered.
Windows 7 Starter comes with hidden wireless connection sharing
Ah, the blessings of market fragmentation. If you thought that, in its efforts to differentiate the Starter Edition from its beefier Windows 7 offerings, Microsoft chopped off the ability to share wireless connections between compatible devices, we've got good news: it didn't. Turns out that ad-hoc networking is very much a part of Windows 7 Cheap Edition, and the only thing missing from it is the dialog you see above. Thrifty Edition owners will have to find the application themselves -- through the shockingly difficult process of a Start Menu search -- but once they do it'll behave exactly as if they'd bought the Extra Awesome variety. Great job, Microsoft -- you keep hiding features and we'll keep installing Chrome OS on our netbooks, deal?
Nokia Booklet 3G running Windows 7 Starter unwrapped at Best Buy
If your pulse is racing like Windows 7 on an Atom processor then this Nokia Booklet 3G is surely the cause. The premium netbook running Microsoft's not so premium 32-bit, Aero-less Starter Edition OS (see the sticker?) is the first demo unit to arrive at Best Buy. Buyers better enjoy looking at that Windows flag 'cause with Starter, it's the only wallpaper you're ever going to get. %Gallery-76339% [Thanks, Caffoni]
