If your WoW subscription expires, do you go back to "Starter Edition"?

Question

I've currently got a WoW account that's in "Starter Edition" (or whatever it is they call the free neverending trial, that seems to be the name they use).

I'd like to know what happens if I subscribe and then let my subscription lapse - Can I continue playing with any sub-level-20 characters?

I did do some research, and came across this form the Blizzard FAQ:

"Please note that if a World of Warcraft trial account was previously upgraded to a paid account, it will not revert back to a trial account, even if the paid time is expired."

However, that FAQ page has some other information about Starter Edition accounts that from my experiences is completely wrong, and that portion is the only section that says "trial account" instead of "Starter Edition", so I'm not sure if its up to date.

Is there anyone who knows for sure?

Answer 1

No.

Once your account status goes to "Frozen" (expired), you can't go past the main menu so it doesn't matter if you are under level 20 when you can't select that particular character.

What you can do is have two WoW accounts (not Battle.net accounts), one is "frozen" and the other is "starter", you will need to create new characters but its purpose is to check updates and chat with people. When you subscribe (unfreeze your main account) the other one will remain a "starter".

Now what I don't know is how to add more wow accounts... I have seven of them named WOW1, WOW2... The problem is I was adding them when there was a 10-day trial and you had a button in Battle.net account "add 10d trial" and you could click it anytime. Try to find something like that.

You could also register another WoW account with a different username and pass and then merge. Use the merge option on your main account.

Answer 2

After patch 6.1, both answers are no longer valid. An active account will revert to the same privileges as a starter account once the subscription has expired. Blizzard stated that they thought it was counterintuitive that someone who has never subscribed can play indefinitely for free, while someone who has had a subscription can only play when he's paying.

They do get one extra privilege: they can join any guild that they already have a character membering in.

As someone in a comment pointed out: they're also allowed to buy a WoW token to renew their subscription directly from the character select screen. Gold will be deducted evenly from all characters on the server. It is possible that when Warbands are introduced in The War Within, this will use gold from the entire Warband, regardless of what server they're on.

Answer 3

Once you upgrade to a full account, you will never be reverted to a trial account with that account. You can, of course, create more trial accounts that have the same limitations, but you'd have to upgrade those ones too to get the full range of gameplay.

When your payment or gametime (in the case of gamecards) runs out and you choose to not renew, your account is "Frozen", meaning you can no longer log into WoW with that account. However, none of your progress or status is lost. The characters effectively still live on the Blizzard servers with all of the progress you've made with them, you simply do not have access to them until you pay for a subscription again. You will no longer be able to play the sub-20 "freebie game" on that account, as that account is no longer flagged as a trial account.

Again, you could create another account for the free content to play when you do not wish to pay for your upgraded account, but the characters will effectively live on different accounts. Whether or not this matters to you is a matter of preference, though it does impact potential future in-game benefits such as Bind on Account items that can be passed to characters on the same account freely, but cannot be given to anyone else.