Game time
Game time is the definitive way for an account to have access to retail World of Warcraft and the Classics. Without game time, a player can only play the game with the Free Trial or if an account had game time previously, as a Veteran account. Players can see how many days they have left with their game time in the Battle.net desktop app for the selected account.
Having game time allows access to the retail servers up to the last expansion from the current one, Classic Era, and the Classic branch.
On 25 March 2021, game time options for 30, 90, and 180 days have been removed from the shops and replaced with a 60 days option.[1]
Obtaining game time
There are various methods to purchase game time, but the most simple way is to buy the "60 Days" from the Battle.net Shop, the 
[WoW Token] in-game, or the Recruit A Friend program via 
[Game Time].
There are other methods of obtaining game time:
- An expansion edition that includes game time (e.g. The War Within Epic Edition)
- 60-Day Pre-Paid Game Card
- Battle.net Gift Card
- World of Warcraft New Player Edition
There are occasions where unique bundles offered game time, one of which was the Celebration Collection Epic Pack from BlizzConline which provided 30 days.
Subscription
The subscription usually refers to automatic monthly periods to access World of Warcraft. Subscribing from the Battle.net Shop can be done in increments of 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months. However, the payments will go through automatically instead of having to do it manually like game time. An account with an active subscription will not display the amount of days left on the Battle.net desktop app.
A player can start a subscription with either of the following:
- 1 Month; provides 30 days of game time.
- 3 Months; provides 90 days of game time.
- 6 Months; provides 180 days of game time with the addition of some in-game goodies (see the 6-Month Subscription Bundle).
- 12 Months; provides 365 days of game time with the addition of multiple in-game goodies including the current and upcoming in-game goodies from the 6-Month bundle (see the 12-Month Subscription Bundle).
Trials
The following bundles provided specific-amount of game time for a new World of Warcraft account. Prior to the Battle.net account migration, these were good starting points to begin a new account.
- 10-day Free Trial (10 days only)
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Trial Edition (10 days only)
- 14-day Free Trial (14 days only)
- World of Warcraft: Trial Edition (14 days only)
Notes and trivia
- With the release of patch 5.4.0, there was a 7-day free game time available for a limited time only.[2]
- Mentioned at GDC 2024 by John Hight, there are no plans to change the subscription price from the $15 USD a month.[3]
See also
References
- ^
Bornakk 2021-03-25. Changes to Purchasable Game Time Options. Blizzard Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved on 2021-04-01.
- ^ Warcraft on Twitter. Blizzard Entertainment (2013-09-10). Retrieved on 2018-02-27. “Return to WoW FREE for 7 days and check out all the new epic content in patch 5.4 Siege of Orgrimmar!”
- ^ Tyler Colp 2024-03-22. Against all odds, World of Warcraft's subscription price hasn't changed in 20 years: 'I'd rather have a big, healthy, happy audience' than risk driving players away with a price hike, Warcraft boss says. PC Gamer.
External links
Battle.net Shop Game time- Battle.net Shop Subscription