curious about restrictions and how to avoid them if possible

[chaoticmind]

so i heard there are restrictions to free to play toons and there are different ways to have accounts like one with a active sub that expires compared to a account that has never had a active sub

so the first thing im curious about is what is the absolute best way to have a account setup for the least restrictions possible ( i dont mind if it requires a bit of cash to get established just after knowledge here on whats possible )

the second thing im curious about is are there any things you can do to put yourself in a better position before you go free to play like prep work with a active sub you plan on letting expire and going free to play on a preplanned date

the third thing im curious about is are there any no nos like things i can do to mess up a twink i make while i have a sub to make it unplayable (like what happens if i have a lvl 10 toon with exp off and 20k gold then my sub expires will i lose 19k gold or not be able to access the toon or what happens in these sort of situations)

any insight on how to make the absolute best free to play twink with the very best standing is what im after really here i appreciate any comments with any useful info even links to something i may have overlooked reading as im new and dont know how to navigate the site very well yet thanks in advance

 

[chaoticmind]

oh another thing i just thought about in terms of prep should i stock up on anything in my bank like consumables? or maybe do any sort of profession grinding first while i have access to my main toons cash flow like possibly grind some alchemy levels for a flask and engineering stuff maybe that require a level of engineering knowledge? things to that nature would also be appreciated thanks again looking forward to seeing your responses

 

[Alk760]

Yes it's better to plan ahead. get a flask, enchant gear, run yourself for legacy items.
you can always do the Iron Man F2P grind later if you choose.

Any toon level 20 and lower can be accessed without gametime. Make sure you unlock experience on 20's before time expires. planned 10's stay locked.
Any amount of gold can be accessed "however any amount over 1k can not be added to" clearing bags will suck because you will be unable to sell anything.

Best thing about Vets over Pure F2P is you don't bank experience and can sub if ever you need to.

 

[chaoticmind]

Yes it's better to plan ahead. get a flask, enchant gear, run yourself for legacy items.
you can always do the Iron Man F2P grind later if you choose.

Any toon level 20 and lower can be accessed without gametime. Make sure you unlock experience on 20's before time expires. planned 10's stay locked.
Any amount of gold can be accessed "however any amount over 1k can not be added to" clearing bags will suck because you will be unable to sell anything.

Best thing about Vets over Pure F2P is you don't bank experience and can sub if ever you need to.

ok just to clarify ( sorry i dont understand some of what ur saying cuz im a total noob to this )

i should pre do my profession stuff find gear get enchants get sockets and whatnot as a prep

you explained the gold thing perfectly a1

1. i dont know what a iron man f2p is ???

2. does vet mean that i previously subbed?

3. so if i decide to make a lvl 10 twink i can just lock the exp and forget about it and its all good ?

4. banking exp means i get credit to all my free to play time when and if i do decide to sub in the future so all f2p exp will auto apply when i do sub only for a account that has never paid to play ? but not for a "vet"?

5.1 if i decide to make a lvl 20 twink i should unlock exp before my sub expires ? because i cant gain exp or bank it anyway because i would be a "vet" with a previously subbed account ???

5.2 also someone told me in game there's a very specific way to do the exp on or off thing right before my sub expires like at a very specific x amount of hours before the sub is up sort of thing but they did not know the details of when to do it as they keep a active sub so they dont really care to know how that works

6. is there any technique or benefit in using the Character Transfer service to a separate account?

sorry im a total noob to this but i find it very interesting and exciting and i very very much appreciate your help in educating me

 

[Alk760]

1. Iron Man would be hard mode. no mail, no auction house.
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Correct
5. You unlock a 20 because locked exp can't join pvp arena or battle grounds without a current subscription.
* wait until your high level characters are unable to login before you try to play your 20's *
6. Not unless you see a reason to do so. imo its not needed.

 

[Calligraphy]

Just having paid doesn't do anything. If you pay for an account and then leave it sitting for a month until the sub expires, any new characters made after you go back to free status will be practically indistinguishable from a pure F2P. The only difference is that if you pay for time later on, characters on a pure F2P account might level while characters on a vet account wont. Having paid in the past won't let you use the auction house or chat with people once your time is up. Vets are also be able to make use of occasional free time events when pure F2Ps aren't, but those are rare enough that you shouldn't plan around them.

Some people will pay in order to use the mailbox or auction house, but those are mostly about how buying something is faster than making it yourself. Most of the things you'd want you could do on your own, and buying them from other people requires a fair amount of gold.

If you want to ease up account restrictions, the best thing you can do is pay and then play a character up to level 50. That will unlock chromie time on your account, so you can queue for a wider variety of dungeons instead of having to manually solo anything that's not in BFA. When July 11 rolls around, it'll also be easy to unlock allied races for more character options. You can also try to complete good chunks of questing/rep grinding in Legion and BFA to unlock various goodies like a mount speed buff in the relevant zones, and pick up any mounts/pets/toys you might like that cost too much for a free player and/or require higher level content to access. Those aren't about paying directly, though, so much as spending a good amount of time playing the game at high level.

Edit to add: If you buy DF your character can also access the relevant zones and make use of any dragonriding skills a higher level character unlocked. At that point, though, playing through DF to unlock all the dragonriding plus all the older expansions to unlock their various goodies, you might as well just embrace playing a fully subbed account.

 

[chaoticmind]

"occasional free time event"
very nice did not know this was a thing

" pay and then play a character up to level 50. That will unlock chromie time on your account, so you can queue for a wider variety of dungeons"
i have a max lvl so i would have completely overlooked this feature but very good point i did not even realize free players could not do this

"make use of any dragonriding skills a higher level character unlocked"
also a very good point do high level content that unlocks account wide stuff that would benefit my low level character

a1 stuff there very nice thankyou for takeing the time to post


oh i just thought of another thing "Having paid in the past won't let you use the auction house or chat with people once your time is up"
what if i make some friends that are twinks that do pay to play set up a guild give them control and make the message of the day be a discord link so we can all chat while we play there so my first paid month could basically have a good bit to do with makeing new friends and establishing a place not in wow to hangout (discord) and then if there are paid players there they can continue to recruit people and help the community grow

is this even doable like would i get auto kicked from the guild if i previously paid and joined before my sub expired?
can guilds even recruit free to play players at all ?
if im allowed to stay after i go free to play can i at least read the guild chat?

 

[icehawk]

"occasional free time event"
very nice did not know this was a thing

" pay and then play a character up to level 50. That will unlock chromie time on your account, so you can queue for a wider variety of dungeons"
i have a max lvl so i would have completely overlooked this feature but very good point i did not even realize free players could not do this

"make use of any dragonriding skills a higher level character unlocked"
also a very good point do high level content that unlocks account wide stuff that would benefit my low level character

a1 stuff there very nice thankyou for takeing the time to post


oh i just thought of another thing "Having paid in the past won't let you use the auction house or chat with people once your time is up"
what if i make some friends that are twinks that do pay to play set up a guild give them control and make the message of the day be a discord link so we can all chat while we play there so my first paid month could basically have a good bit to do with makeing new friends and establishing a place not in wow to hangout (discord) and then if there are paid players there they can continue to recruit people and help the community grow

is this even doable like would i get auto kicked from the guild if i previously paid and joined before my sub expired?
can guilds even recruit free to play players at all ?
if im allowed to stay after i go free to play can i at least read the guild chat?

If you set up a guild while sub’d, you can still keep control of it when unsub’d. You can be GM and still invite / kick as you please even without sub, so you don’t need to let go of control of it. You can also still use guild chat. Just no access to GV.

You will also have access to friends on a Battlenet so you can also still chat on that. You can add and remove Friends on BNet as a Vet, even without a sub.