EU+US F2P History

Crystalpall

the F2P PvEr
Hello!
I decided to make a chronicle of the F2P history and events in WoW, just for the fun purpose, and I think it's great idea that we increased it. If you like the idea post some feedback in the comments. I would also love to get some community data, for example who was first to get 4k achievements, who got Precious Ribbon first, and so on :).



History of Trial Accounts in World of Warcraft:

pmNgC4k.png
  • January 16 2007 - The Burning Crusade expansion goes live. Blizzard also implements 10-day trial account for the first time. At that point only limitations are: max level 20, can't play as blood elf or draenei, can't trade, can't use auction house.
  • January 23 2007 - Due to gold spammers abusing 10 day trial, F2P characters are limited in many other different ways: They can't use any big channel (eg. general or trade), can't yell, can't invite to party, can't join or create guilds, can't whisper people who don't have them on their friend list, have cap of 100 points in primary professions, can't have more than 1(not sure) gold or use mail.
  • October 14 2008 - Patch 3.0.2 goes live, introducing achievements.


    vAwdWtw.png

  • November 23 2010 - pre-Cataclysm patch goes live. All questlines are revamped, making items like Chausses of Westfall or Seal of Sylvanas Grandfathered for trial accounts.
  • November 25 2010 - Trial accounts can no longer obtain fish in areas that we do not have expansion for (for example, we cannot get any fish if fishing in Twilight Highlands, because it's a cataclysm zone). Blue post Here
  • June 28 2011 - Patch 4.2.0 goes live. Old 10 day trial gets changed to permanent starter edition version. All expired trial accounts become reactivated. Game time on trial accounts is now unlimited, but trial accounts got several other limitations (generally minor): Can't use paid services as faction change or realm change, can't use Real ID features, can't use Raid chat or voice chat, and are pushed at the end of login queue on full realms. Despite the limitations, first trial account twinks start playing. Trial accounts can now create and play Blood elves and Draenei, and gold limit is increased to 10 gold.
  • October 8 2011 - Character Æphrodite Becomes world first F2P with the Sea Turtle , as discussed HERE - sadly the screenshots have been lost to imageshack.
  • October 10 2011 - Trial accounts can no longer stop experience gain. This wiped out F2Ps making 19 twinks in 15-19 xp-off bracket, however twinking at lower level than 20 is still possible the old way - just don't get experience.
  • October 14 2011 - Full F2P chat addon by Yasueh goes live, breaking the barrier of communication and making events such as premades / dungeons together a lot more organised. This was probably the most important thing aiding the growth of the F2P community in these years.
  • December 14 2011 - Due to a glitch, low level characters can be invited into higher level random dungeons, and then carried through to obtain high level Satchel of Helpful Goods and the items inside.
  • February 2 2012 - Character Pursefection becames world first trial with Shadowfang , unfortunately looted on a shaman. http://i.imgur.com/rCS7b.jpg
  • March 31 2012 - Maratian on server Argent Dawn EU became world first trial with "the bloodthirsty" title, acquiring 250k Honorable Kills on a single character.
  • August 28 2012 - All players regardless of expansion, including trial accounts, can now play every race. F2P accounts can now create Worgens and Goblins. Account-wide achievements, pets and mounts introduced, allowing trials with accounts linked to P2P accounts use mounts, pets and titles from their paid account. A bitter taste came with this patch - Scarlet Monastery was changed, and minimum level to enter it increased to 21, making the achievement and Scarlet Tabard grandfathered, as well as the Hallowed title.
  • September 15 2012 - Trial accounts get WotLK expansion, allowing us to go to northrend . We can't however make Death Knights due to lack of a level 55 character on our account.

    rgToncU.png

  • September 25 2012 - Mists of Pandaria release. Trial accounts can now play as pandaren, however the Monk class is locked. At early stage of MoP Pandarens could glitch out of their zone and do both faction quests, and later set their faction, which worked a bit like faction change, allowing some players to obtain items exclusive to both sides on a trial account (eg. Garrosh Pardon on an alliance character).
  • October 13 2012 - character Bisonpower became first person with "the bloodthirsty" title in US, getting 250k Honorable Kills on his account. Here you can see a screenshot.
  • November 19 2012 - Servers Nemesis-Italian (EU) and Nemesis-Brasilian (US) are bugged, bypassing the level 55 character check while making Death Knights. Thanks to WotLK expansion from September 15, exploiting this bug allows trial accounts to create Death Knights. Once the DK is created, you can create it on every server you want. Death Knights have the same limitations as normal trial characters, except that they are locked at level 55 not 20. Whenever you log out of your Death Knight the character becomes locked, forcing you to make another if you want to get more out of the glitch. This made it so obtaining anything on a F2P Death Knight was a race against time to complete the goal you had in mind before disconnecting.
  • February 5 2013 - Due to a glitch all characters can enter Icecrown Citadel , Trial of Crusader and Ruby Sanctum , regardless of level. Trial accounts can visit those raids and obtain the items - most notably Precious' Ribbon, only requirement is level 80+ character entering the raid before you.
  • May 21 2013 - Patch 5.3 goes live. One time battleground barrens event takes place, giving trials unique possibility to get a 24 slot bag (rare drop from level 90 mobs in the zone) - Kor'Kron Supply Satchel.
  • September 15 2013 - Visatorul becomes world first F2P with 4k achievement points on one character.
  • September 22 2013 - Фетис becomes world first F2P with 5k achievement points acc-wide.
  • October 17 2013 - Trial accounts get Cataclysm expansion due to Cataclysm being added to battle chest. We can now learn Archaeology , visit Deepholm and Tol Barad and join Cataclysm Raids.
  • Around May 2014 - Alphasky becomes world first F2P with 10.000 returned flags at Warsong Gulch. It's worth noting that at that time #2 on the list had 6,5k returns, #3 had 5k returns and numbers 4-10 had 4 to 3k returned flags.
  • June 21 2014 - ßabydoll Became world first F2P with 5k achievement points on one character.
  • June 27 2014 - Felïx became world first F2P with 6k achievement points acc-wide
  • October 14 2014 - Patch 6.0 goes live. Mists of Pandaria got added to battle chest allowing trial accounts to create monks and explore the continent of Pandaria. Because the expansion was added before the Warlords release "the explorer" title was obtainable for a short time. We can now participate in two new battlegrounds - Eye of the Storm and Alterac Valley, as well as 2v2 and 3v3 skirmish arenas. Bracket expanded from 20-24 to 20-29 allowing 29 enchanted twinks to enter, but it's better than ever - scaling makes the fights fair and 29 twinks have a battleground just for themselves - Battle for Gilneas (requires level 25 to enter at the moment). The battleground queues are a bit bugged making wait times exceed hours.

    ArtRhsX.png

  • November 13 2014 - Warlords of Draenor release. Since F2Ps are always kicked at the end of queues, some players couldn't log in at all for a very long time.
  • January 6 2015 - ßabydoll from the server Aggramar became the first F2P to get 6000 achievement points on one character.
  • January 8 2015 - Tenshìn from the server Bloodscalp became the first F2P to get 7000 achievement points on his account.
  • February 24 2015 - Patch 6.1 comes live. Veteran Account is implemented to World of Warcraft. Veteran accounts are previously subscribed accounts that used up their game time and can now play on new or already existing characters of levels 1-20, succesfully being "once-paid level 20 twinks". Veterans are something in between a F2P and 29 twink, being still level 20, unable to trade, mail and with 100 profession restriction, however due to fact that they can always resubscribe, they can have their characters equipped with items and enchantments not available to a F2P. Veteran players can also stay in guilds. A lot of F2P players upgraded their accounts to play as a veteran with enchants and gear. F2Pers are rarely found and generally considered "useless" in battlegrounds due to the lack of enchants. This patch also introduces Heirloom Tab which proves itself helpful to F2Ps as it provides new characters on the same account with heirlooms, saves bank and bag space and awards a player with 35 heirlooms collected with Chauffered Chopper, a mount requiring just level 1.
  • October 15 2015 - ßabydoll from the server Aggramar became the first F2P to get 7000 achievement points on one character.
  • October 24 2015 - The first ever F2P 3v3 Arena World Championship occurred with the team #Synergy in dominate fashion took home the Championship thus becoming one of the most well known brands in lower level bracket pvp. The #Synergy team consisted of Wizkidone, Veinte, Fael and Flynn. Tournament Video
  • December 12 2016 - The Second F2P Arena World Championship occurred bringing some of the most dynamic games in the history of the tournament. Twink Skill Capped after ripping through opening series took home the Championship in the most entertaining finals in championship history. This team consisted of Trialmop, Bop, Lenny and Original. Tournament Replay here.
  • February 2 2016 - Tenshìn from the server Bloodscalp became the first F2P to get 8000 achievement points on one account.
  • March 23 2016 - A huge bug takes place making all Starter accounts P2P for a week. We could use mail, Auction House, Pet Battle, trade, create Death Knights and level up to level 90. VIDEO HERE
  • May 18 2016 - Warlors of Draenor is added to the Battle Chest allowing F2Ps to go to Draenor, obtain illusions, new reputations, pets and achievements. The Mercenary Mode is not available for us.

    q1nq2Z0.png

  • August 9 2016 - Legion Invasions take place, letting F2P players obtain Warforged gear with item level up to 35. Getting an ilvl 35 Warforged piece was so rare that only very little people obtained full WF. (Unboxing)
  • November 13 2016 - The Third F2P 3v3 Arena World Championship took place being hosted by the NWL and having a wide range of teams and 2 qualifier events. This championship stretched from July 30th 2016 all the way to November 13th 2016. He bought a carry took home the Championship after dominating their opponents in the arena. The only team to 4-0 a tournament Finals and through that we have our first two time Champion Fael notably from the team #Synergy. He bought a carry consisted of Fael, Delayed and Pain. Tournament videos one two
  • November 18 2016 - WoW's 12 anniversary event starts letting F2Ps obtain 25 Timewarped Badges via a daily quest. Doing this daily for a majority of the event awarded enough badges to raise one, otherwise unobtainable reputation, to friendly and acquire a tabard.

    1kckZKD.png

  • September 20 2019 - The EU team led by @Brihan starts clearing Blackrock Depths, eventually clearing 10/15 bosses with a team of only F2P players. More can be read about it here
  • November 5 2019 - WoW's 15th anniversary event starts letting F2Ps queue for Korrak's Revent, letting us once again obtain Alterac Valley Achievements, as well as letting F2Ps farm Timewarped Badges
  • December 15 2019 - An exploit is discovered that lets F2Ps enter Dungeons and Raids up to levels 60 through Korrak's Revenge.
  • May 9 2020 - WoW20 organizes Epic Battleground events in an attempt to make Epic Battlegrounds pop once a week.
  • October 14 2020 - @Conzil becomes first F2P to get 10000 acc wide achievement points, just hours before the Shadowlands pre-patch

    hFH3Zgs.png

  • October 14 2020 - Shadowlands prepatch goes live. F2P players get full profession access and the gold cap is increased from 10 to 1000.
  • November 8 2020 - Russian F2P players, led by Ultralisk, manage to kill Ragnaros in Molten Core.
  • May 4 2021 - @Conzil becomes first F2P to get 15000 acc wide achievement points.
  • September 18 2021 - Russian F2P players, led by Ultralisk, manage to kill Nefarian in Blackwing Lair.
  • June 18 2022 - Russian F2P players, led by Ultralisk, manage to kill C'Thun in Ahn'Qiraj
  • August 17 2022 - F2Ps gets moved to the xp-off bracket.

    kPxl7n2.png

  • October 26 2022 - Phase 1 of the Dragonflight pre-patch goes live, ilvl values on gear get changed
  • November 15 2022 - Phase 2 of the Dragonflight pre-patch goes live, allowing F2Ps to explore Shadowlands
 
Last edited:
Brief patch notes for F2P bracket:
  • 4.2 - Hunters are definetely strongest class
  • 5.0 - Mists of Pandaria successfully nerfs hunters by making healers overpowered. It's almost impossible to kill a healer 1vs1. This affects the HK and honor amount you get per game - in cata you could get around 70 HKs per wsg - now it hardly goes to 20. The number of 20 min games when both teams can't kill EFC is increased dramatically.
  • 5.1 - Holy Paladins and Resto druids are unstoppable force of healing.
  • 5.2 - Bracket is flooded by protection warriors, due to shield slam doing insane amount of damage.
  • 5.3 - F2P bracket is somewhat balanced.
  • 5.4 - Bracket is completely broken, 24s are OP to unbelieveable manner. Amount of P2Ps in 20-24 locked XP games is around 4-5 times bigger.

List of Bloodthirsty F2Ps:



Once again, please post your feedback or dates in the comments below, and I hope you will enjoy reading this. :)
 
Last edited:
You could not get the eyepatch with the pandaren glitch :(. Might wanna change it to something else like getting garosh pardon on an alliance character... Keeshan quest on horde...

Edit: Nvm about the last thing I posted.. made some research and I was wrong
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Since your listing the 24 slot bag you could list the scarlet tabard run too i suppose, i'm not sure either are very interesting though. Good start, wonder where trials will go from here


Edit: Maybe battleground changes would be more entertaining to see. For example, how things were in cata (mass paladins and hunters/lots of burst, too the begining of mop, and finally to the gear scaling currently
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[*]June 28 2011 - Patch 4.3.0 goes live.

iirc it was 4.2.0 - 4.3 hit in december (first NEW dmf was in december, so I know that for a fact)
 
Since your listing the 24 slot bag you could list the scarlet tabard run too i suppose, i'm not sure either are very interesting though. Good start, wonder where trials will go from here


Edit: Maybe battleground changes would be more entertaining to see. For example, how things were in cata (mass paladins and hunters/lots of burst, too the begining of mop, and finally to the gear scaling currently
1. When tabard became GFd?
2. When the looms started scaling in bgs (when we got 20->24)\

Edit2: Of course it was 4.2, my fault. messed 3 with 2 :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:
October 3rd saw the rise of a tyrant, Slayer of Gods and kings, Her name Lokah.....
 
Before trials became unlimited,.we could always join guilds. Even after the abuse of them. I was in guilds in 2010 as a trial.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top