New Starter Account Limitations in Shadowlands

Live Posted 2020/10/14 at 4:29 PM by Neryssa

What Can You Do On a Starter Account

Starter accounts cannot choose a starting zone to level at and are forced to go through Exile's Reach from levels 1-10.

The new leveling feature added in the pre-patch, Chromie Time, is not available for starter accounts, as you need to level in Battle for Azeroth content all the way to level 50 at least once to unlock the feature. Thus, starter accounts can play from levels 10-20 in Battle for Azeroth zones. Previously, you could only level to level 20 in Vanilla zones and have no access to any sort of expansion content.

You can only earn and carry a maximum of 1000 Gold per character.

You can only chat in the Newcomer chat that is part of the Guide system, /say and /party channels.

You can only /whisper friends if they're added by character name.

Right Beneath Their EyesRight Beneath Their EyesWhat You Cannot Do On a Starter Account

Content from other expansions besides Battle for Azeroth, Chromie Time included;

Level characters above level 20;

Talk in chat channels such as General or Trade Chat;

Whisper other characters (you can whisper them if you add them as friends, or you receive a whisper first)

Pet Battling;

Any Real ID or Battle.net chat functions;

Create or invite people to parties (however, you can be invited to a party):

Open trades, use mailboxes or interact with the Auction House;

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Comment by vorontuSo can you do all BFA quests on lvl 20?Comment by stickilerSince old expansions are practically given for free when you purchase the latest contentComment by BarhahThese seem like really nice changes! Though, when running my Starter pal through, she was always able to /r my BNet pages. That sounds like it'll be annoying, to have taken away. Like, to note: the last thing we did together was BrewFest, so this was just allowed.Comment by VSozonovYou can actually go to other zones. They just won't scale up to 50 like they would with Chromie Time. I was able to get a Garrison up and running on my (Now) level 15 trial.Comment by VSozonovSo can you do all BFA quests on lvl 20?Comment by stickilerYou can actually go to other zones. They just won't scale up to 50 like they would with Chromie Time. I was able to get a Garrison up and running on my (Now) level 15 trial.Comment by WalkerfinAre starter editions able to join guilds now? I dont see that mentioned.Comment by firidanToday i was lvling my alt without subscription active and I could just select Chromie time.

So chromie refers only to fresh accountsComment by VSozonov

Nah, the scaling has changed, every expansion starts at level 1 now, and scales up to a maximum level. With Chromie time, that level is 50, without it, the level is about 5 levels below the expansion ahead of it. Legion - 45, WoD - 40, MoP - 35, Cata - 30, etc etc.Comment by TalihawkI'm sorry but those seem like some terrible changes when it comes to channels and whispering. Is this to combat spammers or something?Comment by Gebbi

Nah, the scaling has changed, every expansion starts at level 1 now, and scales up to a maximum level. With Chromie time, that level is 50, without it, the level is about 5 levels below the expansion ahead of it. Legion - 45, WoD - 40, MoP - 35, Cata - 30, etc etc.Comment by stickilerI'm sorry but those seem like some terrible changes when it comes to channels and whispering. Is this to combat spammers or something?

Nah, the scaling has changed, every expansion starts at level 1 now, and scales up to a maximum level. With Chromie time, that level is 50, without it, the level is about 5 levels below the expansion ahead of it. Legion - 45, WoD - 40, MoP - 35, Cata - 30, etc etc.Comment by Billredskin

So, it's a bit weird. The world map says(For example) that Mount Hyjal is 30-35, like you said. However, if you go to the Legion zones, they go from 10-45. (Level 10, not level 1 like I said, my mistake)Comment by SeldaronAre starter editions able to join guilds now? I dont see that mentioned.Comment by blissfireHm! I can't think of why starter accounts can't do pet battles.... maybe something to do with pet arbitrage - transferring them from one server to another? Is there some kind of gold exploit there I'm not thinking of?Comment by TheRadikid

Any Real ID or Battle.net chat functions;

Comment by RedwoodRogersI assume the "forced to do Exile's Reach and BfA content only applies to Starter Accounts made after the pre-patch went live. I made my little brother a starter account before then, and, while he hasn't started a new character since the patch went live, it would be strange if the game forced him to do Exile's Reach and BfA even though he already started other characters who are now, at most, level 11 and partway through their starting experiences.

Otherwise, the new increase to max gold per character is definitely a good thing, as part of why he switched back to playing the characters he made on my account was because his then-20 Worgen had hit the max and could no longer sell anything, apparently.Comment by AbedeerYou can actually go to other zones. They just won't scale up to 50 like they would with Chromie Time. I was able to get a Garrison up and running on my (Now) level 15 trial.Comment by NissikuYou can use Chromie time and choose between racial or exile's reach starting zones on a starter edition wow if it is on the same battlenet account as a retail that has completed the BfA content required to allow so. That also includes access to acquired allied races as well. (via WoW1, WoW2, etc.)Comment by Netcownt"Starter accounts cannot choose a starting zone to level at and are forced to go through Exile's Reach from levels 1-10".
Just a add-note: accounts that are currently F2P (old subscribers) can still select their starting zones. Not sure if it's the same for Starter accs.
As I just created an undead and a goblin and I'm starting in their native areas.

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