World of Warcraft Starter Edition is a digital download replacement for the 10-day Free Trial. The Starter Edition allows anyone to play for free up to level 20 without the time restrictions placed on trial accounts -- all you need is a Battle.net account and moderately fast internet connection.[citation needed]
As of mid-July 2011, all existing trial accounts, including expired ones, have been reactivated.
Recruit-a-Friend program has been upgraded as a result of the changes introduced with the Starter Edition.
Players with the Starter Edition can create draenei and blood elf characters, which were previously unavailable with trial accounts. As of Mists of Pandaria, the worgen, goblin and pandaren are available, the monk class remains locked.
The two starting zones associated with draenei/blood elf races are also available to people wishing to try out the game.
The gold limit has been raised to 10 gold, allowing Starter Edition players to purchase mounts when they reach the appropriate level.
In-game access to public chat channels unavailable. Players are limited to communicating using only /say, /party, or /whisper.
Characters will be unable to create or join guilds.
Characters are not able to send whispers to other characters unless they have been added to the characters' friends lists or have received a whisper from a character first.
Characters will not be able to invite other players into a party.
Characters will be unable to disable experience gains.*
Characters will not be able to join parties with other characters above level 20.**
Voice chat disabled on Starter Edition accounts.
Realms experiencing login queues will prioritize players who have full, paid accounts.
Starter Edition accounts are not eligible for character transfers
Real ID features are disabled on all Starter Edition Accounts.