The Great Guest Card Condandrum!

[Shortyland05]

Hey There!

My bro got WoW a month or so ago and my sister's finally got hooked on it. So I thought I would give it a go... only to find that I need a creditcard to even have a guest account (in which I would buy game cards rather than do the creditcard thing). and the problem is that I don't have a credit card, is there a way around this?

also, I would ask my sis about this... except shes asleep and my bro's at work

[Maegtelluma]

I'm pretty sure you have to use a credit card to activate initially, but I know you can cancel payments from going to the CC and start inputting game cards instead.

[Shortyland05]

well, a day later and my sister pointed me out to the free trial page... Doh!

now why didn't i think of this before...

lock this thread please

[Kaervek]

you do NOT need a credit card for a 10-day free trial. I have a guide for this.... lemme dig it up... In fact- you NEVER need a credit card to play WoW.

[Kaervek]

I originally typed this up and posted it over at BlizzForums. Perhaps it would make a good thread of its own here, too. /shrug There seem to be enough questions about billing here, so it could be helpful.

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The following is a brief tutorial, including pictures, for how to create a Word of Warcraft account without requiring a credit card. There are many reasons why a person would want to go this route, with the most popular probably being younger individuals who simply don't have a credit card to use or can't rely on their parents' credit cards.

What you need:
New copy of World of Warcraft with valid CD Key.
Pre-paid World of Warcraft Game Card


These items aren't required unless you meet the following criteria:

Your 10-day free trial is about to expire.
You have a need to use the mail-system, the Auction House or the ability to trade with other players. These aren't allowed with Trial accounts, and won't become available to you until you register with a valid WoW CD Key.

If you're just trying the game, or you don't mind casually grinding your characters for 10 days, then you won't need these items until you actually commit to playing WoW.


STEP 1: Beginning the Process

Goto HTTP://WWW.WORLDOFWARCRAFT.COM

Click on the "Free 10-Day WoW Trial" link in the right-hand menu:

http://up.kupatrix.com/f/23/WoW_Trial_Tut_1.jpg

STEP 2: Further down the rabbit-hole...

Click the "Download" link (if you have WoW installed already, a download isn't required):

http://up.kupatrix.com/f/23/WoW_Trial_Tut_2.jpg

STEP 3: Commitment

Click the "Create Free 10-Day Account" link:

http://up.kupatrix.com/f/23/WoW_Trial_Tut_3.jpg

STEP 4: Insert legal mumbo-jumbo here

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click "Agree" to move forward.

STEP 5: Jumping through the hoops

Type in the characters that Blizzard provides on this screen. If you've created various accounts on the Internet in the past, you should be familiar with this screen. If you don't copy the letters / numbers verbatim, you'll be asked to try it again.

STEP 6: Identify

Enter your personal information. Whether or not you're truthful with the information you provide is completely up to you.

http://up.kupatrix.com/f/23/WoW_Trial_Tut_4.jpg

Click "Continue" when you're finished.

STEP 7: "The pathword ith..." </Cable Guy reference>

This one may be confusing, but I think we can do without a screenshot here. Choose your account name and password. This is the login / pass you'll be using to not only log into the WoW.com forums / account access, but also to login to the game.

You'll also be choosing your "Password Hint" here. You can recover your login / password using this information should you ever forget it, or if your account is ever stolen.

Click "Continue" when you're finished.

STEP 8: "Would you like fries with that?"

We're just verifying our account information here.

Make sure everything is how you want it, then click "Create Account" when you're finished.


That's it! Download the WoW client if you need to here. If you already have WoW installed, fire it up and log in!

You've just created a 10-Day trial account without the use of a Credit Card. Now, you can either wait for that 10-day period to expire before you register your account fully, or you can do it now. For the sake of the tutorial, let's go over the final steps now:


STEP 9: "Make it so"

Okay, so now we want to complete our registration process with a valid World of Warcraft CD KEY! This is where we have to start spending money, but a credit card isn't necessary.

To get a valid CD Key, you need to purchase a copy of the game. Yes, even if you just downloaded the client from the WoW.com site. This shouldn't set you back more than $19.99 (+tax).

Goto Worldofwarcraft.com and click on the "Account Management" link in the right-hand menu:

http://up.kupatrix.com/f/23/WoW_Trial_Tut_5.jpg

Log in, then enter the CD Key that you purchased:

http://up.kupatrix.com/f/23/WoW_Trial_Tut_6.jpg

With this $19.99 copy of the game, Blizzard will give you 30 FREE DAYS! That's right - you don't need to spend any money to play past this point unless you want to continue past these initial 30 free days.

STEP 10: "Will that be cash, credit or game card?"

So you're free 30-days is up, and you're wanting to continue playing? Cool! Just go back down to the store, pick up a pre-paid World of Warcraft Game Card and you're good to go!

These Game Cards serve the purpose of a Credit Card when purchasing new game-time on Worldofwarcraft.com You're about to purchase 60-days of game time for $29.99, and you never even had to open a bank account!

[Shortyland05]

just a question, when your free account expires... does it delete itself?

[kongurous]

just a question, when your free account expires... does it delete itself?

Nope, your account and all characters you had are kept on file for eternity. Unless the servers shut down and the entire database and all of the back-ups are erased.

[Shortyland05]

yay! all of those hours aint wasted then :) because my account just expired...

*waits for courier to arrive with full game*