Ok, so I started playing World of Warcraft about two weeks ago. Naturally, I used the free ten-day trial, which has now ended. I want to sign up for a regular account.
Except, uh, Blizzard seems to not want me to. I’ve already got a Battle.net account (which has more than one credit card assigned to it); I’ve already purchased stuff via said Battle.net account. I’ve tried upgrading my trial account to a paid one online – I get an odd error that “the process failed”, and I need to contact Blizzard. Since I don’t much feel like calling them up unless necessary, I figured I’d just try to buy one of those game-cards online. Problem here is, the sites selling “instant-delivery” gamecard codes (ie, you pay, and they email you the number that’s on your card) all seem to be fairly shady outfits (for example, they also tend to sell WoW gold, plus high-level character accounts and the like). I came very close to ordering from one which appeared reasonably safe, but the ordering process involved them calling me at home and other things which felt kinda dubious from a privacy standpoint. So I balked.
Anyway, I guess my question is this: how can I most easily get my account paid for? Obviously, I can go out to a store and buy a game card, but I want to play now, dammit. Has anyone else had odd problems signing up via Blizzard’s own methods? Can anyone recommend a reputable online source for WoW gamecards (ideally, instant-delivery)? Should I just call Blizzard?
Your situation is newish, therefore their procedures aren’t prepared for it yet. Currently they’re getting tons of “problems with battle.net” calls, it’s not like you’ll stand out.
And look at it this way: if people don’t call, the folks answering the phones get fired. We don’t want that to happen, do we?
I should mention (hah, wasted another day and didn’t just go buy the card!) – this isn’t specific to the Battle.net changeover. How do I know this? Well, I forgot to mention this, but the same thing happened last time – months ago – when I tried to upgrade. In fact, its the reason I ended up putting the game aside (that, and business at work). I’m going to try once more with Blizzard, but at this point I think I just need a stupid game card.
Further question, actually (and instead of starting a new thread) – am I right in thinking that to get the “full” setup, I need to first buy the “upgraded” account, then buy BOTH Burning Crusade and Lich King? And if so, what’s my cheapest route? I know they have that bundled box, but basically, I want the whole damn thing, ASAP, and ideally without going to Wal-Mart. Any ideas?
(Oh, and I’m a level 14 human rogue. For the record.)
Call Blizzard. You need to call them anyway to solve whatever glitch your file has in their computers that’s not letting you pay. They can set you up for everything. Once you pay them over the phone or they’ve cleared the glitch and you pay through their webpage, you’ll be able to play the game fully the next time you open it. You do not need any boxes for the upgrades, the proper files are already in your computer.
You can download both BC and Wrath from the WoW site, but it’ll take FOREVER unless you have some major pipes. If that’s more acceptable than going out to Gamestop/EB/WalMart/Target and buying the boxes, then fine, but you still have to pay the expansion prices to upgrade your account to THOSE. I downloaded Wrath and paid the 50-odd dollars to upgrade my account rather than go out and buy the box at a store.
That’s not counting the patch download times…
If you decide not to buy BC, you can’t play Draenei or Blood Elves, or even go to their starting zones. Also, (I think) you can’t take jewelcrafting or gain levels above 60. Also, you can’t upgrade to Wrath without upgrading to BC.
Without Wrath, you can’t do Death Knights or go to Northrend, and you can’t get levels above 70.
Before you upgrade your account you should consider something else.
If you plan on playing a lot and want to level fast might i suggest you play with people that can help you out. Playing alone can be fun but the game is at its best with people helping and guiding you as well as someone to chat with while leveling.
at level14 there is nothing you can’t redo in a couple a days worth of playing so please dont be so stubborn as to keep your old character. Ask around in the WoW thread and see if anyone would want to do a “refer-a-friend” (RAF) with you. If they have high level characters they can “power level” you up at a faster pace. All you need is the normal WoW game (no expansions) and you can get to level 60 really fast from there you can upgrade to TBC then Wrath. The experience gained with RAF is extremely high and i believe the RAF status between 2 different accounts last for like 30days or more which means you can make more than 1 level60 character fast. In turn the person who invited you to play can gain instant levels from you. I’m not sure how things are exactly but you should check out the RAF (refer a friend) option before going any further in your WoW journey.
I’m sorry I can’t help, I just wanted to mention that I had a similar problem a month ago. I tried upgrading a trial account to a full one (not BC or LK), they took my payment, told me to wait a couple of days for it to clear. Three days passed and I got an Email saying the upgrade failed, I would need to ring up their customer support, they would freeze my account in the mean time. I tried customer support multiple times for over an hour and they were always too busy to even add me to a queue. The account was permanently banned a few days later.
I was already paying for another two accounts with that credit card, so I’m not sure what the problem was.
I don’t play WoW any more.
EDIT: I was using Refer A Friend for my brother, which is why I was trying to upgrade a trial account to full one. Trial accounts can’t whisper, trade, send/receive mail or level above 20. Quite a pain with the speed you level up, heh. You can’t even keep up with buying new skills.
