The MMO juggernaut, World of Warcraft, is about to get even bigger.  With the release of it’s newest expansion, Battle for Azeroth, on August 14, Blizzard is preparing for the world of Azeroth to get even more crowded than ever before.  This process started with the Pre-BFA Patch that was released yesterday onto the WOW servers.  Filled with new quests, as well as newer mounts, players will be able to take advantage of this and level up their characters in time for the new expansion when it comes out.  However, it seems Blizzard has yet another idea to bring more players into the World of Warcraft.  

Blizzard has lowered the entry barrier for new and returning players, as it was reported earlier today that you can now play every WOW expansion that has been released with just a monthly/annual subscription.  That’s right, you no longer have to own the base game to play all of the content.  The Battle Chest, which is usually present in the Battle.net store, has been removed, making this update more or less official.  It’s important to note that this includes the expansions that have already been released (Burning Crusade through Legion) and does not include the upcoming Battle for Azeroth expansion, which will cost $49.99 for the Standard Edition and $69.99 for the Digital Deluxe Edition.  There’s also a Collectors Edition that will cost $99.99.

This is a perfect way for players who have fallen out of WOW, or players who are interested, to check out the game.  In addition, it’s also a great way to fill up the WOW player base by the time BFA comes out.  Prior to this change, players had to not only pay a subscription fee, but were also required to own the base game, physically or digitally, to run it on their PC.  Then, if players desired to play the several expansions, they needed to shell out more money for those as well.

Blizzard is also working on World of Warcraft:Classic, a new server option for those who preferred the original play style in the early days of WOW, so it would make sense if Blizzard applied this model change to that as well.  Blizzard is rolling out a lot of new things in the weeks leading up to BFA, with new events starting on July 24 which will continue until the new expansion releases.  With this new change to the subscription model, and all of the new patches and events happening, the anticipation Battle for Azeroth’s is at an all time high, for World of Warcraft maintains its status as the most popular MMO game in history.