World of Warcraft no longer requires you to buy the base game

World of Warcraft is now kind of free-to-play.

With the launch of Pre-Patch 8.0.1 for World of Warcraft, Blizzard has changed a lot of things both in Azeroth and in the real world. It is no longer a headache to start your journey with WoW – and its expansions. You don’t need to buy the base game to enjoy the experience anymore. A monthly subscription now gets everything done just like that.

After the pre-patch landed, every account was automatically upgraded to World of Warcraft: Legion, and you can enjoy WoW all the way through it. The only thing you’ll need to spend some money on is the Battle for Azeroth expansion, which is scheduled for an August 14 release and priced at $49,99.

Goodbye, Battle Chest. You’ll be missed by some!

What if you bought Legion a few days ago and now feel fooled? Well, worry no more – Blizzard’s support is reportedly happy to help and you can easily apply for a refund. Step on it, though – your request is only viable if the purchase was recent.

In other news: the Battle Chest is gone. Since you don’t need a basic game anymore, the Battle Chest – a pack including all the previous expansions – has been buried and forgotten. With only the purchase of Battle for Azeroth required, the idea of the chest-bundle became obsolete, and soon will turn into a distant memory.

The game will turn 14 this November.

But while the “you only need the subscription” slogan sure looks great and appealing on the outside, some players say little has changed on the inside. After all, the base game – priced at $14,99 – included a month of playtime, after which you were obliged to invest in a subscription. The “just subscription” is governed by the same rules – and sold at the same price.

Still, now “you only need the subscription.”