World of Warcraft is free to play for returning players this weekend

World of Warcraft
(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

World of Warcraft will be free to play for returning players until November 9. With the latest Shadowlands expansion set to release in just a few weeks time, Blizzard Entertainment are encouraging players to return to the MMO by giving them the opportunity to pick up where they left off for free. 

The offer to play for free is only available for those of you who have inactive World of Warcraft accounts, and you will be given full access to the game as well as all of your created characters. You’ll be able to access all expansions including Battle for Azeroth, so you can play the most recent content and be ready for Shadowlands when it launches later this month. The free to play period began yesterday and will end November 9 at 23:59 CET. 

Additionally, those of you who have already experienced Battle for Azeroth and have reached level 50 on at least one character can choose to level subsequent characters in a different expansion using Timewalking Campaigns. This new feature makes it so content from locations like Northrend or Pandaria scales to a player’s level, so you can play from level 10 all the way to 50 and experience the stories and locations at their original pacing. 

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands was announced at BlizzCon 2019 and is set to release worldwide November 24. Currently, the latest expansion has secured more pre-sales than any other World of Warcraft expansion in history, making it the most highly anticipated expansion to date. 

Keep up to date with all things WoW by reading our breakdown of the many changes coming to Shadowlands. 

Freelance Writer

Demi is a freelance video games journalist with a particular love for Final Fantasy. She's written for GamesRadar, NME, TheGamer, and Gamespot in recent years.