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WoW Annual Pass Subscribers Get Diablo III for Free

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 46 comments

Blizzard awards its WoW subscribers with a chance to get Diablo III for free.

Ever since the release of Cataclysm, World of Warcraft has been taking quite some heat and losing a fair number of its subscribers. With Diablo III coming in the near future, Blizzard has revealed a new subscription plan that will help the company hold on to its precious subscribers.

Dubbed the World of Warcraft Annual Pass, the new subscription method will allow players to enter a 12-month subscription commitment. Luckily for players concerned with breaking their banks, the plan lets players either pay on a monthly basis at $14.99 per month or use a different billing plan of their choosing.

For current WoW subscribers, this means there won't be much of a change other than the fact that they won't be able to cancel their account for a year. The commitment could be a turn-off to some subscribers, but the rewards are definitely tempting. For a limited time, WoW Annual Pass subscribers will get a digital version of Diablo III for free, along with the new Tyrael's Charger in-game mount. In addition, subscribers will also be granted guaranteed access to the upcoming WoW Expansion Beta Test.

For more information on eligibility or if you would like to sign up, head on over to the sign-up page here.

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  • 0 Hide
    brn_gomes , October 22, 2011 10:11 AM
    I'm so in.
  • 0 Hide
    brn_gomes , October 22, 2011 10:22 AM
    I mean, just when I thought Blizzard was gonna lose its ground, they come up with stuff like this, It's a genius move, you pay the one year subscription fee, alright... It's quite some money, but if you're into WoW, you probably would anyway, specially now with 4.3 coming up you get to kill Death Wing while you grind up for the new expansion, expansion which, you already know what's it gonna be about, so, either you like it and go ahead with it, or you don't like what you're seeing and just don't, is take it or live it, but in case you are interested on the new expansion, with all the new stuff including the "Pokemon" fights, and if you were already planning on getting Diablo, which I am, you save up huge money, let's face it, I was going to pay 60 euros for Diablo, and each time I buy a 60 day subscription card, I pay 26 euros, I probably would pay 6 months of play during a year, which would cost me effectively, 78 that sums up 138€, which is already 18 euros more than I'd pay for the yearly subscription, plus you get an awesome mount, not excluding that you can play WoW a full year, other than you would paying for the 6 months. It's win win win win for me, and very tempting to a whole lot of people. With Star Wars: The Old Republic coming up, and Guild Wars pressing forward its release, this is a really bold move from blizzard, they're all IN, it's take it or leave it I guess. I like how they don't discriminate between their own games, they really just want you to be in the Blizzard "side" of gaming, as long as you're going blizz, they don't really care what you're playing as long as you're paying for their services and stick to their products, a lot of synergy here.
  • 0 Hide
    billybobser , October 22, 2011 11:31 AM
    tied in to 12 month contract,

    release utter rubbish

    Blizzard : /Trollface

    From a business perspective. I think if blizzard made all their games pay for, for half the curernt wow cost, and made the sub for all of the games. That'd be an interesting propasition, possibly more lucrative.

    Combined with this idea, that a 1 year sub (loyalty) will be rewarded.

    I don't like the idea of loyalty to an aged and run to the ground game however, but i don't mind being loyal to a great development house.
  • Display all 46 comments.
  • 0 Hide
    gio2vanni86 , October 22, 2011 12:34 PM
    I have that tab open for it.. I just quit in july, I'm really unsure if i want be tied to it for that long, but the bonus's to it make seem like a great deal. I will have to think about this. Looks good though.
  • 0 Hide
    Wish I Was Wealthy , October 22, 2011 1:58 PM
    Lucky for them!
  • 0 Hide
    Star72 , October 22, 2011 2:12 PM
    From what I understood by reading the stipulations, you would have to complete the year before getting the copy of Diablo 3. If so, then I think they are just hoping that people will accept the agreement & then get too impatient to wait a year & buy Diablo 3 anyways. Big Win-Win for Blizzard there. I could easily be wrong though, may have misunderstood.
  • 3 Hide
    bejabbers , October 22, 2011 2:37 PM
    well, that's one way to keep squeezing money out of people.
  • 3 Hide
    vilenjan , October 22, 2011 3:01 PM
    Star72, read it again. "You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term, it's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription. Tyrael's Charger will be available with Patch 4.3, and beta access will go live with the beta launch."
  • 0 Hide
    vilenjan , October 22, 2011 3:02 PM
    As far as pricing goes, if you count DIII's retail price ($60) and the year discount for the sub, its like getting 12 months for wow for 6 months worth pay.
  • 5 Hide
    jn77 , October 22, 2011 3:03 PM
    They just need to retire WoW and come out with WoW II that lets users with "Modern" hardware that does not belong in a crypt for Indian Jones to find and be put in a museum.
  • 0 Hide
    hetneo , October 22, 2011 4:23 PM
    So Diablo 3 sux that much?! Or WoW sux? Or maybe they both sux.
  • -1 Hide
    Star72 , October 22, 2011 4:33 PM
    vilenjanStar72, read it again. "You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term, it's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription. Tyrael's Charger will be available with Patch 4.3, and beta access will go live with the beta launch."

    Yeah the part that I saw stand out was "once you complete the one-year term, it's yours to keep even if you cancel your subscription." So complete your 1 year agreement & THEN you get Diablo 3???
  • 1 Hide
    Star72 , October 22, 2011 4:38 PM
    Ok, I get their whole point now. My bad for misunderstanding. Play immediately but don't get to keep the game unless you complete the year. Just a mis-understanding of the wording, sorry about that.
  • 2 Hide
    wildkitten , October 22, 2011 5:16 PM
    How bad are the WoW subscriber numbers going to be for the third quarter shareholder conference call for them to be doing this promotion?

    Stop and think about this. If they thought WoW was in a healthy place, they would not be willing to eat D3 sale profits to prop it up. If you look at this promotion, it's to keep existing sibscribers from leaving, it doesn't even go toward new customers. You have to had a registered WoW accoubt by October 18th, 3 days BEFORE this announcement was made. This seems obvious that the sub losses they have had during the year of releasing new content for Cataclysm has been bad and they want to try their best to not let the slide continue during the year leading up to Mists of Pandaria.

    Perhaps Blizzard would be better of trying to salvage WoW by actually IMPROVING the game and offering real content updates instead of promotions like this. They already said 4.3 will be the last raid content for Cataclysm, and the pretty much means there won't be anything in terms of patches until the 5.0 pre expansion patch.

    Just sort of sad for people who really liked Warcraft to see what mess they have let the title get in to.
  • 5 Hide
    DroKing , October 22, 2011 5:39 PM
    *sigh* Blizzard when will you stop listening to Activihack?
  • 2 Hide
    laxduck26 , October 22, 2011 6:31 PM
    Star72Yeah the part that I saw stand out was "once you complete the one-year term, it's yours to keep even if you cancel your subscription." So complete your 1 year agreement & THEN you get Diablo 3???


    No, you get it at release, but if you cancel the one-year WoW subscription before one year is up then you don't get to keep your access to Diablo 3. This prevents people from signing up for the year pass, then getting Diablo 3, then cancelling their WoW sub. Though I'm not sure how'd they save money if it locks you in for a year...but hey, Blizzard is just watching their backs.

    Seriously bro, it isn't that complicated, you're trying to make it like Blizzard is false advertising when they aren't.
  • -4 Hide
    Ragnar-Kon , October 22, 2011 6:48 PM
    droking*sigh* Blizzard when will you stop listening to Activihack?

    Eh they're listening to investors and shareholders, which is what every public company on the planet does. Can't blame them.

    I don't see how this is a bad thing really. For those who play WoW religiously, you get a free D3. For those who don't, you're still most likely going to buy D3 like you always have planned to.

    And yes, obviously they're trying to boost WoW subscription numbers. But, lets be honest here: WoW is FAR from dying. Even now they have at least 6-8 times more subscribers than any other MMO on the market. Is the glory days of WoW over? Yes, most likely, but it is still a hugely popular game.
  • 1 Hide
    DroKing , October 22, 2011 7:59 PM
    I don't understand why those stupid companies listen to investors and shareholders when it should only be the customers who buy their damn products. =/
  • -1 Hide
    vilenjan , October 22, 2011 8:16 PM
    I dont see how this is a big deal. You aren't forced to pay for a wow sub to get DIII. You can always just pay $60 and get the standalone game. This is for WoW players would play both, or at the very least cancel their sub while they played DIII. This way you keep your wow sub and get DIII free.

    So if you dont care about WoW, you shouldn't be posting anything. This deal is for WoW players who want DIII as well.
  • -4 Hide
    NuclearShadow , October 22, 2011 9:38 PM
    drokingI don't understand why those stupid companies listen to investors and shareholders when it should only be the customers who buy their damn products. =/


    Because your opinions and desires do not matter in the end if you are going to end up paying for the product/service regardless. This is the real reason why healthcare in America costs way more due to lack of regulation and the fact that you are going to choose to get treated if anything severe happens to you. They know this and therefor charge extreme amounts and the quality of healthcare itself tends to be sub-par for most.

    They know that these games are going to rake in extreme amounts, they know even that gamers tend to be extremely weak willed when it comes to resisting buying a big name title. Just look at what happened to the MW2 boycott for the PC, the vast majority that boycotted bought it anyways despite not being able to get a single on of their demands met.

    If you truly want video games to get better and the business practices involving them to improve then you have to stop buying them when they fail to meet your expectations or when the company does something shady like sue a indie developer because they were going to use a commonly used word in their game's title.
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