At Blizzcon 2011, to be precise, on the 21st of October 2011, Blizzard announced the Annual Pass. In return for committing to a year of WoW subscription by whatever payment plan they used, players would receive Diablo III for free, a Tyrael’s Charger mount, and access into the Mists of Pandaria beta.
Over a year has since passed, and yet there have been no announcements of a new Annual Pass. While recording the hit accompanying this piece, Mike B checked his battle.net account to verify whether or not his Annual Pass was active. It was not – he’d been transferred onto a recurring subscription instead. The Annual Pass was available until early May 2012, so those who weren’t early adopters like Mike B would still have some five months to run until the end of their Annual Pass.
This begs the question: why no new Annual Pass? There are a few possibilities. The simplest could be that Blizzard are waiting until all the current Annual Passes have expired before releasing a new one. Cynics might respond that, unlike in the twilight days of Cataclysm, Blizzard don’t feel they currently need to run an Annual Pass to ensure they retain subscribers. However, it seems that, at any given time, having players committed to paying for a year of World of Warcraft is no bad thing.
What could they offer in return for a year’s subscription? Various ideas were suggested in my and Mike B’s discussion. Perhaps a mount, like they did last year, or, given the surprise popularity of Pet Battles, perhaps a battle pet. Mike B suggested special armor for transmogrification, while I traveled to the very edge of reason, speculating that they might offer some kind of early access to the mysterious Project Titan. While that was wild, wild speculation at best, it does seem like free entry into Heart of the Swarm might be a possibility.
What do you think? What could Blizzard offer to make you sign up for another year?
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