Can trial accounts play World of Warcraft Plunderstorm? Sorry, but no.

World of Warcraft patch 10.2.6 has arrived, and blown in on an ill wind is its piratical surprise — the Plunderstorm! But if, like many, have your WoW subscription paused for whatever reason, you may be wondering if you too can join these romping ravagers without having to resubscribe, by way of a trial account. Sorry to let you down, but the answer is no. Trial accounts cannot join Plunderstorm: this new game mode is not free to play.

We have more Plunderstorm guides to help you reach all of your piratical goals! Here’s everything you need to know about Plunderstorm.

It’s stated in the announcement post that participating requires an active subscription or Game Time. Unfortunately, a trial account does not count as either of those options, even though you may be able to click the shiny new Plunderstorm option in the WoW character menu. And trust me, it’s shiny, you’ll probably want to click it.

Now, the Plunderstorm is a limited time event. There’s not a clear end date yet — the announcement only described “several weeks” and the event doesn’t appear on the in-game calendar. So we don’t have a clear end date for you to target to earn all the rewards. But you’ll probably want to earn them if you’re any kind of collector, because there are some goodies for your retail subscription:

• Three armor transmog sets — the first two (Swabbie and Captain) have six pieces, while the third (Plunderlord) comes with two helm variations in its set of six.
• Eleven weapon transmogs — one dagger, three one-handed swords, three guns, two one-handed axes, one staff, and one two-handed sword.
• Five in-game titles — Swabbie, Swashbuckler, Buccaneer, First Mate, Plunderlord
• Three mounts — the Silver Tidestallion (underwater mount), Royal Seafeather (flying mount), and Polly Roger (Dragonriding mount).
• Three battle pets — Happy the goldfish (Aquatic), Bubbles the Hermit Crab (Aquatic), and Glamrok the Hermit Crab (Aquatic).
• The Plunderlord’s Tabard
• A Tiny Plumed Tricorn, so your Pepe can dress up with you in-game.

All in all, it’s a treasure trove (hah, see what I did there?) for your retail characters. Classic players can even get in on this -to earn the Pinchy the Plunderer pet and the Polly Roger mount. It’s up to you if the intangibles are worth the real money cost of a subscription or 30 days of game time, because an expired or trial account won’t get you access.