Free Trials and linking them once you buy the game.

A friend of mine is about to start her free trial, and I just wanted to double check to make sure that she can link the accounts if she decides to buy the game, and whether or not there is a special process for it.

You can add a full account key to an existing account which only has trial keys. i.e, yes, you can upgrade an account from trial to full. Doing so is no different to how you add other keys.

So there's no time limit on it?

No. Even after the trial expires the account still exists. I've never done this and not sure exactly how it works, but I assume you can still log in and view your characters but not go past that screen and load the game. From that screen you can add account keys.

EDIT: Actually, I just remembered you can add account keys from the logon screen. You probably can't login once the trial expires but you should be able to add access keys to it still.

And then I'm assuming you can login once you add the keys.

Thanks very much.

I did that. Tried the trial ad then bought the game online. all there is to do is to add the access key to the account and that was it.

Don't start a new account - you can't link them. Just add the new key(s) to the existing account.
If you want to be picky - she doesn't have a "trial account", she simply has "an account" which, so far, only has access to the "trial". Adding the keys will give her account access to whatever she adds.

I had a trial account back when factions came out. I let it expire, and didn't add a new key to it until last christmas. The log-in still worked, and I could get to the character screen, but I wasn't allowed to select a character. That left me the option to upgrade via in-game store rather than buying a box.

Er, I worded that badly. I meant access keys. Thank you though.

You can add the access key from a retail box also. The button is right under your login info on the login screen.