WoW Forever doesn’t have realms. Instead of picking a server, you pick a ruleset before you create a character, and everyone on that ruleset in your region plays in the same world.
The four rulesets
| Ruleset | What it means |
|---|---|
| Normal | Questing, exploring and grouping up. World PvP is optional. |
| PvP | Contested zones are dangerous; players of the other faction can attack you. |
| Role-Play | For players who want to stay in character and find others who do. |
| Hardcore | Death is permanent. Arrives some time after launch. |
Normal, PvP and Role-Play are open at launch on November 4. Blizzard hasn’t given a date for Hardcore yet.
Rules that apply to every ruleset
- Each ruleset is its own world. You can’t group, run dungeons or raid with players on a different ruleset.
- Battlegrounds can mix rulesets, except Hardcore, which always stays separate.
- No cross-faction grouping. Horde and Alliance can’t group on any ruleset.
- No free switching. To play on another ruleset, make a new character there.
- Collections and Legacy Points are account-wide across Normal, PvP and Role-Play.
The PvP faction lock
On the PvP ruleset you can only have characters on one faction. Once you make an Alliance character there, you can’t make a Horde one, and the other way round. Normal, Role-Play and Hardcore let you play both factions.
Blizzard also plans systems to keep Horde and Alliance numbers close on PvP, similar to Season of Discovery, where character creation was sometimes paused for the larger faction.
Hardcore
Hardcore is fully closed off: nothing from other rulesets comes in. If a Hardcore character dies, you can move it to another ruleset (PvP included) and keep what it earned. Progress from Hardcore can count elsewhere, but never the other way round.
Two-part names
Every character has a first name and a second name, and the full name only has to be unique in your region. So Asha Brightvale and Mira Brightvale can both exist.
- Your second name shows above your character by default. To hide it, open Game Menu → Options → Nameplates and tick My Secondary Name. It still shows in chat.
- Both names are checked together, so splitting a blocked word across the two doesn’t get it through.
- Names that impersonate Blizzard or break the naming rules can be blocked.
Name refused by mistake? On October 27 Blizzard found a bug that blocked some allowed names, such as names containing “con”. The fix comes with the next realm restarts in each region. After that, you can try those names again.
Early name reservation (October 27 to November 3)
| Region | Opens |
|---|---|
| North America | October 27, 1:00 p.m. PDT |
| Europe | October 27, 18:00 CET |
| Korea and Taiwan | October 28, 07:00 local time |
Who can reserve: players who bought the Forever Digital Upgrade or Collector’s Edition, or pre-purchased the Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection. It applies to the WoW account the purchase was made for.
How many: up to three characters in total, across all rulesets. Two on PvP means one more on Normal or Role-Play. Names are first come, first served.
How to do it:
- Open the Battle.net app and select World of Warcraft.
- In the Game Version menu above the Play button, choose World of Warcraft: Forever and install it.
- Press Play, pick your ruleset and create up to three characters.
Remember the PvP faction lock: the first character you make on PvP decides your faction there.
Set your language
To be matched with players who speak your language, go to Game Menu → Options → Languages and Social → Preferred Online Language. It applies to your whole account and can be changed once every 24 hours.