Rulesets in WoW Forever: Normal, PvP, RP, RP-PvP and Hardcore

WoW Forever has no realm list. Your first choice is a ruleset, and it is final: you cannot play with characters on another ruleset or move a character there later. This guide sets out what each of the five rulesets changes and helps you pick one before you make a character.

Each region has one realm per ruleset. If you want to play with friends, agree on the ruleset first, and on PvP also on the faction.

The five rulesets side by side

	Normal	PvP	Roleplay	RP-PvP	Hardcore
Open world PvP	When you choose it	Always outside your own territory	When you choose it	Always outside your own territory	When you choose it
Factions per player	Both	One	Both	Not confirmed	Both
Name rules	Standard	Standard	Stricter	Stricter	Standard
Death	You come back	You come back	You come back	You come back	Permanent
Legacy and Collections	Shared	Shared	Shared	Shared	Only what you earn on Hardcore
Available	At launch	At launch	At launch	At launch	After launch

Battlegrounds are the one place where rulesets meet: they can mix players from several rulesets, except Hardcore.

Normal

The standard experience. You fight other players only when you flag yourself for PvP. Pick Normal if you are not sure: nothing on it stops you from doing anything the game offers.

PvP

Outside the territory of your own faction you are always open to attack. There are no rules on level, gear or group size, so ganking and corpse camping happen, and Blizzard plans no protection for low levels.

On PvP you can only make characters of one faction. Blizzard also plans systems to keep the two sides closer in number, such as limiting character creation for one faction for a while, as in Season of Discovery.

Roleplay

Stricter rules for names and behaviour. Names have to fit the world of Warcraft. Nobody has to roleplay, but disturbing the roleplay of others is not allowed. Open world PvP works as on Normal. See first and second names for the naming rules.

Roleplay-PvP

The rules of Roleplay and of PvP together. Blizzard added it late, on 22 October, after first ruling it out. Whether the one-faction rule of PvP also applies here, Blizzard has not said yet.

Hardcore

Death is permanent. A character that dies cannot play on Hardcore again, but can move to any other ruleset, PvP included, and play on there. That move only goes one way.

Legacy Points and Collections work apart on Hardcore. What you earn there counts for your other rulesets too, but nothing from the other rulesets carries over to Hardcore. Hardcore arrives some time after launch; Blizzard has given no date.

Changing your ruleset

You cannot. Playing on another ruleset means making a new character there. The only way out is the death of a Hardcore character.

Before you pick

• Early Name Reservation runs from 27 October to 3 November, Europe from 18:00 Belgian time. You can reserve three characters in total, over all rulesets together (more).
• Playing with friends? Same ruleset, and on PvP the same faction.
• Language. In the options, under Languages and Social, you can set a Preferred Online Language for the whole account, to meet players who speak yours.