Pick Your Ruleset Before Level 1 — No Regrets, Friend!

How Forever servers work

• There is no realm list. At character creation you pick a ruleset, not a named realm.
• Each ruleset is one large server per region (for example Normal in Europe). Layers open and close with the population, and guildmates are usually placed together (how layers work).
• From launch, each region has its own servers (Europe, North America, Korea, Taiwan): you only meet players of your region and ruleset.
• Servers in maintenance or down? See the WoW Forever server status.
• Your character name is a first name plus a second name. The full name is unique across every ruleset of your region, and the second name can be hidden.

The rulesets

1. Normal. Questing and exploration first. World PvP is optional: you choose when to fight other players. The safe pick for most players.
2. PvP. Open-world fighting in contested zones. One faction per account on this ruleset, and a faction balance system can block new characters of the bigger faction for a while.
3. Roleplaying. Normal rules, plus you are expected to roleplay. Names must be believable: no puns, no jokes.
4. Roleplay-PvP. New: Blizzard added it on October 22, and it opens with the launch on November 4. Early name reservation for it starts October 27. Blizzard has not detailed its rules yet. Announced by Blizzard
5. Hardcore. One life. Not available at launch, no official date yet. Nothing earned elsewhere comes into Hardcore.

Who you can play with

• Groups, dungeons and raids only work with players on the same ruleset. There is no group finder: how to find a group in WoW Forever.
• Battlegrounds can mix players from different rulesets, except Hardcore.
• Horde and Alliance still cannot group, on any ruleset.
• To play together, friends need the same region, the same ruleset and the same faction.

What follows you, what does not

• Shared across Normal, PvP, RP and RP-PvP: your Collections (appearances, mounts, companions) and your Legacy Points.
• Hardcore is one-way: what you earn there also counts elsewhere, nothing comes back in.
• Not shared: levels and gear stay on the character.
• Moving a character: Blizzard has not published any way to move a character to another ruleset at launch. The only confirmed case is a Hardcore character that died. Plan to stay where you start.

Before you click "Create"

• Agree on the region, ruleset and faction with your friends or guild first.
• On PvP, pick your faction before you start: the lock covers your account in that region.
• Set your preferred online language on day one (Esc > Options > System > Languages and Social). It is account-wide and can only be changed every 24 hours.
• Alts on another ruleset still grow your Collections and Legacy Points, so trying a second ruleset is never wasted.

"Pick once, pick right, and spend the time you saved making gold. That's the goblin way."