Choose Your Ruleset: How World of Warcraft: Forever Will Work
In the upcoming World of Warcraft: Forever, the way players begin their journey is changing. Instead of the traditional realm-selection screen, Blizzard Entertainment is introducing "rulesets"—broad player ecosystems designed to group people with similar playstyles together.
The goal is to remove the pressure of picking the "right" realm at launch. Instead of searching for a specific server, players will choose the kind of experience they want to have. This system aims to make it easier to find like-minded adventurers while maintaining a living, active Azeroth.
Available Rulesets
Players can choose from several distinct ways to play:

- Normal: The standard experience focused on exploration, questing, and optional PvP.
- PvP: Designed for those seeking constant open-world conflict and high-stakes combat.
- Roleplaying: A dedicated space for players looking to lean into the fantasy and find RP communities.
- Hardcore: The ultimate challenge where death has lasting consequences. This mode will arrive sometime after the initial launch.
The Roleplaying-PvP ruleset is set to arrive on November 4 with the launch of WoW: Forever. Additionally, Early Name Reservation for this ruleset begins on October 27.
Grouping and Faction Balance
While WoW: Forever aims to foster connection, rulesets act as distinct spaces. Players can group, raid, or run dungeons with others in the same ruleset, but cross-ruleset grouping is not supported. Battlegrounds may include players from different rulesets, except for the Hardcore mode, which remains entirely separate.
Faction boundaries between Horde and Alliance remain a core part of the experience. To maintain balance in the PvP ruleset, players are limited to creating characters for only one faction. In all other modes—Normal, Roleplaying, and Hardcore—players can create characters for both factions.
Movement and Progression
Moving between rulesets is intentionally limited; to change your playstyle, you must create a new character. However, collections and Legacy Points are account-wide across all rulesets. Hardcore operates under unique rules: while progress and rewards earned in Hardcore can be carried over to other rulesets, progress from other modes cannot flow back into Hardcore. Notably, if a character dies in Hardcore, they can be transferred to another ruleset, such as PvP.