WoW Forever rulesets explained: Normal, PvP, RP, RP-PvP, plus OCE and EU servers

No realm list: you pick a ruleset, which Blizzard describes as a large shared ecosystem rather than a single server.

Ruleset	Available	In short
Normal	Launch (5 Nov AEDT)	Baseline game. PvP only when you choose.
PvP	Launch	Contested zones are dangerous. One faction per account.
Roleplaying	Launch	Stay in character, find like-minded players.
Roleplay-PvP	Launch, and in name reservation	Added 22 Oct: roleplay plus open-world PvP.
Hardcore	"Sometime after launch"	Death has lasting consequences. Fully separate ecosystem.

Know before you pick

No cross-ruleset grouping: dungeons, raids and parties stay within one ruleset. Battlegrounds can mix (except Hardcore).
No hopping: new ruleset = new character. A Hardcore character that dies can move to another ruleset.
Account-wide: collections and Legacy Points carry across. Hardcore progress flows out, nothing flows in.
Faction balance: on PvP, Blizzard may temporarily limit new characters for one faction (as in Season of Discovery).
Language: set Preferred Online Language (Options > Languages and Social) to meet players who share it. 24-hour cooldown.

PvP: you enjoy world PvP and commit to one faction.
Normal: you want to level without ganks, or play both factions on one account.
The PvP faction lock decides it for most players.

Americas region, on Australian-hosted servers.
Reservation opened 7:00am AEDT 28 Oct; launch 10:00am AEDT 5 Nov.
Current bug: on Australian servers, create RP or RP-PvP characters before Normal or PvP ones (see name reservation).
How OCE players group with US friends: Blizzard hasn't published detail, so we won't state it until it does.

Updated 28 Oct 2026, 2:00pm AEDT

Sources