System

Rulesets & Realmless Play

Officially confirmed: Confirmed by an official Blizzard source.Coming soonLast verified October 2, 2026

Instead of choosing a realm, players choose a ruleset — Normal, PvP, Roleplaying, or (after launch) Hardcore.

Ruleset selection cards for Normal, PvP, Roleplaying and Hardcore
Ruleset selection, from “Choose Your Ruleset”.© Blizzard Entertainment · Source

Details

Category
Social

What Blizzard has confirmed

Rulesets

4 confirmed
  • Normal: The baseline experience; player-versus-player combat requires mutual consent.[2] (confirmed)
  • PvP: Every trip into contested territory carries more danger and open-world conflict.[1] (confirmed)
  • Roleplaying: For players who want to lean into the fantasy of Azeroth with like-minded adventurers.[1] (confirmed)
  • Hardcore: Death carries lasting consequences. Available sometime after launch.[1] (confirmed)

How it works

2 confirmed
  • Each ruleset is a large ecosystem rather than one realm. Cross-ruleset grouping is not supported, and players create a new character to play under a different ruleset.[1] (confirmed)
  • Collections and Legacy Points are account-wide across rulesets, except Hardcore. Progress from Hardcore can carry out; progress from other rulesets does not flow into Hardcore.[1] (confirmed)

Faction rules

2 confirmed
  • On the PvP ruleset a player can only create characters for one faction; other rulesets allow both.[1] (confirmed)
  • The PvP ruleset includes faction balance systems similar to Season of Discovery, where new character creation can be temporarily limited for a faction.[1] (confirmed)

Language

1 confirmed
  • An account-wide Preferred Online Language setting groups players with others who share it; it has a 24-hour change cooldown.[1] (confirmed)

More official images of Rulesets & Realmless Play

  • Options window with the Preferred Online Language setting
    The Preferred Online Language setting.© Blizzard Entertainment · Source

Related

Change history

  1. · Added

    Added from official Blizzard source(s).