WoW Forever Realms and Servers Explained

Region, ruleset, layer: how the world is built

Forget the old realm list. Forever stacks three levels, and each one answers a different question: where does my name count, who can I play with, and who is standing next to me right now?

1. 1RegionAmericas and Oceania, Europe, Korea, Taiwan

   Your account settings and your character names live here.

   1. 2RulesetNormal, PvP, Roleplaying, Hardcore after launch

      Decides who you group with, send mail to and share a guild with. Blizzard calls each ruleset a broad player community instead of a single realm.

      1. 3LayerBlizzard says “world instance”

         The copy of the zone you are standing in. When it changes, the world around you refreshes.

In the client the ruleset sits in the character select bar as RULESET, and the pick screen says “Choose Your Gameplay Ruleset”. Same thing, different labels.

WoW Forever regions at launch

Forever has no realms, but it does have regions. It runs in four, the same four Blizzard schedules the stress test and the name reservation for.

• Oceanic players land mostly on data centers in Australia, dedicated ones at launch. “We are going realmless but not regionless.”

  developer Q&A, Sep 17 · interview, Friends Per Second
  Developer interview

• No cross-region play for now. The developers named regulatory and technical reasons and said they are open to it later.

  interview, PAX Australia
  Developer interview

• One player saw only Americas, Europe and Asia as choices in the stress test client, with no separate Oceania entry.

  forum thread, Oct 19
  Player report

• Blizzard does not mention China anywhere for Forever.

  Editorial

ComingWe check the region choice of the launch client on launch day.

What each ruleset keeps apart

Your ruleset is the circle you play in. You pick it for each character, and the pick screen says it plainly: “You will only be able to interact with players who choose the same ruleset.”

Which ruleset fits you, world PvP and the faction lock

Layering and the world refresh

Every ruleset is split into layers, Blizzard’s notes say world instances. A layer is one copy of a zone with its own players, mobs and rares. The client announces a world refresh with a countdown.

• How many players fit on a layer is set per zone, by its size, its location and the chance of a PvP flashpoint. Layering tries to keep your group, guild and friends together.

  developer podcast
  Developer interview

• A rare that vanishes after you group up and an enemy who fades into another layer mid-fight are bugs, not design. Tim Jones called layering a work in progress that improves in small steps.

  developer podcast · Seramate, Oct 17
  Developer interview

What Blizzard changed in the beta

1. Sep 24

   Known issue: forming or changing a group can move players to a different world instance. Blizzard is working on improvements.

   Blizzard dev notes, Sep 24
   Announced
2. Oct 1

   World instances adjusted. Party leaders should no longer be moved when they form or change a group.

   Blizzard dev notes, Oct 1
   Announced
3. Oct 15

   You can no longer accept the world refresh prompt while in combat.

   Blizzard dev notes, Oct 15
   Announced

What players report

• Leaving a group sometimes drags the group leader into another layer too.

  Seramate, Oct 17
  Player report

• Bordering zones sit on different layers, for example Dalaran next to Silverpine Forest or Tirisfal Glades next to the Ruins of Lordaeron. Zeppelins, boats and city entrances switch layers.

  Seramate, Oct 17 · forum thread, Oct 20
  Player report

• One player counted over 100 players on a single layer in Westfall.

  Seramate, Oct 17
  Player report

• Many find the warning too frequent, and the 5 minute timer sometimes gives only 2 to 3 minutes.

  forum thread, Sep 29
  Player report

How to live with it

1. Group up before you travel together, not at the rare. Joining the group is what moves you.
2. When the countdown starts, finish the pull and step somewhere quiet. Refresh Now does nothing in combat.
3. Stay in the group when you cross a zone border or take a boat. Layering tries to keep groups together.

ComingBlizzard has not published how many players fit on a layer or whether capitals are layered. We add it as soon as Blizzard says it or the launch shows it.

Language, account location and guild location

Without realms, three settings help decide who you meet. Language and location sit in the client’s “Preferred Play Settings” and apply to every character on your account in that region. You find them under Esc, Options, System, Languages and Social.

ComingWhich locations exist and how long the location cooldown is are not known yet. We add them after launch.

Names count across the whole region

• Every character has a main name and a secondary name. The full name made of both is unique in your region, so two players can share a main name.

  Blizzard, names post
  Announced

• The name counts on every ruleset: a full name taken on Roleplaying is gone on PvP too.

  developer Q&A, Sep 17
  Developer interview

• Early Name Reservation runs from October 27 to November 3, for up to three characters across all rulesets, first come, first served. It is only for buyers of an upgrade pack, on the account the pack was bought for.

  Blizzard, name reservation
  Announced

• It opens region by region: Europe first on October 27 at 18:00 CET, North America the same day at 1:00 p.m. PDT, Korea and Taiwan on October 28 at 07:00 local time. Every date up to launch.

  Blizzard, name reservation
  Announced

Moving a character: ruleset and region transfers

• You can’t hop between rulesets. A character stays where you made it, and for another ruleset you roll a new one.

  Blizzard, rulesets post
  Announced

• The one way out is Hardcore: a Hardcore character that dies can move to another ruleset, PvP included. Hardcore only comes after launch.

  Blizzard, rulesets post
  Announced

• On the September 17 Q&A the developers said that without a character transfer you won’t flip-flop between rulesets.

  developer Q&A, Sep 17
  Developer interview

• No paid transfer, region move or paid name change is announced.

  Editorial

• The client already holds a Character Transfer with “Destination Ruleset (optional)” and “Destination Account (optional)”, a Hardcore transfer and a name change for main and secondary names. Client text is not a service though: Blizzard offers none of them yet.

  beta client
  Beta data

ComingAs soon as a transfer shows up in Blizzard’s shop or on its support pages, it goes here.

How many characters you can make

• Blizzard has not said how many characters an account gets at launch. Clay Stone confirmed at PAX Australia that the number is not announced yet.

  interview, PAX Australia
  Developer interview

• The only number so far: three characters across all rulesets during the name reservation, and that limit applies only to the reservation.

  Blizzard, name reservation
  Announced

ComingWe add the limit per account, region and ruleset as soon as Blizzard names it, on launch day at the latest.

Stress test and Server Slam

The beta post promised a Server Slam, a few hours later in the test when the servers open to anyone. The stress test on October 21 is that open window.

• It runs on the regional hardware Forever will use at launch, on production realms, and anyone with a WoW account can join.

  Blizzard, stress test post
  Announced

• Afterwards every stress test character, name and guild is deleted. The beta opens again and closes on October 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

  Blizzard, stress test post · Blizzard, stress test times
  Announced

The window per region

ComingWhat the stress test showed, queues, layers and the region choice, goes in here after October 22.

How to get in and every date

Launch night: queues and server status

• Blizzard has given no numbers for launch capacity, players per layer or queues.

  Editorial

• When logins broke on September 17, the beta ran on a smaller test setup with a single regional realm, per Tom Ellis.

  Tom Ellis via Bolverk Games
  Player report

• On September 27 Kaivax fixed an issue that kept filling the login queue after a disconnect, in the “Realm is full” thread.

  Kaivax, Sep 27
  Announced

Messages you may see

Blizzard posts its beta notices, maintenance and the stress test in the forums. Launch night can mean a wait in the queue. If your evenings after it are short too, our WoW Forever power leveling service plays your character through the early levels.

ComingWhether Blizzard’s Realm Status page lists the Forever rulesets, we check on launch night, November 4.

What to do before launch, step by step