World of Warcraft: Forever Will Not Have Realms! Big Changes to Server Systems

Realms are gone in World of Warcraft: Forever, and it isn't much of a surprise.

Confirmed at BlizzCon today, WoW Forever will not require anyone choose a realm when they login to the game. Realms in the Classic version of WoW have started to matter less as time went on and Blizzard started creating mega servers with layering technologies to allow all the players on a realm to login and play without requiring lengthy queues. They could chat over the same channels but in the world, they'd only see other players on their own layer.

The problem with the previous is approach is that players ultimately would end up on dead realms. Certain realms would become the big demand source and players would naturally make new characters there or transfer there characters off less populated realms onto the larger ones, further causing population decline. No one likes playing an MMO where you can't interact with other players.

Blizzard Isn't Totally Crazy

Now, one mega server would be a great idea, but players also tend to have different ways they like to play so instead, there are four rulesets you will be able to choose from, which mimic the way realms used to be.

• Normal: Focus on adventuring and fighting monsters while allowing you to fight players at your own discretion.

• PvP: Allows you to focus on player versus player combat: you are always at risk of being attacked by opposing players.

• Roleplay: Strict naming conventions and behaviour rules for players interested in immersing themselves as a character in a fantasy world.

• Hardcore: Permanent player character death. Dead characters may transfer to other rulesets.

So there are effectively four servers (three to start, Hardcore isn't available immediately) you'll get to choose from. Factions are going to still be separate so that includes grouping for Dungeons, Raids, Outdoor content and the Auction Houses and Mail system.

Additionally, Hardcore characters will be allowed to transfer to Normal, Roleplay, or PvP servers when they die. Previously you could not transfer to the PvP type.

Legacy System is Shared Progression

Blizzard has confirmed that WoW: Forever will have the Collections and Legacy Points areas of the game become account-wide so playing on any of the game types unlocks these everywhere. There is however a notable exception: Playing on a non-Hardcore ruleset, you only unlock those features for non-Hardcore modes. If you play on Hardcore, those Collection items and Legacy Points unlock everywhere.

Character Last Names - At Last!

Because of the difficult in creating names on a few larger realms, Blizzard is introducing a new feature to World of Warcraft, a feature that we haven't see since the WoW closed Alpha test way back: Character Last Names. This means multiple characters can have the same first name, but your last name will help make that character unique. These are referred to in-game as Main and Secondary names.

You can enable showing your secondary name in the game world.

This is cool because now you can name all your characters the same thing! You just need to give them different last names. For those who enjoy the roleplay aspect of the game, finally, you can have your character's last name without needing an addon to broadcast it to other players with the same addon.

Regions & Languages & Social

Note that there are still regions in WoW: Forever. So if you play in the Americas, you won't see European account players nor will you see players from Korea. This causes a potential problem though: communication. Blizzard wants WoW: Forever to feel more social than other versions of WoW so they have added a "Preferred Online Language" option to the game's settings. Here you can choose what players you want to group with.

Changing this option has a 1-day cooldown.

Where this starts to get even cooler though is Blizzard's focus on making these mega-realms feel more like a regular realm in the people that you see. They want you to come across the same players consistently with a specific focus on guildies. You will be on the same layer as your guildmates without needing to be grouped.

Although not confirmed directly, it sounds like Blizzard will be placing players on specific layers and that's where you're stuck when you login, with the exception of grouping with other players or changing what guild you're in. They've clearly learned a lot about how players have acted within Classic, taking that knowledge to craft the new server systems.

There will also be mechanisms in place to create faction balance between the layers for the purpose of PvP.

That is a ton of new information about how servers are working in WoW: Forever. What do you think about it?