Blizzard released a detailed breakdown of Forever's rule sets: switching between them isn't possible, groups don't form across sets, and PvP allows only one faction per account. The choice is made at character creation and stays with the character forever.

Rule sets in Forever aren't the 'server choice' from vanilla WoW: switching between them isn't possible, groups don't form across sets, and PvP allows only one faction per account. The choice is made at character creation and stays with the character forever.

Until now, since BlizzCon on September 12, 2026, only the rejection of separate game worlds and the general idea of rule sets were known. Blizzard released the full breakdown — and there's stuff in it they didn't mention from the stage.

Main points:

• Switching between rule sets isn't possible. The choice at character creation stays forever. The only exception is a deceased Hardcore character: it can move to another set, including PvP.
• Groups don't form across sets. Dungeons, raids, and regular groups — only with the same set. Battlegrounds are the exception: players from different sets meet there. Hardcore is fully isolated there too.
• Factions still don't group up. Alliance and Horde are separate in all sets.
• On PvP — only one faction per account. Create an Alliance character on PvP — you can't create Horde there anymore, and vice versa. This restriction doesn't apply to other sets. Blizzard may temporarily restrict character creation for the dominant faction — this happened in the Season of Discovery.
• Preferred language is shared across the account and can be changed once every 24 hours. You only see those who chose the same language.

In practice:

• The choice of rule set matters more than the choice of server in vanilla. A server could be changed with a transfer, a set — can't be changed at all. Want something different — create a new hero.
• If friends pick different sets, you can't enter dungeons and raids together. Battlegrounds are the only meeting place, and not for Hardcore either.
• The habit of keeping a scout on the other side of the conflict on PvP goes away: there's only one faction per account there. This restriction doesn't apply to normal and roleplay sets.
• Language switches no more than once a day — it's an account-wide setting.

When exactly Hardcore appears — Blizzard only answered 'some time after launch'. Forever's release is November 4, 2026 at 23:00 UTC (November 5, 02:00 MSK). The thresholds at which the character creation restriction for the dominant faction activates weren't named either — Blizzard didn't publish those numbers in the Season of Discovery either.