World of Warcraft Classic gets Hardcore realms with permadeath

Blizzard Entertainment will add Hardcore realms to World of WarCraft Classic. In such servers, characters are given a single life. When they perish, they become a ghost. The Hardcore realms will be released ‘before the end of the summer’.

Permadeath is the main new feature of World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore, writes Blizzard. At the same time, characters are not permanently lost when they die in the game. Players can stay in touch with friends and players from their guild as a ghost. It will also be possible to transfer the character to a ‘normal’ realm for free, after which it can be used as normal again.

The Hardcore servers will have a number of new rules. For example, players are no longer automatically flagged for PVP when attacking another player. Players must manually enable PVP mode by typing /pvp. It is also not possible to perform ‘hostile actions’ against other players without having PVP enabled. Blizzard is making this change to prevent players from unintentionally attacking another player and being marked for PVP. Quests that automatically designate players for PVP, such as The Attack and The Missing Diplomat, no longer do so.

Furthermore, PVP battlegrounds and all PVP battlemasters have been completely disabled. Players can still participate in Wargames, but will not receive any honor or reputation for doing so. Blizzard thinks players will play too defensively when participating in PVP modes with a permadeath character, also because the rewards from certain factions are very powerful. Furthermore, players under level 60 will have to wait up to 24 hours before they can re-enter certain dungeons and the buff and debuff limits will be disabled. The game also gets a new feature for Hardcore realms: Duel to the Death. Players can challenge each other to a duel. The winner gets a trophy and a buff. The loser’s character is permanently dead, but can therefore be transferred to a normal realm.