WoW Forever Name Reservation Opens October 27, With a New Roleplay-PvP Ruleset

Early Name Reservation runs from October 27 to November 3. Blizzard published these opening times on October 20:

Europe will be on winter time by then (CET, UTC+1). Blizzard hasn't given a closing time on November 3; the game itself launches worldwide on November 4 at 3:00 p.m. PST.

Reservation is for buyers of an upgrade edition: the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Skyborne Epic Pack or the limited-time Warcraft Forever Collection. The benefit belongs to the World of Warcraft account the upgrade was bought for.

Each eligible player can create up to three characters in total, across all rulesets. Two characters on PvP leave room for one more on Normal or Roleplaying, not three more. The cap applies only during the reservation window. Names are first come, first served, and Blizzard can't guarantee the one you want.

1. Update your graphics drivers, then open the Battle.net app and let it update.
2. Select World of Warcraft, choose World of Warcraft: Forever in the game version menu above the Play button, and install it.
3. When reservation opens, click Play, choose a ruleset and create up to three characters.

WoW Forever has no realms, so a name is no longer unique to one realm. Each character has a first name and a second name, and only the full combination has to be unique within your region. A first name someone else already uses can still be yours with a different second name, and a group of characters can share a second name like a family name.

The usual naming rules still apply, and the filter checks both parts together, so a restricted word split across them is still rejected. If you'd rather show only the first name, turn off My Secondary Name under Options → Nameplates; the second name still appears in chat.

Instead of a realm list, the character screen asks for a ruleset: a large shared population with its own rules. The choice is permanent for that character. You can't move a character to another ruleset; to play under different rules, you create a new character there.

• Grouping stays inside a ruleset. Parties, dungeons and raids include only characters of the same ruleset and faction. Battlegrounds can mix rulesets, except Hardcore.
• Collections and Legacy Points are shared across your rulesets. Hardcore works one way: what you earn there can carry over to other rulesets, but nothing flows back into it, and a Hardcore character that dies can transfer out, even to PvP.
• Faction balance on PvP: Blizzard plans to limit new characters for one faction for a while when the populations drift apart, as it did in Season of Discovery.
• Language preference also shapes who you meet. It's set under Options → Languages and Social → Preferred Online Language, applies to the whole account and can be changed once every 24 hours.

Roleplay-PvP wasn't part of the original plan. The rulesets Blizzard described before launch were Normal, PvP, Roleplaying and Hardcore, and on a recent episode of the WoW Forever Podcast the developers explained their concerns about adding a fifth. After player feedback, Blizzard announced on October 22 that a Roleplay-PvP ruleset will be there at launch on November 4.

Blizzard is also working to make it selectable, with names reserved there, from the start of Early Name Reservation on October 27, but calls that a plan rather than a promise. It hasn't said whether Roleplay-PvP keeps PvP's one-faction rule. If it isn't in the list when reservation opens and you want to play there, keep a character slot free for it.

• Agree on a ruleset with your friends. You can't group across rulesets or move characters between them later.
• On PvP, agree on a faction too: your first character there decides it for good.
• Plan your three slots. They count across every ruleset, so spend them on the characters you're sure of.
• Have backup second names ready. Only the full name has to be free, so changing the second part is often enough when a combination is taken.
• Plan your talents in the WoW Forever Talent Calculator, and see WoW Forever Launches November 4: Beta, Name Reservation and Raid Dates for the full schedule up to the December 9 raids.