Start with your group’s plans
| Your priority | Our starting recommendation | Discuss before creating |
|---|---|---|
| Finish quests together with fewer interruptions | Normal | Does anyone consider outdoor PvP essential? |
| Make outdoor conflict part of the journey | PvP | Will everyone accept interruptions while traveling and questing? |
| Build a character story with other roleplayers | Roleplaying | Agree on expectations for names, chat and group activities. |
| Try a run where survival shapes every decision | Plan for Hardcore later | Choose a launch activity separately instead of delaying the whole group. |
These are planning recommendations, not population or difficulty rankings. The official definitions frame Normal around optional PvP, PvP around contested-world conflict and Roleplaying around shared character fantasy. Hardcore is scheduled for after launch, with no date in this article.
Three grouping rules to settle first
Blizzard’s September 21 ruleset announcement establishes:
- Dungeon and raid groups require the same ruleset and faction.
- Battlegrounds may mix rulesets; Hardcore remains separate. This does not enable cross-ruleset dungeon parties.
- On PvP, your characters are restricted to one faction. Normal, Roleplaying and Hardcore allow characters from both factions, but opposite factions still cannot group.
For example, two Horde friends choosing Normal and PvP should resolve that mismatch before leveling. Two friends who both choose Normal but opposite factions still need to change their character plan. A matching language preference does not remove either restriction.
Use the race/class table after this decision. Choosing a race first can leave your planned group on incompatible sides.
Can you change rulesets later?
The announcement says ordinary switching requires a new character. It separately allows a dead Hardcore character to transfer out, including to PvP. Collections and Legacy points span rulesets, with Hardcore progress flowing outward but other rulesets’ progress not flowing back into Hardcore.
Do not build a launch plan around a reversible “try PvP tonight” switch. If your friends disagree, decide whether the group character takes priority and use a separate character for a different experience. This is a practical consequence of the published restrictions; no paid transfer procedure or exception is established here.
Set your preferred online language
The official menu path is:
Escape → Options → System → Languages and Social → Preferred Online Language.
It is an account-wide preference with a 24-hour change cooldown. Blizzard describes encountering players who share the preference; it is not a promise of an exclusively single-language world.
Check the selection before confirming it. If you often play with groups using different languages, agree on the priority for that day. Keep the English menu names handy if the localized client uses different wording.
A ready-to-send group plan
Copy this and fill it in before the first session:
Ruleset:
Faction:
Each player's race / class:
Preferred online language:
First activity and meeting point:
Alternative if someone cannot create the planned character:
PvP faction balancing can temporarily restrict new character creation, according to the announcement. If that happens, agree a new plan together rather than having one person silently choose another ruleset.
Continue with Beta access, first-session preparation or the world directory. Source checked September 22; this is a guide to announced rules, not a claim that we tested every option in the current Beta client.