What you need to know
- New information has arisen regarding World of Warcraft Classic's upcoming Hardmode Mode servers.
- One of the biggest rules of the Hardcore Mode servers is that if your character dies, they die for good and can't be resurrected.
- World of Warcraft Classic is a nostalgic, retro-styled version of World of Warcraft where players can experience what the MMORPG was like in its early years before it was changed by modern expansions.
- Update (Aug 26, 2023): World of Warcraft Classic's Hardcore Mode servers have now gone live.
On June 28, 2023, Blizzard Entertainment announced the rules for World of Warcraft Classic's implementation of Hardmore Mode servers on the game's official website. These servers are meant for the most skilled, dedicated, and hardcore of players to challenge because if a player's character dies in them, they die permanently and can't be revived.
Fast forward one month later and the servers for World of Warcraft Classic's Hardcore mode have now gone live as of Aug. 26, 2023.
Always look both ways before crossing the crater.#WoWClassic Hardcore live now. pic.twitter.com/GqCM4XDYCYAugust 26, 2023
If you wish for a quick summary of the rules for Hardcore Mode, here is a short TLDR list:
| WoW Classic Hardmore Mode rules |
|---|
| Death for player characters on Hardmore Realms are permanent. |
| PvP battles are opt in — meaning players must flag themselves to engage in PvP battles. |
| PvP Battlegrounds & Battlemasters are disabled in Hardcore Mode servers. |
| Most enemies creatures will be leashed when leaving an area or zone. |
| All dungeons below Lv.60 will have a 24 hour reset timer at least. |
| Players can each other in a new PvP feature called Duel to the Death. |
| There are multiple PvP and PvE balance changes exclusive to Hardmore Mode servers. |
| Any players caught committing gameplay disruption, zone disruption, and malicious player killing outside of consenual PvP matches will be swiftly punished. |
For those who wish to know the rules of World of Warcraft Classic's Hardcore servers more in-depth, they are as follows:
Permanant death
As stated earlier, if your character dies on a hardcore server, they die permanently. When this happens, you can't run back to your corpse to resurrect and you can't be revived by spells or abilities used by other players. Even abilities like the Shaman Reincarnation or Warlock Soulstone are rendered ineffective on these servers.
However, you will still be able to exist as a ghost in the game world and communicate with players and teammates. In addition, while your character may die permanently on the Hardcore servers, they are not lost forever.
After falling in battle, you can use the Free Character Move service to migrate your dead character to a regular, non-Hardcore WoW Classic-era server (or Realm as servers are called in the game). Once the process is finished, your character will resurrect normally and you will be able to play them again. However, that character's access to Hardcore servers will be closed off for good.
PVP battles require consent from all players
While playing on Harcore servers, players will not be automatically flagged for PvP engagements if they attack each other. Players must type the command /pvp if they wish to flag themselves for PvP battles and they will not be able to attack or take any hostile action towards a flagged enemy player until they do so.
This measure is made to prevent situations where a player accidentally attacks another played flagged for PvP and unintentionally drags themselves into a battle. However, enemy faction NPCs will still be able to flag you for PvP even if you haven't typed /pvp, so careful when you're near settlements belonging to enemy factions.
PvP Battlegrounds and PvP Battlemasters are disabled
PvP Battlegrounds and PvP Battlemasters are completely disabled on Hardcore servers. You can still enter pre-made Wargames, but you will not earn honor or PvP reputation points if you participate in them.
The reason for this is that the developers are concerned PvP Battlegrounds and PvP Battlemasters on Hardcore servers would lead to too much defensive play or even non-participation from players. Especially when permanent death is in play and rewards from the Stormpike Guard and the Frostwolf Clan are on the line. PvP is not the main focus of Hardmore mode, so the developers have disabled normal PvP queuing.
PvP and Quest changes
A ton of quests and objectives that the player to be flagged for PvP like "The Attack" or "The Missing Diplomat" quests will no longer flag them for PvP. These quests were never intended to flag players for PvP as they were the result of technical limitations, so this change was made to prevent unintentional PvP flagging after accepting suspicious quests.
Various quests and objectives that require the player to die in order to progress or initiate them, have been redesigned to allow players to complete them without needing to die.
Many escort mission quests have adjusted so that NPCs you're protecting during them can no longer be targeted by hostile players of an opposing faction. This change is made because a lot of quest-related NPCs, especially in low-level quests, are very fragile and there are little to no countermeasures a low-level player can employ to stop high-level enemy players from murdering the NPC and running off.
Enemy NPCs are now leashed when leaving areas or zone
A majority of enemy creatures and monsters will now be leashed when exiting the area or zone you fought them in, more akin to the leashing rules in modern WoW versions. This change is made to prevent high-level players from kiting deadly, high-level monsters across entire zones and have other players get caught up in the monster's rampage and killed by them.
All dungeons below Lv. 60 will now have a 24-hour lockout timer
All Dungeons will implement a 24-hour lockout timer for all players below level 60. This change is because the developers feel that players spending most of their time level-grinding in dungeons goes against what Hardcore mode is about — exploring and interacting with the world and experiencing all the random events within it.
On top of that, the developers have incorporated group experience restrictions from Season of Mastery. This means that players whose levels are significantly higher than a given dungeon's enemies will yield minuscule amounts of experience points to their party members. This is to prevent high-level players from "power-leveling" lower-leveled characters as it goes against the intentions of Hardcore Mode's difficulty.
Duel to the Death
Hardcore Mode will include a new gameplay feature called Duel to the Death. This a special feature where you can challenge other players in battles where only one player walks away alive.
To initiate a Duel to the Death, you must right-click a target's portrait and request a Duel to the Death from them in the context menu. You can also trigger one by selecting the target and typing the /makgora command in the chat window. Once both parties have read the warning message and typed "I agree", the battle will begin.
As with any form of death in Hardmore Mode, if you die in a Dual to the Death, you die permanently. If you manage to survive a Dual to the Death, you will gain a cosmetic buff called "String of Ears" where you will collect the loser's ear as a trophy. Each time you win a Dual, you will gain a stack of this buff with no limit to how many you can obtain. Players can see how ears you have collected by clicking on your character, and be horrified by how many lives you have taken.
The only limitations to this gameplay mechanic are that you cannot obtain the String of Ears Buff before reaching level 10, and you can't earn the buff if your level is far too lower or higher than your opponent's level.
Miscellaneous
Other rules regarding Hardmode include the following:
- The 16 debuff limit and 32 buff limits have been removed on Hardcore servers.
- Paladins will no longer be able to use Hearthstones while being affected by Blessing of Protection, Divine Protection, or Divine Shield on Hardcore servers.
- Hardcore Mode servers will have all the original content phases of World of Warcraft Classic unlocked and available immediately at launch so players can enjoy all the content at their preferred pace.
- If a player is caught causing deliberate actions where they aim to kill players without their PvP consent such as kiting monsters into them, Blizzard shall take action toward punishing these malicious players, even going as far as banning their accounts if necessary.
World of Warcraft Classic is a retro version of World of Warcraft that allows players to experience the game at earlier points in its life before receiving the graphical updates and gameplay balance changes of later expansions like World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.
From the perma-death rules to the exciting new Duel to the Death feature, World of Warcraft Classic's Hardmode Mode will provide players with a host of thrilling challenges that will push their skills to the limit.
