WoW Forever PvP ruleset: one faction per account, faction-balance limits, no ruleset hopping, and the new Roleplay-PvP option

Blizzard's 22 October update is the most complete description of the PvP ruleset so far. It changes one thing that earlier coverage, including the September Deep Dive recap, did not have: a fifth option. 'The Roleplay-PvP Ruleset is now arriving with the launch of WoW: Forever on November 4. We also plan to make it so that this Ruleset is available with Early Name Reservation when it begins on Tuesday, October 27.' The rest of the post confirms and sharpens what BlizzCon had sketched. Taken together, the PvP-relevant rules come down to five points.

Blizzard's selection screen shows four cards: Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Hardcore. Roleplay-PvP was added by the 22 October update, after that screenshot. The table puts the rules from the post into one grid. One wording change matters if you read the September recap. The recap described Normal as a ruleset 'where player-versus-player combat requires mutual consent'. The October post describes it as a place for 'player-versus-player combat when they choose to engage in it'. Both describe opt-in PvP. Neither post names the mechanism, such as a toggle or flagging rules.

The Roleplay-PvP column is mostly blank because Blizzard has published only its name and its arrival date. The post does not describe it, does not say whether the one-faction rule applies to it, and does not say whether its world PvP works like the PvP ruleset's. Only the general battleground rule clearly covers it. The other cells say 'not published' rather than guessing from the name.

This is the PvP ruleset's only hard creation rule, and it is new to the October post: 'On the PvP ruleset, players can only create characters for one faction. Once you create an Alliance character on the PvP ruleset, you won't be able to create a Horde character there, and vice versa. On Normal, Roleplaying, and Hardcore rulesets, you can create characters from both factions.' The rule is about the ruleset, not the account as a whole. A player whose PvP characters are all Horde can still roll Alliance on Normal or Roleplaying.

That makes your first PvP character a commitment. The obvious moment it bites is Early Name Reservation, which starts on 27 October for pack owners. The reservation post adds its own limit: 'eligible players can create and reserve names for up to three characters total across all Rulesets. This means that if you create two on a PvP Ruleset, you'll only be able to create one more character in a Normal or Role-Play Ruleset. This restriction only applies to Early Name Reservation.' So a reservation on the PvP ruleset spends one of only three slots and also picks your faction there.

Blizzard has not said what happens if you delete every character you have on the PvP ruleset. It may free you to roll the other faction, or the choice may be permanent. The post says only that once you create a character of one faction, you 'won't be able to' create the other. If you plan to play both factions in open-world PvP, the published rules give no route. Pick the faction your friends are on before you reserve.

Blizzard states the one-faction rule in the same paragraph as its faction-balance systems, and it names a model for those systems: 'For the PvP ruleset, faction balance remains an important consideration, and World of Warcraft: Forever will include systems intended to help keep Horde and Alliance populations closer together similar to the approach introduced in Season of Discovery, where new character creation could be temporarily limited for a faction when additional balance support was needed.'

The mechanism in that sentence is temporary limits on new character creation for a faction. The September recap said only that there would be systems 'similar to the approach introduced in Season of Discovery'. The October text spells out what that approach was. In practice, at busy times you may be unable to create a new character for one faction on the PvP ruleset. Blizzard has not published the trigger: the population ratio, how long a limit lasts, or whether it applies during name reservation. It also does not say whether any incentive exists for the smaller faction. The sentence describes limits only.

Inside the PvP ruleset everything works as usual: 'Players can group, run dungeons, and raid with others who have chosen the same ruleset.' Across rulesets, group content stops: 'Cross-ruleset grouping is not supported, so characters in different spaces will not be able to group together for those activities.' Factions stay apart everywhere: 'Horde and Alliance players still cannot group together, preserving the faction boundaries … and maintaining the "war" in Warcraft.'

Battlegrounds are the exception, and the September recap did not mention it. 'Battlegrounds may include players from other rulesets, with the exception of Hardcore, which remains separate.' The word is 'may', which suggests shared queues rather than a promise that every match mixes rulesets. For a PvP-ruleset player, the practical result is that battleground opponents and teammates can come from Normal or Roleplaying. That holds for the original battlegrounds and for the new 15v15 Darkspear Islands. Blizzard does not say whether you can queue as a premade group with a friend on another ruleset. The no-grouping rule suggests not.

The ruleset decides where fights happen. The PvP progression system decides what they earn. Blizzard's progression post lists Honor sources as 'defeating other players, completing battlegrounds, and finishing relevant PvP quests'. Rank Points 'come from PvP activities such as battlegrounds and relevant PvP quests', with a weekly cap and ranks up to 14. 'Defeating other players' is listed without a battleground qualifier. Even so, the post does not say whether open-world kills on the PvP ruleset award Honor, or how much. It never mentions rulesets at all.

Lead Classic designer Tim Jones put it the same way at BlizzCon, in press-reported speech: 'When you fight other players in Battlegrounds and complete Battlegrounds and complete PvP-related content, you'll gain honor.' The full rank table, seasons and rewards are on the WoW Forever PvP page.

Forever's campfires are where players stop. To get campsite buffs you must sit or craft at the camp for a full minute, which makes a campsite a known, stationary target. Blizzard says so in the campfire post: 'Choose your campsite carefully. Some places in Azeroth are better suited to a quiet rest than others, and danger can still find you when you stop. On a PvP Ruleset, that risk increases when enemy players come upon your camp.' Apart from the ruleset post and the name-reservation post's PvP example, this is the main published PvP-ruleset detail. The camping page has the full feature table and cooldowns.

Movement between rulesets is 'intentionally limited'. To play under a different ruleset, you create a new character there. Blizzard does not mention a paid move. The one published route between rulesets runs out of Hardcore: 'When Hardcore becomes available, Hardcore characters will remain in a fully enclosed ecosystem, but if one dies, that character can transfer to another ruleset—including PvP.' Blizzard has not said how a dead Hardcore character would meet the one-faction rule on arrival, for example a dead Horde character joining an account whose PvP characters are Alliance.

Your account-level progress travels with you. 'Collections and Legacy Points are account-wide across rulesets, with Hardcore handled differently. Progress, collections, and rewards earned in Hardcore can become available elsewhere, but progress from other rulesets will not flow back into Hardcore.' A PvP-ruleset character therefore draws on the same Legacy Points and appearance collection as your Normal or Roleplaying characters. The Player vs. Player Legacy challenges (ranks, battleground reputations and season quests, 12 of the 65 Legacy Points) count for the whole account wherever you earn them.

Nothing here is a recommendation. It is the list of things the rules lock in, so you can decide with them in view.