World of Warcraft Realm Options

When you play World of Warcraft, you can choose a realm region, a realm type, and a realm rule-set:

• The realm region determines your realm's default time zone and the language spoken by the community on the realm
• The realm type determines the gameplay content and playing experience
• The realm rule-set determines the norms for interaction with other players

If you are new to World of Warcraft and you are coming to play with a friend, make sure you select the realm where your friend plays!

REALM REGION AND LANGUAGE

The three World of Warcraft realm regions are: Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Your realm's region is determined by the region of your World of Warcraft account. If your World of Warcraft account is American, you will be offered a selection of American realms. If your World of Warcraft account is European, you will be offered a selection of European realms. If you want to play on a Korean/Taiwan realm, you will select Asia as the region in the Battle.net app.

To suit players from different time zones and who speak different languages, the Americas and Europe regions have multiple realms divided by zones or by language. For example, the Americas region has Oceanic realms for players in Australia and New Zealand, and Latin American realms for the Spanish or Portuguese speaking communities. 

You can create a World of Warcraft account in a different region. However, we recommend that you choose the region assigned to you by default, based on where you live.

REALM TYPE

The three World of Warcraft realm types are: Modern Realm, Classic Era Realm, and Progression Realm.

You choose the realm type by selecting the appropriate game version on the Battle.net App before launching the game.

REALM RULE-SET

There are three World of Warcraft realm rule-sets: Normal, Player versus Player (PvP), and Role-Playing (RP).

On an RP realm other players may expect you to develop a backstory for your character, to stay in character when interacting with others, and to contribute to the fantasy immersion of the realm's community as a whole.

Realm rule-set depends whether you play on a Modern realm, or a Classic or Progression realm.

• Modern Realms
  • Realm options: Normal or RP. A Normal realm is simply a non-RP realm
  • You control whether you want to engage in open world PvP combat with players of the opposing faction by activating or deactivating War Mode
  • You can group up and play with friends from other realms within your region
• Classic Era and Progression Realms
  • Realm options: Normal or PvP, and the RP, Seasonal or Hardcore version of either
    • A Seasonal realm is a Classic Era only realm with a new, special content set for each season. These realms are designed for players that want to experience a fresh start with the game.
    • A Hardcore realm is a Classic Era only realm where character death is permanent. If you die, you won’t be able to resurrect at your corpse or by Spirit Healers, nor can you be resurrected by any other spell or ability. On these realms PvP battlegrounds are completely disabled, but you can flag yourself for world PvP or challenge other players to a Duel to the Death.
  • On a Normal realm you can control whether you want to engage in open world combat with players of the opposing faction by activating or deactivating your PvP flag on your character portrait. On a PvP realm, instead, whenever you are in a contested territory, you are subject to being attacked at any time
  • You cannot group up and play with friends from other realms

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Check our Realm Status page for a complete list of realms, their language, time zone, and rule-set.