Summary
World of Warcraft Classicjust revealed that names of Hardcore characters that die or are deleted are saved for 24 hours, after which they are put back up for grabs. This policy preventsWorld of Warcraftplayers from having their names sniped immediately after their characters meet unfortunate ends while playing onClassicHardcore servers.
Recently,World of Warcraft Classicopened up some brand-new mega-realmsthat rolled things back to vanillaWoWto celebrate the game’s 20th anniversary. In each region, one of these servers is flagged as Hardcore, meaning characters who die cannot resurrect by any means.
Now,World of Warcrafthas revealed the details about what exactly happens to a character’s name after they die in Hardcore. According toWoW Classicsenior game producer Tom Ellis, a character of first level or higher who dies or is deleted will have their name reserved to that account for 24 hours, allowing fans to safely remake the character with the same name if they wish. This policy was put into place primarily to prevent players from sniping character names immediately after seeing the server announcement sent out upon the death of a Hardcore character.
WoW Classic Hardcore Character Names Reserved for 24 Hours After Death
Interestingly enough, Ellis also provided a glimpsebehind theWorld of Warcraftdeveloper curtainas well. His post on Twitter emphasized “level 1+” characters, implying that one could have a character at level 0. He explained that characters are internally classified as level 0 onWorld of Warcraftservers of all kinds until one logs into them for the first time, after which they are immediately bumped up to level 1.
While the name reservation policy allows fans to remake their characters at level 1 with the same names, this isn’t the only pathway open to Hardcore players who fall in battle. Dead characters can currently be transferred to their region’sWorld of Warcraft ClassicFresh PvE serversat no charge. However, fans should be aware that they may be forced to change their character’s name if it is already taken on the destination realm.
Unlike the Hardcore servers, theseWorld of WarcraftAnniversary Realms will continue past vanillaWoWand intoThe Burning Crusadesometime in late 2025 or early 2026. It remains to be seen if these servers will move into furtherWorld of Warcraftexpansions like currentClassicprogression servers are, but it seems likely that they will at least move intoWrath of the Lich King, considering its popularity, and its status as the latest point before theCataclysmworld revamp.
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World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It’s one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
