Whether new to World of Warcraft or returning to Azeroth, we'll get you ready to take on the challenges ahead with our quick setup guide—but once you’re in there, surviving all depends on you. You’ll face Azeroth's dangers, denizens, and fellow players to see how far you can get on WoW Classic’s new Hardcore realms opening on August 24.

To get a leg up on staying in the realm of the living, you'll want to read through the Rules of Engagement, but the gist of it is that once you've been bested by the environment (or even other players), you'll need to create a new character to try again. Death is permanent, and when you die, the Spirit Healers won't be there to send you back into the world of the living. No rezzes, no regrets.

When you're on the Classic Hardcore realms, you’ll get to prove that you have the edge, the grit, and the will to survive, but first, you’ll need the technical details to get you started.

Getting Into Hardcore

If living life on the edge is for you, first, you'll need to do the following:

• Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date.
• Run the Battle.net desktop app—it may need to update itself if you haven't run it recently. First-time adventurers or those looking for a fresh start will need to create a new Battle.net account.
• Once Battle.net is installed and updated, select World of Warcraft from the list of games.
• Access to WoW Classic Hardcore is included and available to all players with an active World of Warcraft subscription—no additional purchase is required. You can subscribe by visiting the Battle.net Shop.
• In the Game Version drop-down menu above the Play button, choose the World of Warcraft Classic option, then click Install.
• Allow the installation to complete, click Play, and select from the available realms listed in the Hardcore tab.
• Create a new character.
• Enter the game and do your best to live.

Access to the WoW Classic Hardcore realms is available to all players with an active World of Warcraft subscription—no additional purchase is required. For the current system requirements for PC and Mac, visit our support page.

We look forward to seeing the defenders of Azeroth survive everything the Hardcore Classic realms have in store for them.

Lok’tar ogar!