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How to Pick a Realm and Create a Character in WoW Classic

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In this article, we're taking a closer look at how to choose a realm and create a character in WoW Classic.

Table of Contents

1. Installing the Game 

The first thing you need to do in order to create a character is to install the game. This is done by selecting World of Warcraft Classic in the Battle.net desktop app. Click the Install button, and the installation bar will show you when the game is available to play. Click the Play button to log in.

2. Understanding Realm Types 

Before picking a server, you should familiarize yourself with the different server types that will be available at Classic launch:

  • Normal: On these servers, you must manually flag yourself for PvP. No ganking while questing and you can create characters of both factions.
  • PvP (Player versus Player): Here, you will be flagged for PvP at all times. Exceptions apply.
    • IMPORTANT: If you choose to play on a PvP realm, you will be only able to create characters within the same faction.
  • RP (Roleplay): These servers are intended for players who want to fully immerse themselves in the game. If you know the infamous Moon Guard, you probably get the idea. Same rules apply as for Normal realms, meaning you must flag yourself for PvP manually.
  • RP-PvP (Roleplay Player versus Player): Virtually the same as RP realms, but with PvP added.

3. Choosing a Server 

Now that you've picked your realm type, you can easily narrow down your results depending on your preferred time zone and language.

  • European realms are separated by language. There are English, German, French, and Russian realms.
  • US & Oceanic realms are separated by time zones.

How do you know which server best suits you? Another factor to consider is server population. Do you want to play on a highly-populated realm with many players where you won't have issues finding groups at any time of day or would you prefer a server with low population, no lag, but slow economy?

Servers with high population have clear downsides such as server lag, long queue times during peak hours, but you won't have problems finding players for pretty much anything (even at 4:00 AM), and you'll pay less Gold for goods on the Auction House.

If you'd like to play on a realm with high population, you can't go wrong by picking a streamer realm. If you're, on the other hand, looking for an authentic Vanilla experience, you should avoid them. Many streamers have already created their characters and it appears that Faerlina-US will be the main streamer realm in WoW Classic in the US. EU streamers have so far picked Golemagg-EU.

4. Realm Population Reports & Available Servers 

We have preliminary data regarding WoW Classic realm population based on the recently-created characters that we bring you on a regular basis. Check out our realm population hub for more info!

EU Realms

Name Type Language
Gehennas PvP English
Golemagg PvP English
Hydraxian Waterlords RP English
Mirage Raceway Normal English
Pyrewood Village Normal English
Shazzrah PvP English
Zandalar Tribe RP-PvP English
Auberdine Normal French
Sulfuron PvP French
Everlook Normal German
Lucifron PvP German
Razorfen Normal German
Venoxis PvP German
Chromie Normal Russian
Flamegor PvP Russian

US Realms

Name Type Time Zone
Atiesh Normal Pacific Time
Blaumeux PvP Pacific Time
Bloodsail Buccaneers RP Eastern Time
Faerlina PvP Eastern Time
Fairbanks PvP Pacific Time
Grobbulus RP-PvP Pacific Time
Herod PvP Eastern Time
Mankrik Normal Eastern Time
Myzrael Normal Pacific Time
Pagle Normal Eastern Time
Skeram PvP Eastern Time
Stalagg PvP Eastern Time
Thalnos PvP Eastern Time
Whitemane PvP Pacific Time

Oceanic Realms

Name Type Time Zone
Arugal PvP Australian Eastern Time
Remulos Normal Australian Eastern Time

5. Character Creation 

You've picked a server and now must decide between the Alliance and the Horde! Note that in Classic, Paladins are only available to the Alliance and Shamans to the Horde. The final thing you must do is choose a fitting name for your character and wait for Classic to launch on August 27.

Blizzard LogoBlizzard (Source)

WoW Classic name reservations now open! Players with an active subscription or game time on their World of Warcraft account can create up to three characters per WoW account before WoW Classic releases worldwide on Monday, August 26 at 3:00 p.m. PDT.

  • Players who choose to play on a PvP realm will only be able to create characters within the same faction. This means that if you create an Alliance character, all further characters on that realm must also be Alliance characters.
  • After WoW Classic is live, you’ll be able to create up to 10 characters on any given realm and can create a maximum of 50 characters across all WoW Classic realms. This character count does not impact the number of characters you can create on the current World of Warcraft realms.
  • Characters that were created for the WoW Classic beta or stress tests will not be available to use in WoW Classic.

To create a character and play WoW Classic, you will need to download and install the client first.

  1. Open the Battle.net desktop app and select World of Warcraft in the game selection menu.
  2. Under the Version menu, select World of Warcraft Classic. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second dropdown for Account. In that column, select the active account you want to play on.
  3. Click the Install button. You’ll see an installation progress bar that will show you when the installation is available to play.
  4. Once the installation is complete, click the Play button.

You’ll need to select the realm you want to play on then select Create New Character. You’ll be able to choose your faction, class, and race, as well as fully customize your new character and name them. If you change your mind about a character and have already created your three, you will need to choose a character to delete. Please note, the name associated with the character deleted will be immediately available again to be claimed.

Before you put your plans too firmly in place, we encourage you to gather your allies together to select your new home realm. If you’re looking to reconnect with your old friends and guildmates, be sure to check out our Classic Connections forum.

AVAILABLE REALMS FOR NORTH AMERICA

Name Type Time Zone
Atiesh Normal Pacific Time
Blaumeux PvP Pacific Time
Bloodsail Buccaneers RP Eastern Time
Faerlina PvP Eastern Time
Fairbanks PvP Pacific Time
Grobbulus RP-PvP Pacific Time
Herod PvP Eastern Time
Mankrik Normal Eastern Time
Myzrael Normal Pacific Time
Pagle Normal Eastern Time
Skeram PvP Eastern Time
Stalagg PvP Eastern Time
Thalnos PvP Eastern Time
Whitemane PvP Pacific Time

AVAILABLE REALMS FOR OCEANIA

Name Type Time Zone
Arugal PvP Australian Eastern Time
Remulos Normal Australian Eastern Time

AVAILABLE REALMS FOR EUROPE

Name Type Language
Gehennas PvP English
Golemagg PvP English
Hydraxian Waterlords RP English
Mirage Raceway Normal English
Pyrewood Village Normal English
Shazzrah PvP English
Zandalar Tribe RP-PvP English
Auberdine Normal French
Sulfuron PvP French
Everlook Normal German
Lucifron PvP German
Razorfen Normal German
Venoxis PvP German
Chromie Normal Russian
Flamegor PvP Russian

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1 hour ago, durdyenglish said:

Anyone know which Classic realm has the fastest latency for East Coast?

It's hard to tell because you can't enter the world. The least you can do is find the server's IP in command line/Terminal and ping it, but that will be a rough representation of the actual ping.

1 hour ago, blackstar128 said:

can we get the statistics on which realm is horde/alliance majority. because there is no cross realm stuff in classic, being in minority will really hurt you.

3

Unfortunately, there's no way for us to gather such data right now.

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