Dying in World of Warcraft Classic is about to become far more punishing, as Blizzard has announced it will be creating official “hardcore (aka permadeath) servers this summer.
Blizzard is taking inspiration from a popular fan-made game mode that has instilled new life into WoW Classic’s original servers in recent months, which prior to the hardcore craze, had become a bit of a ghost town. The fan-made version of the mode uses an add-on (appropriately named Hardcore) to track player progress. It also features a number of additional rules and restrictions, such as players only being able to complete each dungeon once prior to level 60, the inability to use the auction house, and a ban on trading with other players (unless the two are leveling partners). Currently, hardcore is played on a handful of already-existing servers, something that can be a little disorienting for players on those servers who aren’t clued in to what’s happening.