WoW Classic Hardcore Dev Chat – Solo Self-Found, Raid Changes, Duel to the Death

• Author: Shadostruct
• Date: August 16, 2023
• Updated: August 16, 2023
• Expansion: WoW Classic

We’re right on the cusp of Hardcore Classic Realms being available to all players with a WoW subscription! But before August 24th roles around the developers have gone into some details about what sets this apart from regular Classic realms, new features, and design philosophies.

I’ll break down a list of important details that were talked about in the video:

• Kobolds are the #1 murderers of player characters on the Hardcore Classic PTR realm as of right now!
• Devs took a hard look at griefing, shenanigans, and other situations where players could lose a character by being fooled to take a risk they hadn’t forseen. They want to limit this type of behavior and make the risk-taking attribute inherent to hardcore be something you engage in with intent. Things like right-clicking a flagged player won’t automatically flag you, and all realms will be PvE.
• “Duel to the Death” is a new feature exclusive to hardcore wherein a duel will quite literally end with a character’s perma-death. To access this special type of duel requires navigating to a new selection in the context menu and typing you agree to the rules and risks within a consent box. While anyone can engage in these duels you’ll be rewarded with a “string of ears” item for defeating a character lv 19+ as long as you’re within a reasonable level of the person you’re dueling.
• Battlegrounds will be available, but it seems that resurrection will be possible within the confines of the instance as a normal battleground would function.
  • There will be a type of “war games” mode available with perma-death that will, again, require consent of both parties to activate. It was said that you could leave the battleground prematurely if you value your life over your honor!
• Being a permanent ghost has been introduced to make the post-death experience a bit smoother. More was talked about in our coverage, here.
• Death announcements will be limited to those in your guild to prevent it from becoming overwhelming or spammy. There will be realm-wide announcements for characters hitting the level cap of lv 60.
• For the hardcore players among the hardcore there’s some tweaks to raids that will be available (From Molten Core to Naxxramas) so that they’re a little less punishing. Things like removing the buff/debuff limits on players/bosses is one step being taken.
• 24 hour lockouts on dungeons until lv 60, where lockouts will be removed.
• Leash ranges will be made more reasonable so kiting large, dangerous mobs to starter zones or capitals is impossible.
• Resurrection spells, reincarnation spells, and even Paladin bubble-hearthing are all removed from the game.
• The Flask of Petrification will remain in the game as a small safety net for players. Devs feel the time investment and power level of this safety net are not unhealthy for the game at the moment.
• After launch there are talks among the devs of developing a feature to enable a “Solo Self-Found” mode within hardcore for an extra set of restrictions. But this feature won’t be on launch, and is only being talked about at the moment.

I’d highly suggest watching the video yourself and getting hyped for the incoming hardcore servers! Check out the original article, below.