No. In World of Warcraft: Forever you can only group with players on the same ruleset and the same faction. Blizzard’s ruleset post says “cross-ruleset grouping is not supported,” so a party, dungeon, raid or guild never mixes Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay-PvP characters. The one place rulesets meet is battlegrounds, which “may include players from other rulesets, with the exception of Hardcore.”
You can still keep characters on more than one ruleset, and some of your progress follows you between them. Below is exactly what works across rulesets and what does not, what your characters on different rulesets share, why Blizzard keeps the rulesets apart, and what it says could change. Everything is checked against Blizzard’s ruleset post, its new player’s starter guide and the official WoW: Forever Podcast as of November 6, two days after launch.
What Works Across Rulesets
| Activity | Across rulesets? |
|---|---|
| Party or group | No |
| Dungeons and raids | No |
| Guilds | No |
| Battlegrounds | You can share a match, except with Hardcore, but you cannot queue together |
| Auction House and trade | No, each ruleset is separate |
| Battle.net friends chat | Yes |
| Collections and Legacy Points | Shared across your account, with Hardcore handled differently |
Blizzard’s new player’s starter guide puts the grouping rule in one line: characters “can group, join guilds, run dungeons, and raid only with players on the same Ruleset and faction.” Factions add a second wall on top of the first. Horde and Alliance cannot group on any ruleset, so a friend needs your ruleset and your faction.
Battlegrounds: The One Place Rulesets Meet
Battlegrounds draw from more than one ruleset, so a Normal character can end up fighting beside, or against, PvP and Roleplay characters. That does not make them a way to play with a friend on another ruleset: queuing as a group still needs a group, and a group needs one ruleset. The best you can do is queue at the same time and hope for the same match. Hardcore, once it arrives, stays out of the mixed battlegrounds entirely.
Can You Have Characters on Different Rulesets?
Yes. You pick the ruleset when you create each character, not once for your account, so one account can have characters on Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay-PvP at the same time. Blizzard’s Early Name Reservation, for example, allowed three characters “total across all Rulesets,” spread however you liked.
Two rules shape what you can create:
- PvP locks you to one faction there. “Once you create an Alliance character on the PvP ruleset, you won’t be able to create a Horde character there, and vice versa,” Blizzard says. Normal, Roleplay and Hardcore allow both factions. Our guide to playing Alliance and Horde covers the open question for Roleplay-PvP.
- Characters never move. A character stays on the ruleset it was made on. Our guide to changing your ruleset covers the one exception, a Hardcore character that dies.
What Your Characters on Different Rulesets Share
- Collections. Blizzard says “Collections and Legacy Points are account-wide across rulesets, with Hardcore handled differently,” so a mount or pet earned on Normal is yours on PvP too.
- Legacy Points. Every Legacy Challenge you complete pays into one account-wide pool that all your non-Hardcore characters spend from. Our Legacy Points guide lists them.
- Your language preference. It is an account-wide setting with a 24-hour cooldown.
What stays behind is everything tied to the character and its world: level, gear, gold, professions, guild and auction listings. Blizzard has not said whether mail can reach your own character on another ruleset, and since each ruleset keeps its own economy, do not plan on moving gold or items between them.
Why Blizzard Keeps Rulesets Apart
Blizzard says “each ruleset remains its own distinct space” and that “movement between them is intentionally limited.” On Episode 6 of the official WoW: Forever Podcast, released October 29, senior game designer Josh Greenfield explained the thinking: the team kept auction houses and trade separate between rulesets at launch, partly because economies differ (gold and items are easier to farm on a ruleset without world PvP), and it chose not to let PvE and PvP players group for instanced content.
He also described a fallback. If one of the smaller rulesets, such as Roleplay or Roleplay-PvP, ever became unsustainable, the team could link auction houses or allow shared grouping for instanced content. He framed it as a last resort, not a plan, and nothing like it is active.
How to Play With a Friend on Another Ruleset
- Reroll on their ruleset. It is the only way to group with them. Your collections and Legacy Points come with you, so a new character there is less of a restart than it sounds.
- Check the faction first. On PvP you are locked to the faction of your first character there, so make sure it matches your friend’s.
- Group up and get on the same layer. Once you share a ruleset and faction, grouping also pulls you onto the same copy of the world. Our layers guide explains how.
- Stay in touch in the meantime. Battle.net friends can chat across every Blizzard game, so a friend on another ruleset is still a whisper away.
If you have not started yet, agree on a ruleset and faction before anyone creates a character, as Blizzard’s starter guide advises. Our guide to which ruleset to choose compares them, and our guide to how many servers there are explains how regions fit in. Looking for a group within your ruleset? Our Group Finder guide shows how it works. Every WoW Forever guide we have is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you group with someone on a different ruleset in WoW Forever? No. Blizzard says cross-ruleset grouping is not supported. Parties, dungeons, raids and guilds are limited to one ruleset and one faction.
Can you play battlegrounds with players from other rulesets? Battlegrounds can include players from other rulesets, except Hardcore, but you cannot queue together as a group.
Can you have characters on different rulesets? Yes. You choose the ruleset for each character, so one account can have characters on several rulesets.
Is the auction house shared between rulesets? No. Blizzard kept auction houses and trade separate between rulesets at launch.
Do Legacy Points and mounts carry across rulesets? Yes. Collections and Legacy Points are account-wide, with Hardcore handled differently.
Will Blizzard ever allow cross-ruleset grouping? It is not planned. Blizzard has described linking auction houses or instanced grouping only as a last resort if a ruleset’s population became unsustainable.