Realm Selection (PC/Mac)

Each character in the World of Warcraft lives on a distinct realm. All of the realms house identical instances of the World of Warcraft, but each has a unique community. The first time you log on as a new account, you will go to a Realm Selection screen and be asked two questions:

1. Your location preference: (If you are in the United States, you will be offered Region Locations [US/Oceanic/Latin America]. In Europe, you will be given Countries as an option).

2. Realm type: Normal, Player vs. Player (PVP), Roleplaying (RP) or Roleplaying PvP (RPPVP).

- Normal allows you the opportunity to concentrate on adventuring, fighting monsters, and solving quests without the threat of opposing players directly attacking you. You still have the option to fight other players by consensual dueling, fighting in designated PVP areas, and by attacking NPCs of opposing faction, but all of these instances are not mandatory for excelling within the game.
- Player vs. Player (PVP) realms give you the exciting challenge of direct conflict with players of opposing faction in certain, "contested" zones. You are still protected in the first few zones you begin adventuring in (like normal), but farther away from your starting areas you will find zones that are no-holds-barred, where you battle it out with other players from the opposing faction. (If you are Horde, then members of the Alliance are your enemy, and vice versa.)

Based on choices you have made above, we will suggest a realm that seems best suited for your preferences. If you do not want the realm that we have selected for you, then you will have the option to select a host of different realms as well. Once you have chosen your realm and created a character, you will NOT be able change that realm in which that particular character resides unless you choose to perform a paid character transfer, so please choose carefully. (If you are meeting up with friends who are already in a realm, we recommend you contact them ahead of time to find out what realm they are playing on.) Although your character may not change realms without paying an additional fee, there is no restriction on realm selection based on your account, so please feel free to explore the different communities for World of Warcraft.