Only one life is available, an extreme gaming experience. Hardcore servers are in World of Warcraft Classic (there’s the review of World of War Classic). Will you accept the challenge proposed by Blizzard? We have the chance to talk to two members of World of Warcraft Classic: Nora Valletta, a software engineer for five years, and as the assistant to the WoW Classic team for about twelve months, and Josh Greenfield, a producer, for 14 years, with Classic as a whole. Before I find out what they told us, let’s resume the fundamental characteristics of that particular way of experiencing the world of Azeroth.

These are the things that make up the new mode.

First of all, as it is evident, having only one life, it is impossible to resurrect once a time before death. For those who have specific skills, such as Reincarnation or The Sorcerer Soul Stone, they won’t be useful. The characters continue to exist as ghosts, so that they will facilitate communication with their friends and resolve bureaucratic problems like sending over leadership to the guild, etc.

PVP will be invalid by default. To distinguish themselves from PVP enabled, players will need to type commands and write them into content so they don’t have to follow through. According to the developers, balance is maintained and the risk of being fooled and reported unintentionally is less. Regardless of what we know, attacking an enemy faction will report the players even though they didn’t recognize themselves as /pvp enabled. Finally, battlegrounds in this mode will be removed, as well.

The Duel has another special feature introduced in the Hardcore realms. It’s been suggested that death in the Duel to the Death is permanent and it will add more spice to the 1vs 1 battle. The development team stated that the people who fail in these situations will be awarded a cosmetic called String of Ears. Also, each time a player wins a Duel, they receive a macabre trophy and the amount of stacks of this buff will double by a unit.

Life is an adventure as long as it travels.

Everyeye.it: How did you manage the tyrene?

Nora Valletta: Well, perhaps the most important challenge we faced was the protection against disconnections. The game as you know tries to keep the character on the network for as long as possible, thus helping the player to resume the action quickly after they go back online after a short run. In this case, we obviously had to ensure that the characters remained protected so that the user could return without the grief of knowing the warrior did not survive.

Everyeye.it: When we hear about the Hardcore mode, we often think of Diablo. Why did you decide to bring this to World Of Warcraft, what made you say? Hey, hardcore mode would be awesome in WOW?

Josh Greenfield: Hardcore mode isn’t something entirely new. The news is that it is officially supported in WoW now. In fact, for many years, an undergrowth of enthusiasts has developed in WoW especially in Classic and always preferred to play hardcore and they seem particularly appreciate an experience because of it.

For example, the Road to Ragnaros is already a community driven dimension dedicated to the raid par excellence. We wanted to put the gaming experience back to its purest soul. In fact, hardcore mode is also very demanding, it gives enthusiasts an advantage of the social aspects, is able to meet and converse, and as much as possible relax in their company.

Everyeye.it: Are there any plans to introduce Hardcore mode to new versions of the game?Josh Greenfield: We always listen and will satisfy the demands of the community, so whether or not it will make sense for the hardcore mode, it will be very possible in the future. Currently, but there aren’t plans to support Dragonflight.

Everyeye.it: What challenges did you have to face during development to make everything work correctly, both in quests and in PVP? Which players please welcome?

Nora Valletta: Honestly, one of my biggest challenges was the failure to make sure everything, every small item, weapon, mission or anything, could function properly. In fact, I do fear that unexpected problems, malfunctions or unfair disadvantages may arise for the users. In terms of PVP, we were extremely careful; we gave the players the opportunity to activate or deactivate it through social media, thus it must be an intentional choice and not one that can be activated due to distraction.

We also disabled battlegrounds, since with only one life, the impact on the multiplayer experience would have been great. Evidently, we expect a very positive reception, owing to the data we’ve collected from the PTR.

Everyeye.it: Have you thought of something new for this mode, such as the rewards or ranking, or again, something that pushes players to face it?

Joshua Greenfield: No. We know that the mode already very punishing and forcing completionists to embrace this challenge would only generate frustration, especially with potential exclusive rewards to be obtained.

Everyeye.it: Will the zombies who die in the universe be able to assist other players? Do you want to take part in some way?

They’ll still be dead, so their journey will a little bit closer to that figure.

Anyoneeye.it: Will you get a HC server in which players are truly alone? Or, on the contrary, a softer server where you’ll have a certain number of lives to have?

Josh Greenfield: it’s not in our plans to create a new way, because it would alter the nature and soul of the gaming experience and make cooperating the groundwork of survival. Moreover, there are experiences specifically designed to have fun in a group, so there is far too much to think and there would be little to do to ensure that the users have a good gaming experience.

Everyeye.it: How will there change in the dungeons or raids, specific to the hardcore mode? And will there be an increase in drop rates and more equipment?

Josh Greenfield: No, we have no plans to change our classes, drop rates or change the gear. It is still possible to create a completely unpredictable experience, with the need to revisit the choices made.