18 September: live beta testing
Use the current beta joining instructions when organising a session. Keep long-term grouping design separate from temporary client limitations. Read the dated beta guidance.
17 September Q&A: more detail for your joining plan
The Q&A adds details covered in our character naming guide and Oceanic hosting guide. Use those alongside the ruleset and faction decision when writing your guild’s joining instructions.
The grouping rules Blizzard has announced
Forever replaces traditional realm selection with Normal, PvP and Roleplaying rulesets, with Hardcore arriving later. Grouping across rulesets or opposing factions is unsupported. Characters use two-part names. Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap.
Start with a decision everyone can find
For a guild organiser, the practical task is to get everyone to make compatible choices. Publish a short joining note in the place your members already use, and assign one officer to maintain it. You do not need a new communication service just to make the decision visible.
Ask members what kind of experience they want before taking a vote. Someone interested in relaxed evenings may interpret the same recruitment message differently from someone seeking regular world PvP. Describe your group’s expectations in plain language, then check that members have understood the choice.
- Record the intended ruleset and faction together.
- Write the usual playing hours with a time zone.
- Give members a contact for joining questions.
- Date the decision and ask returning members to confirm they have seen it.
Keep your player list useful
Use a stable player handle while people are deciding on characters. Once a character exists, record the full in-game name exactly as shown. Keep alternative characters under the same person so your attendance list does not count one member twice.
For example, a member planning a weekday main and a weekend alt still supplies one person for a weekday session. Record their availability first, then the character they intend to bring. A clear person-to-character record is useful even before any automated sync is available.
Separate a joining plan from infrastructure guesses
Avoid answering every launch question with the word “realmless”. The linked Q&A guide explains the reported Oceanic hosting and market boundary; it does not establish a guaranteed latency or unrestricted character transfers. If a member asks about one of those details, link the specific documentation that answers it or leave the question open.
Test the actual invitation and grouping steps when your group can access the client. Record any obstacle and update the joining note. Our recommendation is to keep that note short enough that a late starter can act on it without reading a long chat history.