World of Warcraft Classic players will get a new, challenging way to traverse Azeroth when the official Hardcore Realms go live later this year. In the meantime, they can get their first glimpse into this new take on adventuring when the Hardcore Realm begins testing on the Public Test Realm (PTR) starting 30 June AEST.

Here’s a look at a few of the many features that will be available to test on the Hardcore Realm PTR:

• Death is Permanent
  • Players will get a single chance to level as high as they can and participate in more dangerous activities, such as the Molten Core raid.
  • Those who die will not be able to return to their bodies but can release and remain a ghost—in this form, they can close out their remaining business on the realm, such as guild masters transferring guild leadership to another player.
• Mak’gora and other PVP Changes
  • Battlegrounds will not be enabled on Hardcore Realms.
  • Those wishing to truly test their mettle against others can initiate a duel-to-the-death mode by typing /makgora. This will prompt the receiving player to acknowledge and accept the high-stakes duel.
  • A new tracking aura will visually communicate how many duels a player has completed and survived.
• Safeguards and Class Changes
  • Throughout the PTR, the team will be testing new safeguards aimed to minimise the effects of uncontrolled circumstances, such as flightmaster disconnects.
  • Class abilities and spells will be modified to prevent resurrection (both personal and those that can be used on other players), as well as quests that require PVP flagging and dying to progress the questline.
  • Enemies will be tethered to their respective spawn and pathing locations to prevent players from kiting them to other lower-level quest areas.

And more! For more information on Hardcore Realms as they are updated throughout PTR testing, visit the In Development forums as well as the World of Warcraft website.