WoW 'hardcore' players currently use an addon to prove their runs are legit, but may be getting official servers soon

pcgamer.com:

World of Warcraft Classic is already a harder, more punishing version of modern WoW, but a whole community of players like making it worse.

WoW Classic hardcore players try to reach max level without dying, an outstanding feat for an MMO originally released in 2004. Normal enemies hit like trucks, resources are scarce, and quests are a pain to finish. One misclick on an ability or a misstep off a cliff and you're dead. That's it. «Death = delete,» as they say.

Right now, there's no built-in WoW Classic hardcore mode: players just commit to deleting their characters if they die on their own. However, after many, many requests from the Classic hardcore community for official hardcore realms, or servers, Blizzard might finally do it. Twitter user Meorawr(opens in new tab) (tweeted by Solanya(opens in new tab)) found code in the WoW patch 10.1 PTR (public test realm) that looks like a warning message for someone about to make a character on a hardcore realm.

WoW Dragonflight and WoW Classic share a lot of behind-the-scenes infrastructure, so the code showing up on the modern version of the MMO doesn't rule it out for the retro one. WoW Classic is considerably more difficult than modern WoW, which is why most people would prefer hardcore servers for the old MMO.

The hardcore Classic community generally plays on the Bloodsail Buccaneers and Hydraxian Waterlords servers, and use an addon that tracks their run's legitimacy. Runners can earn custom achievements and grab a place on the Classic hardcore leaderboards(opens in new tab). The rules are broadly simple: don't die and don't get help from other normal players.

#Warcraft 10.1 PTR has a popup for «hardcore» realms in its interface code