Quick answer: These are limits on character creation, not glitches. If throttled, wait a few minutes before selecting Finish once. For a faction lock, try later, choose the opposing faction, or use the Normal ruleset.
World of Warcraft: Forever can stop you at the very last screen of character creation, after the race, class, and look are picked. Two different messages can appear when you press Finish. Neither one points to a problem with your account, and neither is a bug. Each has its own cause, so the fix depends on which one you see.
What the WoW Forever character creation messages mean
| Message | Cause | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| “Creation of that type of character is currently throttled” | Too many attempts in a short time | Character creation screen, after Finish |
| “This faction is currently unavailable on this ruleset due to population imbalance” | That faction is too far ahead | PvP ruleset |
The throttle message
“Creation of that type of character is currently throttled” is a temporary cooldown on creating that kind of character. It shows up after repeated creation attempts in a short window. Every extra press of Finish keeps the cooldown running, and the message goes away on its own once you stop and wait.
On the PvP ruleset, these notices may appear in turn. Repeated attempts to make a character for a faction restricted by the balance system can show the population warning and then the throttle warning, as the clicks trigger a cooldown alongside the faction restriction.
The population imbalance message
“This faction is currently unavailable on this ruleset due to population imbalance” is the faction-balance system on the PvP ruleset doing its job. When one faction pulls too far ahead, WoW Forever blocks new characters for that faction until the balance moves back. Blizzard built this to keep Horde and Alliance numbers closer together on the PvP rulesets. It works the same way as in Season of Discovery, where new character creation could be paused for a faction when balance needed extra support.
The lock only covers new characters. Anyone who already has a character on that faction keeps playing as normal.
The one-faction rule on the PvP ruleset
There is a separate rule that is easy to confuse with the imbalance lock. On the PvP ruleset, an account can only make characters for one faction. Once an Alliance character exists there, a Horde character can’t be created on that ruleset, and the reverse is also true. The Normal and Roleplay rulesets allow both factions, and so does the Hardcore ruleset when it arrives later.
How to get a character created in WoW Forever
You’ll know it worked when pressing Finish no longer returns either message and the character goes through. A first and last name you reserved before launch stays tied to your account, since names are unique per region, and you can use it as soon as creation succeeds.
WoW Forever character creation FAQ
Why can’t a Skyborne character be created at all?
The Skyborne race requires one of the Skyborne packs on your account. Without one, the race isn’t available, and that has nothing to do with the throttle message.
