hat happens when player characters die? They become ghosts! When a player dies, he or she will be prompted with a dialogue box to "Release Spirit." Pressing this button will instantly transport the player to the nearest graveyard as a ghost. On death, all equipped items will lose 10% durability.

There are three main ways to return to the world of the living:

1. Returning to the immediate vicinity of your corpse will cause a window to appear with the option to come back to life. Simply push the button and you're back in business.


2. Certain classes (Priest, Paladin, Shaman, Druid) can resurrect you with a spell. Shamans and Warlocks have spells to resurrect themselves, and Warlocks can even grant others this ability temporarily with a Soulstone. In addition, an engineer can use Goblin Jumper Cables to attempt a resurrection. You can be resurrected by these means even after you have released your spirit.


3. Talk to a Spirit Healer, located at every graveyard, to immediately resurrect yourself at the spirit healer's location. If you choose this option, all your items will lose 25% durability. Unlike a normal resurrection, this durability loss affects both your equipped items as well as those in your inventory. In addition, you will gain a temporary condition known as resurrection sickness, which drastically reduces your stats. The duration for resurrection sickness scales according to level and has a maximum duration of ten minutes.

Life as a Ghost

The world is a bit different while in ghost form:

	The world appears in black & white to a ghost.	Tyrael's sister?
	Ghosts are ethereal in appearance. Night elf ghosts are actually wisps, one of the night elf's racial bonuses. Wisps move faster than normal ghosts.
	Ghosts are unable to interact with most things in the world.
	Ghosts can neither see nor be seen by living players and most creatures, other than those that are in the immediate area surrounding their corpses.
	Ghosts can see other ghosts, including spirit healers, who can only be seen in ghost form.
	Ghosts run faster than their living counterparts, which makes it easier to return to where they died. They can also levitate over water.
	A few special creatures may be able to see ghosts (these will be apparent to players), and may even attack players in ghost form.
	If players somehow die in ghost form, they will be transported back to the original graveyard at which they appeared.
	Public chat channels such as General and Trade are not available to ghosts, but private chat such as /tells, /guild, and /party chat are.
	Players can't use ghost form as a means to travel to far off locations. Having a spirit healer resurrect you in a graveyard other than the one you appeared in when you died will always teleport you back to that original graveyard.
	When a player dies in an instance and then uses the spirit healer, the body in the instance turns to bones.
	When a ghost player is resurrected into an instance that has become full, they get ported to the closest graveyard instead of appearing in the instance.
	If you release your body while you are in an instance you will not get credit for any kills or loot while you are a ghost.

This screenshot doesn't actually have anything to do with the death system, but it's kinda cool and death related

Finding Your Corpse
In ghost form, you will see an arrow on your minimap, directing you to your corpse. Once you get near your corpse, the arrow will turn into an icon showing its exact location.

Reviving as a Ghost
Once you approach your corpse, you will see any enemies that are near it. A dialogue box will pop up, asking if you are ready to be revived. You'll then be able to pick a safe location near your corpse to come back to life. You do not have to reincorporate directly on the spot where your corpse is. Players will reenter the world with 50% health and mana.

Dungeons
If you die in an instanced dungeon, crossing the instance line into that dungeon as a ghost counts as reclaiming your corpse. You don't have to go all the way back in to find it, and it doesn't matter if your particular instance no longer exists. You cannot explore the dungeon in ghost form. Also, your ghost may not enter an instanced dungeon in which you do not have an active corpse.

Want to know more? Read our extensive Death FAQ.