Plunderstorm has triumphantly returned to World of Warcraft, offering players an exhilarating pirate-themed battle royale experience in the Arathi Highlands. Launched on January 14 after a brief delay, Plunderstorm is expected to run for at least a month, giving fans ample time to enjoy the revamped game mode while they await Patch 11.1.
This second iteration of Plunderstorm brings a host of new features and improvements. The battlefield now boasts new points of interest and mobs, with non-elite enemies respawning to provide continuous plunder opportunities. Fast travel horses have been introduced, allowing players to swiftly navigate the map in search of chests, elites, and opponents. The in-game map now includes zone threat indicators, showing where fights are most frequent, and players can choose their starting deployment zones for strategic advantage.
New World of Warcraft: Plunderstorm Features
- New points of interest
- Respawning non-elite enemies
- Fast travel horses
- Zone threat indicators on the map
- Selectable deployment zones
- Practice Lobby
- Plunderstore featuring new and returning rewards
- Game mode access while on World of Warcraft: The War Within characters
- New abilities:
- Offensive
- Aura of Zealotry – Passively increase movement speed for your allies. Cast to consecrate the ground, damaging enemies periodically. While in consecration, gain enhanced movement speed and melee attacks.
- Celestial Barrage – Call down a barrage of moonbeams, damaging enemies. This spell can be empowered to greatly increase its range.
- Utility
- Call Galefeather – Call forth Galefeather to knock enemies back with heavy winds for a short duration.
- Void Tear – Tear into the Void, placing a Void mark. Recast Void Tear to instantly return to the mark, damaging and slowing enemies. The recast can be performed instantly while casting any spell without interruption.
- Offensive
- Ability balance changes
- Earthbreaker – Cooldown decreased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
- Slicing Winds – Cooldown increased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
- Star Bomb – Cooldown decreased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
- Storm Archon – Cooldown decreased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
- Toxic Smackerel – Cooldown increased by 1.5 seconds at all ranks.
Players can now collect and upgrade a variety of new spells in Plunderstorm. Offensive spells like Aura of Zealotry offer passive speed boosts and area damage capabilities, while Celestial Barrage provides a powerful, chargeable line attack. On the utility front, Call Galefeather enables players to summon an eagle to disrupt opponents, and Void Tear allows for strategic teleportation with additional crowd control effects. Alongside these new spells, ability balance changes and a new UI for managing abilities ensure a fresh and dynamic gameplay experience.
The introduction of a Plunderstorm Practice Lobby is a welcome addition, where players can experiment with abilities, adjust keybindings and transmogs, and socialize with other players. From the Practice Lobby, players can queue for games or access the Plunderstore, the hub for obtaining Plunderstorm rewards. This feature is accessible not only from the lobby but also from the login screen and directly within retail WoW via the PvP interface.
Notably, the Trios mode, which allowed three-person teams, is absent from this run of Plunderstorm. While the reasons behind this decision remain unclear, fans hope Blizzard will consider reintroducing it before the event concludes.
