Pirates make everything better, so if Blizzard’s announcement that World of Warcraft now has a standalone battle royale mode isn’t enough to get your tootsies twitching with excitement, then how about this: it’s called Plunderstorm and is all about the piratical booty.
Plunderstorm arrives alongside World of Warcraft’s 10.2.6 content update as a limited-time event accessible for the “next several weeks”. It sees up to 60 players – either playing solo or as a Duo with a friend – scouring the Arathi Highlands to locate abilities, upgrades, and loot in a bid to be the last pirate standing each 10-15 minute match.
“Discover lootable spells, abilities, and upgrades as you plunder treasure chests and defeat enemies,” Blizzard explains in its announcement post. “Upon picking up, spells and abilities are automatically added to your Action Bar, with two slots dedicated to offensive skills and two for utilities such as leaps, speed boosts, and crowd-control. Some abilities are more action-based and require good positioning and player targeting.”
And if that rings any bells, fans have noted Plunderstorm sounds quite a lot like now-defunct magic-based battle royale game Spellbreak from developer Proletariat – a studio Blizzard acquired in 2022 to work on World of Warcraft.
By progressing through Plunderstorm’s reward tracks, it’s possible to unlock the Plunderlord parrot mount, Bubbles the crab pet, swashbuckling cosmetics, 750 Trader’s Tender from “Keg Leg’s Crew” for use on the Trading Post, and more. Rewards, once earned, can be used in both World of Warcraft Modern and Classic.
Plunderstorm’s standalone mode is accessed via World of Warcraft’s game menu and players must create a new character in order to participate. No expansions are required, but a WoW subscription is needed to play.
Next up for World of Warcraft is its new The War Within expansion, which will kickstart the game’s multi-part Worldsoul Saga when it launches later this year. Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen revealed The War Within during BlizzCon 2023, as part of a big announcement blow-out that also included details on WoW’s two expansions after that: Midnight and The Last Titan.