Today's announcement of the next Warcraft patch event, the pirate-themed Plunderstorm for 10.2.6, marks a number of firsts for the venerable massively multiplayer RPG. It releases today without player testing and includes a wild 60-player battle royale mode.
Not only is this the first time this mode has appeared in Warcraft, it also doesn't take place on standard servers or use existing characters – players can choose between their normal servers and the Plunderstorm event when they log in to the modern Warcraft client . Rewards include a parrot mount and a crab pet, available to both modern and classic players, dual-mode rewards which are also a first for the games. (Classic players must download the modern client to play, but do not need to own Dragonflight.)
The Spell Break The influence on this new game mode is clear to see – in the screenshots we've seen, some of the spell canceling mechanics look remarkably similar to the now-defunct Battle Royale developed by Proletariat. Blizzard acquired the studio in 2022 and most of the team members were added to the Warcraft team.
I spoke with Blizzard's lead software engineer Orlando Salvatore, whose LinkedIn page notes that he works for the “Experimental Gameplay Team,” and lead producer Ray Bartos about the new mode, which is a huge gameplay addition to a normally tiny one late expansion patch.
According to Salvatore, Blizzard took inspiration from WoW Classic's latest Season of Discovery spin-off and made the new battle royale mode a secret. The developers compensated for the lack of public testing by conducting wild internal testing.
“All Blizzard members have come together to participate in playtests and provide feedback,” he said.
“We’re really focused on breaking the rules. “We really want to give players something super exciting, especially experimental, before the release of The War Within,” said Salvatore, referring to the next WoW expansion, which is scheduled to be released later this year. “Once that launches, the big focus will be on this expansion.”
Speculation about The War Within release date
Season 4 will launch several weeks after patch 10.2.6, which fits it into a larger schedule of updates that helped me narrow down a possible release date for The War Within.
The team will closely monitor players' reactions to the event, Salvatore said. “If people post on social media or forums about how excited they are about the abilities in Plunderstorm, that could very well be something we want to bring to the game in the future.”
“One of the cool things about what we're doing with Plunderstorm is that because it's separate, we can do crazy new things that you wouldn't normally see in Dragonflight, Classic or any other WoW variant,” Salvatore said . “Some of these things are going to break.”
“Imagine not adding fall damage to WoW. It would be very different and difficult to add that.
This is how Plunderstorm works
He mentioned an ability that allows you to ambush other players and that literally turns you into a bush that you jump out of.
When you log in to the modern WoW client, you will see the Plunderstorm logo next to the regular Warcraft logo in the top left of your screen. If you choose the Plunderstorm logo, you will log into a completely new game environment with a different interface.
When the game begins, you will find yourself on a parrot heading to a new pirate camp in the far southeast corner of the Arathi Highlands zone. When you land, you'll get a quest from the pirate Keg Leg – perhaps to kill a certain number of monsters or collect a certain number of spells – and then you're off.
You will have no talents and will gain your skills through ground spawn items. These abilities are usually loosely based on Warcraft abilities, be it basic equipment, talents, or previous legendary/pact spells. Funnily enough, you can combine them however you like, so you could finally be the battlemage you've always dreamed of being. There is no auto attack, only triggered abilities. Everyone has the ability to double jump and there is no falling damage.
If you're in duo mode with a friend and they die, use the basic Healing Barrel ability you get at the start of the game and stand in that zone to revive them, Bartos said.
“We tried to break WoW’s combat rules,” Salvatore said. The skills are designed to entertain more advanced players while remaining simple enough that newer or more casual players can easily pick up, Bartos said.
Some are just fun. He mentioned an ability that lets you ambush other players and that literally turns you into a bush that you jump out of.
As you kill monsters, they drop piles of gold, Diablo-style, which you collect by running over them. This currency is called Plunder, and over time it adds up to progress towards reputation with Keg Leg, the Dragonflight-style reputation. At each of the 40 reputation levels you will automatically receive a new reward without having to visit a dealer. You get loot by defeating monsters, defeating other players, completing the quest, opening chests and winning the match.
Booty, glorious booty
The last man or woman standing wins. There are two rewards exclusive to match winners: a tabard and an eye patch. All other rewards are only available for Reputation levels.
In addition to the mounts and pets, there is a new Pepe bird appearance on the shoulder for modern players, weapon transmogs, and a full Keg Leg Pirate Ensemble transmog armor set.
Each level of prominence requires 2,500 looting. Each game should last 5 to 8 minutes, and in most games players are rewarded with around 500 trinkets, they said. You can complete one quest per game with no limit.
“You don’t have to do everything at once,” Salvatore said. “We don’t want it to feel like you have to play every day for the six weeks it’s active.”
The developers assume that casual players will need a few weeks of low-key play to receive all the rewards.
“This is a monumental undertaking for this experiment,” Bartos said. “We are entering new territory.”
