World of Warcraft Shows Off New Plunderstorm Abilities and Features

Plunderstorm Returns to World of Warcraft with Enhanced Features and Rewards

World of Warcraft's pirate-themed battle royale, Plunderstorm, has made a triumphant return, bringing with it a host of exciting new features and quality-of-life improvements. While the end date remains unannounced, players can expect to enjoy this revamped game mode for at least a month.

This iteration of Plunderstorm boasts significant enhancements. The Arathi Highlands battlefield features new points of interest and respawning non-elite enemies, ensuring a constant supply of loot. Fast travel horses have been introduced, enabling quicker traversal across the map to locate chests, elite enemies, and opponents. A new map feature displays zone threat levels based on combat frequency, allowing for strategic decision-making. Players can even select their starting deployment zone.

New Plunderstorm Features:

• Revamped Arathi Highlands map with new points of interest.
• Respawning non-elite enemies.
• Fast travel horses for rapid battlefield navigation.
• Zone threat indicators on the map for strategic planning.
• Selectable deployment zones at the start of matches.
• Dedicated Practice Lobby for ability testing, keybinding adjustments, and socialization.
• Plunderstore offering new and returning rewards.
• Access to the game mode while playing World of Warcraft: The War Within characters.

New Abilities:

The Plunderstore also offers a selection of new abilities:

• Offensive:
  • Aura of Zealotry: Passively boosts ally movement speed and allows consecration of the ground for periodic enemy damage, providing enhanced movement and melee attack buffs within the consecrated area.
  • Celestial Barrage: Summons a damaging barrage of moonbeams, with an empowered option for increased range.
• Utility:
  • Call Galefeather: Summons Galefeather to knock back enemies with powerful winds.
  • Void Tear: Creates a void mark; recasting instantly teleports the player to the mark, damaging and slowing nearby enemies. The recast is instantaneous during spellcasting.

Ability Balance Changes:

Existing spell cooldowns have also been adjusted for improved balance:

• Earthbreaker: Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds at all ranks.
• Slicing Winds: Cooldown increased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
• Star Bomb: Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds at all ranks.
• Storm Archon: Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds at all ranks.
• Toxic Smackerel: Cooldown increased by 1.5 seconds at all ranks.

Practice Lobby and Plunderstore:

A new Practice Lobby provides a space for players to experiment with abilities, adjust keybindings, customize appearances, and interact with other players. Access to the Plunderstore, where Plunderstorm rewards are obtained, is available from the Practice Lobby, login screen, and the retail WoW PvP interface.

Missing Trios Mode:

Notably absent is the three-person Trios mode from the previous iteration. The reason for its omission remains unclear, but players hope for its return before Plunderstorm sets sail again.