World of Warcraft Shows Off New Plunderstorm Abilities and Features

World of Warcraft's Plunderstorm Returns with Enhanced Features and Rewards

Plunderstorm, World of Warcraft's popular pirate-themed battle royale, has returned, bringing with it a host of new features and quality-of-life improvements. While the end date remains unannounced, players can expect at least a month of swashbuckling action. The event, initially slated for January 14th, launched shortly after a minor delay.

This iteration of Plunderstorm boasts significant enhancements. The Arathi Highlands battlefield features revamped points of interest and respawning non-elite enemies, providing a constant supply of loot. Fast travel horses now populate the map, enabling quicker traversal and access to chests, elites, and opponents. A new map overlay displays zone threat levels based on combat frequency, and players can even select their starting deployment zone.

New Plunderstorm Features:

• Revamped points of interest

• Respawning non-elite enemies

• Fast travel horses

• Zone threat indicators on the map

• Selectable deployment zones

• Practice Lobby

• Plunderstore with new and returning rewards

• Access from World of Warcraft: The War Within characters

• New abilities:

  • Offensive:
    • Aura of Zealotry: Passively boosts ally movement speed and allows consecration for area damage and further movement/melee buffs.
    • Celestial Barrage: A damaging moonbeam barrage with an empowerable range increase.
  • Utility:
    • Call Galefeather: Summons an eagle to knock back enemies.
    • Void Tear: Teleports the player to a marked point, damaging and slowing enemies upon arrival. Instant recast during spellcasting is possible.

• Ability balance changes (including adjustments to Earthbreaker, Slicing Winds, Star Bomb, Storm Archon, and Toxic Smackerel cooldowns).

Players can collect and upgrade new offensive and utility spells. The Plunderstore, accessible from the Practice Lobby, login screen, and the in-game PvP interface, offers new and returning rewards. A dedicated Practice Lobby allows players to experiment with abilities, adjust keybindings, and socialize.

Notably absent is the three-person Trios mode from the previous iteration. Blizzard has yet to explain this omission.