Official Plunderstorm Overview: New Abilities, Choose Drop Location, and More

Here comes an official look at the new Plunderstorm that’s gone live on NA servers already! We have a new lobby experience, new abilities, players able to choose their drop location, new rewards, and much more, so let’s take a look!

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A new storm is surging beginning January 14, and players can dive back into the fray of the Plunderstorm once more. Spend your well-earned Plunder in the new Plunderstore for great new rewards, test your mettle with new spells at your fingertips, explore new points of interest on the map, and more!

Set Sail for the Plunderstorm

Plunge into a challenging battle that earns excellent rewards for World of Warcraft® Modern and Classic progression realms. All you have to do is survive…and plunder.

Each match is 10-15 minutes long and has 60 players per match, with the winner being the last one standing. Level up and acquire new abilities and spells by killing creatures and enemies, looting chests, and avoiding the encroaching storm.

A Pirate’s Life for You

The Arathi Highlands is the backdrop for this pirating adventure, and you’ll have plenty of challenges to keep you busy. We’ve added a few new points of interest to explore and plunder including new enemy spawn camps. All non-elite enemies will now respawn, opening up more opportunities to gain plunder to spend, and you can ride like the wind when you visit one of the horse spawn points, mount up, and traverse the map.

New Lobby Experience

Whether you’re new to Plunderstorm or you want to knock some dust off your boots before you head into battle, you’ll have the opportunity to spend time in the Practice Lobby to try out the various spells you’ll be able to find on the map. You’ll also be able to stay as long as you like, set up your key bindings, and check out the available rewards before you head into the fray.

Smooth Operator

Players who take the plunge into battle will find it to be an improved experience. You’ll now be able to choose your drop location. What happens when you land is all up to you.

Prepare to Plunder

Plunderstorm is perfect for pick-up and play! No expansion purchase is required, but a World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time is needed to participate in a high-stakes, play-by-the-seat-your-pants match. This means that Classic players can also participate in a plethora of plundering fun by simply installing the modern (Live) World of Warcraft client:

Launch the Battle.net desktop app.
Click the World of Warcraft icon at the top. If the icon is missing, click on All Games and select the game from the list.
On top of the Install button is a drop-down menu. Confirm that you wish to install World of Warcraft.
Click Install.

Once you’re in modern WoW:

Select Plunderstorm² from the World of Warcraft character select screen in the modes menu to get into the action.
A character will be randomly generated for you and is available to customize before jumping into the action. You don’t need previous knowledge of races and classes to chart your course for mayhem.
Choose between Practice, Solo or—to play with your Battle.net friends—make a group from the Plunderstorm queue screen and select Duo. If queued for a Duo without a partner, you’ll be automatically matched with one. You can also access chat, customize characters, and see the queue from the Character Select Screen.

Players in modern World of Warcraft will also be able to queue directly into Plunderstorm with any of their existing characters from within the Group Finder’s (I) PvP tab.

Action Bar and Abilities, Worthy Mates

Discover lootable spells, abilities, and upgrades as you plunder treasure chests and defeat enemies. We’ve shaken things up a little with this round of Plunderstorm by making a few tuning adjustments to previously available spells. We’ve also added fresh new offensive and utility spells to shake up the meta. Players will also notice new and improved controls for swapping spells with an updated heads-up display, and a spell list in areas where there are multiple spells available for pick up— making it easier for you to identify the spell you want to pick up more quickly.

New Spells – Offensive

A character dressed as a pirate with a small bird dressed as a pirate sitting on their head. The character is holding a sword and the ground is glowing golden yellow in an area under their feet. — **Aura of Zealotry**

Aura of Zealotry – Passively increase movement speed for your allies. Cast to consecrate the ground damaging enemies periodically. While in your 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.

New Spells – Utility

A large grey and brown bird flapping its wings with whispy white coming off its back and swirling in a circle around them to represent wind. — **Call Galefeather**

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.

Spell 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.

Have fun discovering and experimenting with different combinations to find what works for you.

Upgrades to Your Spells and Abilities

Your spells and abilities can be upgraded by discovering higher-quality versions from treasure chests or finding the same ability elsewhere and stacking it to Rank 3 (epic). There are also plenty of plundering opportunities—various treasure chests with different rarities that harbor all types of abilities are stashed around the map. Always stay on the lookout for better loot and upgrades.

Spectating Spectre

Upon death, keep watching the match from the perspective of your teammates (if they’re still alive) or other players, including their loadout.

At the end of the match, you’ll be able to view your standing, kills, total plunder, and check out the Plunderstore — or dive right back into the action when you go again!

Rewards A-Plenty for Plundering Pirates

Players can now purchase cosmetics, pets, titles, and mounts by visiting the Plunderstore to make their purchases. These include items from the previous Plunderstorm and new items such as the Hooktalon flying mount, Plunderlord’s Midnight Crocolisk Mount, Sparklesnap the crab pet, Parley the parrot pet, and a variety of swashbuckling cosmetics.³ A victory is not required to claim the spoils of a well-fought fight.

Customization unlocks are simultaneously unlocked for modern World of Warcraft characters and can be found in your Collection.

“Hooktalon once sailed with the Bloodsail Buccaneers, and later with the Blackwater Raiders, but he left to see what plunder he could find beyond the high seas.”

Dress for the storm with the Stormridden transmog set!

No outfit is complete without matching weapon transmog appearances.

a small bird dressed up in a pirate outfit — There isn’t a better first mate on the high seas than Pirate Pepe!

We look forward to seeing you take the plunge when you engage in pirate-themed mayhem. We’ll see you in Azeroth and wherever the adventure takes you!

¹ Requires World of Warcraft® Subscription or Game Time.
²Plunderstorm is accessed from the World of Warcraft® game menu but exists outside of player progression in World of Warcraft® and Cataclysm Classic™.
³Plunderstorm offers rewards for both World of Warcraft® and Cataclysm Classic™.