World of Warcraft takes the current pirate trend to a new battle royale

Blizzard has hinted that something pirate-like is coming World of Warcraft been putting little Jolly Roger flags into road maps for weeks. We don’t have room for a full pirate expansion, not when the Worldsoul Saga will take up the next three expansion pack spots. Instead, we get something very experimental: a new six-week battle royale called Plunderstorm.

Plunderstorm starts with Patch 10.2.6, and it’s going to be chaotic. This mode is not only hidden from test servers and data miners, but is actually unprecedented in terms of the usual World of Warcraft updates. Plunderstorm will have new servers, which will require a new character. Players will need a subscription to enter Plunderstorm, but they don’t need to own one Dragonflightwhich makes this a nice diversion for Classic and Dragonflight players alike.

When you log in, you’ll be greeted by a Plunderstorm logo hanging next to the Warcraft logo. After selection, the player is sent away on a parrot. Plunderstorm is set in Arathi Basin, a familiar setting for anyone who has enjoyed a few battlefields in the past. The game mode is inspired by the Warcraft 3 meta where you take your hero to small camps, kill monsters and level up. If players want, they can focus entirely on PvP, but if you want the sweet rewards of the event, you can also stick to these PvE challenges.

Leveling up brings new abilities, a mix-and-match combination of legendary spells from the past, Covenant abilities, and countless talents from every class. Everyone can double jump, no one takes fall damage, and everyone has a crazy set of skills. For example, one skill allows you to pretend to be a bush to set up the ultimate ambush.

Because Plunderstorm is a battle royale, there will always be one last champion standing. If you win a match, you can earn a tabard and an eye patch. All other rewards are earned as you play, so the new mode hopefully won’t require extreme concentration and dedication. The rewards are, as you might have guessed, pirate-themed: a pirate outfit for Pepe, a parrot, a crab, transmog items, and the Trader’s Tender currency.

Plunderstorm launches today and will be active for the next six weeks. The experimental game mode may return in the future, based on player feedback.