In a surprise twist, World of Warcraft Dragonflight Patch 10.2.6 is bringing an all-new game mode to the longtime MMO. Plunderstorm, a battle royale mode for modern WoW, has been surprise-dropped by Blizzard and is coming to the live servers later today.
Plunderstorm is a 60-player, pirate-themed, battle royale game mode that tasks players with defeating other players or squads, as well as looting and discovering new spells that help you along the journey. Throughout each 10-to-15-minute match, you’ll be able to upgrade your abilities and craft a new loadout during each contest, depending on what you discover in the game. There are no traditional WoW classes associated with Plunderstorm, meaning there’s plenty of room for experimentation.
When you launch modern WoW, you’ll be able to tab over into a separate menu that takes you to the Plunderstorm game mode. The new BR mode is not attached to your pre-existing WoW characters in any way and is instead a totally standalone mode that requires no initial investment. Any level of WoW player can jump right into Plunderstorm and start grinding.
There are 40 levels of renown that you can earn with Keg Leg’s Crew, and each level has a reward attached to it, similar to a battle pass system from other battle royale games. The WoW devs expect “even the most casual gamers” to be able to earn at least a renown level a day as the system is purposefully designed to feel rewarding. Some of these rewards translate over into your main World of Warcraft characters, both on retail servers and Classic servers. Rewards include transmog sets, mounts, and pets that are usable across both versions of the game.
WoW’s all-new Plunderstorm game mode goes live later today, March 19, as soon as server maintenance comes to a close. Blizzard currently expects maintenance to end around 5pm CT, according to the WoW launcher.
