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Pirates, magic, & mayhem! Dive into Plunderstorm, World of Warcraft’s new battle royale-inspired limited-time event, and earn epic rewards.
World of Warcraft – Plunderstorm launches March 19, 2024 PDT.

Tune in to learn about the new, limited-time, pirate-themed event, Plunderstorm. Join Associate Game Director Jeremy Feasel, Lead Software Engineer Orlando Salvatore, and host Bethany Stout as they discuss the next World of Warcraft® Dragonflight content update, Plunderstorm.

Some info via reddit:

• You do not need Dragonflight or any other expansion to play this mode. Only a world of Warcraft subscription.
• It's an entirely separate game mode in the modern retail client so you have to make a character that will only exist for this event.
• It's a battle royale that can be played solo or in a group.
• Rewards include a bunch of cosmetic items for regular world of warcraft characters including mounts, transmog and battle pets.
• Rewards are for retail and classic versions of the game.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Who was the mad lad that came up with this?

 

[Lunarorbit]

Seriously not trolling but I didn't realize wow was still happening. Haven't heard about it in several years.

 

[Fabieter]

Why does it require a sub. Make it f2p and standalone and people might go for it.

 

[Fake]

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Why does it require a sub. Make it f2p and standalone and people might go for it.

Pretty much. This mode isn't for the people paying for a WOW/Classic sub I really don't see anyone paying for a sub to this.

 

[Lokaum D+]

 

[Kacho]

What has happened to Warcraft? It used to be an awesome IP with a strong identity.

 

[Deft Beck]

They seem pretty desperate, huh?

 

[Kacho]

They seem pretty desperate, huh?

Judging by how insincere the developer interview was, yup.

The response is split on the trailer.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

What has happened to Warcraft? It used to be an awesome IP with a strong identity.

Is this Fortnite for otherkin?

 

[Tomi]

Sucks

Wow is dead years ago

 

[Wooxsvan]

 

[Gudji]

Of course they had to put it behind the sub. lmao

 

[Zheph]

 

[Arsic]

Seriously not trolling but I didn't realize wow was still happening. Haven't heard about it in several years.

 

[dispensergoinup]

I still do casual mog runs with friends once in a while, and DF was actually decent.

Gunna pass on this and just wait for War Within.

Too many games coming up that I want to play. (Looking at you, Manor Lords)

 

[Krappadizzle]

Sucks

Wow is dead years ago

Haven't played in probably about a year, but it's far from dead. Dragonflight was a really fun time, I had a great time questing and running different characters with my wife over a 6 mos. window.

I plan on resubbing for at least a few months to do the same thing with my wife when the newest expansion drops or it becomes Halloween time, whichever happens first.

----------------------------------

There was a mod that added pretty convincing voice acting to the classic-era servers that I really enjoyed that I wish would come over to the retail release. I really like dragon flying around, find it very rewarding to do, but I would love to go through past expansions with the new flying and voice acting. Blizzard really needs to do much more to make the previous content more compelling, and A.I. voice acting could definitely add some life to it for me in a big way. I love a lot of the classic stories, but i'd love it more if V.A. could give the characters better personality or flavor.

----------------------------------

In regards to "Plunderstorm"; not a bad idea I guess, but I'd probably play at most 2 or 3 matches and then never touch it again. It's not really a game mode I care too much about and with WoW's style of combat, I wouldn't really want to play PVP to any sever degree. Not really for me, but it's cool that it exists I guess.

 

[The Cockatrice]

So why not just improve the PVP instead of this shit? Holy fuck Blizzard is sad.

 

[SirKicksalot]

Hottest mode of 2017!

 

[RSLAEV]

I want to like it because it seems like fun low-stakes casual content, but this feels like the kind of thing that is better received when your core game is also doing well. There's also something about it that seems "deliberately safe" that puts me off. Like I'm getting Big Bang Theory-type cringe vibes from it.

 

[tmlDan]

Boomers really need to stop playing this so we get WoW 2 lol

shit looks so damn old

 

[Valt7786]

What has happened to Warcraft? It used to be an awesome IP with a strong identity.

People more concerned with their own "identity" took over development of it after getting all the older white men who created it kicked out of Blizzard.

 

[Kataploom]

Jeez, I was getting excited for a "BG-based battle royal" or so... I fantasized with something I didn't know I wanted so much just to be disappointed by it not being real... It was a brief dream that lasted a heartbeat, and now I don't know how to feel

 

[Faust]

Ugh.

Blizzard coming with another massive fail.

 

[TintoConCasera]

What has happened to Warcraft? It used to be an awesome IP with a strong identity.

yeah I remember when Warcraft used to be cool.

Check out any piece of art by Chris Metzen for Warcraft II, that stuff reeks of personality and style. For something that I guess is mostly a copy of Warhammer, they still managed to have an identity of their own, and I love how it has some very strong dark-fantasy influence.

Spoiler: cool stuff

Nowadays, at least to me, Warcraft looks like generic high-fantasy but with big as fuck pauldrons. I guess an example of something similar is when you compare those two pieces of Everquest art.

Spoiler: not so cool stuff

From an identity of it's own, to generic stuff. Hell, I bet in this case they were looking at WoW for inspiration.

 

[Silver Wattle]

OG blizzard is rolling in its grave.

Just put a bullet in retail already, move on to the next big thing.

 

[tylrdiablos]

Looks... bland.

 

[Xyphie]

The missing Dragonflight Raid Tier died for this.

 

[LordBlodgett]

This does not look like WOW at all, is this really what the game has become?

 

[Krappadizzle]

Boomers really need to stop playing this so we get WoW 2 lol

shit looks so damn old

Some of us have been saying this for 15+ years... Not gonna happen......


Well....Maybe that Microsoft owns them, who knows, they may force the hand.

 

[LectureMaster]

The game is gonna be 20 years old this year.

As a nostalgic person, my fondest memory I hold dear to my heart has always been playing wow 2005 - 2008.

Twas my favorite game world of all time and now I barely can recognize it from the trailer.

 

[jakinov]

What has happened to Warcraft? It used to be an awesome IP with a strong identity.

It's a trailer for a new "fun" MP mode unrelated to the main story. I don't think Warcraft fans take the "strong idenitity" very seriously. One of the popular ways of playing Warcraft is a rip off of Mario Party called Uther Party and the community likes to make or enjoy stupid goofy fun things so why can't blizzard.

 

[Stamps1646]

 

[TexMex]

Striking while the iron is hot on the BR craze I see

 

[Kacho]

It's a trailer for a new "fun" MP mode unrelated to the main story. I don't think Warcraft fans take the "strong idenitity" very seriously. One of the popular ways of playing Warcraft is a rip off of Mario Party called Uther Party and the community likes to make or enjoy stupid goofy fun things so why can't blizzard.

Yeah not really my scene. I think a classic Humans vs Orcs Warcraft II vibe would have been a better fit for this battle royal. The whole “look at how fun and playful we are!” vibe is lame.

 

[drotahorror]

Watched a little bit of the gameplay, seems like that Hi Rez battle royale called "Realm Royale". Maybe others have done it too, but the whole finding your spells and rarities of them etc, is a lot like Realm Royale. Which funny enough was one of the only BR games I ever enjoyed.

 

[Kacho]

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Seriously not trolling but I didn't realize wow was still happening. Haven't heard about it in several years.

WoW doesn't have the player count it used to, but it's still thriving. Classic has progressed all the way to Cataclysm. There is the new take on WoW with Season of Discovery, and now there is this new BR mode within the game. I haven't touched retail in years but there are still people playing retail I guess.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

What has happened to Warcraft? It used to be an awesome IP with a strong identity.

The game is garbage. You can buy your way into progression, to an extent and even buy rare stuff that you normally could only get from TCG.
Fuck Blizzard and Wow. Once I saw that black market auction house, I knew I was done with this stupid fucking game.

 

[Faust]

WoW doesn't have the player count it used to, but it's still thriving. Classic has progressed all the way to Cataclysm. There is the new take on WoW with Season of Discovery, and now there is this new BR mode within the game. I haven't touched retail in years but there are still people playing retail I guess.

"Thriving" it most certainly isn't. Its limping along like an elderly, blind dog that needs to be put out of its misery.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

"Thriving" it most certainly isn't. Its limping along like an elderly, blind dog that needs to be put out of its misery.

I guess I should have said thriving in the sense that it hasn't died. I was enjoying classic Wrath on Atiesh, and there was still a lot of pugs happening in addition to guild runs. Wasn't a big fan of Cataclysm, so I stopped playing a few months ago. I haven't played retail in years, so I can't speak to it.

 

[The Cockatrice]

WoW doesn't have the player count it used to, but it's still thriving. Classic has progressed all the way to Cataclysm. There is the new take on WoW with Season of Discovery, and now there is this new BR mode within the game. I haven't touched retail in years but there are still people playing retail I guess.

It's really not, at least when it comes to Classic. Realms are split between either 90% horde or 90% alliance, theres no balance so PvP is pretty much as dead and end game in classic, you'd only be lucky if u find a dedicated guild to do anything. Classic realms are just for nostalgia leveling up and thats it, and once Cataclysm hits, they'll just die completely. As for the normal realms they are barely holding. I see they keep doing arena tournaments on twitch but again these are just the same old ppl who have played only WoW all their lives. WoW is no longer attracting new players.

 

[alienator]

my thoughts after watching the trailer: Creative bankruptcy.

 

[Noxxera]

Why does it require a sub. Make it f2p and standalone and people might go for it.

Nah. People complain about botters now? Holy shit imagine wow going f2p. The game dies.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

It's really not, at least when it comes to Classic. Realms are split between either 90% horde or 90% alliance, theres no balance so PvP is pretty much as dead and end game in classic, you'd only be lucky if u find a dedicated guild to do anything. Classic realms are just for nostalgia leveling up and thats it, and once Cataclysm hits, they'll just die completely. As for the normal realms they are barely holding. I see they keep doing arena tournaments on twitch but again these are just the same old ppl who have played only WoW all their lives. WoW is no longer attracting new players.

Yeah I can see how players who enjoy pvp would be disappointed. I played on a pvp server (Thunderlord) from classic through cata. It's hard to leave a server that has all the memories and friends, but pvp in wow is just not for me, and getting repeatedly ganked and camped was mind numbing. When i switched to a new pve server it was mind blowing and I wish I had done it much sooner.

 

[March Climber]

He liked it and thinks it has good potential, and also agreed that it should be free to bring in new audiences.