Nobody saw World of Warcraft's new update coming: a 60-player pirate MMO battle royale with its own servers and optional PvP

GamesMMOWorld of WarcraftNobody saw World of Warcraft’s new update coming: a 60-player pirate MMO battle royale with its own servers and optional PvPWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. GamesMMOWorld of WarcraftNobody saw World of Warcraft’s new update coming: a 60-player pirate MMO battle royale with its own servers and optional PvPWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Blizzard) World of Warcraft players are finally getting the pirate-themed content they’ve been craving for months, but it’s arriving as a 60-player battle royale mode. Blizzard has announced Plunderstorm, a brand new pirate-themed event for all WoW players with a subscription. The event is slated to go live in the MMO later today, March 19, with standalone servers and characters, and the headline feature is undoubtedly the fascinating new 60-player battle royale mode. A storm be on the horizon!60 players face off in the battle-royale-inspired Plunderstorm.Rolling out with weekly reset to all players with a WoW subscription. pic.twitter.com/zg3IMexOtUMarch 19, 2024 A storm be on the horizon!60 players face off in the battle-royale-inspired Plunderstorm.Rolling out with weekly reset to all players with a WoW subscription. pic.twitter.com/zg3IMexOtUMarch 19, 2024 Take a look at the responses to the announcement above, and you’ll see that basically no one could’ve predicted this. “No data mining spoiling they’re just releasing it themselves let’s goooo,” reads one tweet, while another adds, “You gotta be kidding us, subscribing back!” A lot of people are genuinely surprised this didn’t leak ahead of the announcement. Speaking of, Blizzard’s lead developers delve further into Plunderstorm in the video below. Firstly, yes, this is WoW’s development team getting experimental, and letting you customize your character between every match, so you’re also effectively experimenting with an attack-focused build and class. Since you’re on your own against 59 other players, that makes perfect sense. In fact, the core of the mode is actually plundering, so much so that you could call the opening few minutes of the mode a PvE scenario rather than a PvP one, because you’ll be primarily killing demons to unlock new abilities. You don’t even have to be the last person standing to earn rewards - just dropping in and completing “starter quests” will net you event-specific loot. This has been a very long time coming for WoW players, and it all began from a simple roadmap annotation. Let’s rewind back to September 2023: WoW players were speculating that pirates could be coming to the MMO, because of a book found in The Forbidden Reach zone which declared “the Nightsquall has returned” and he’s building the “biggest fleet the world has ever known.” Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more WoW players were understandably expecting pirates to come to the MMO, but Blizzard’s then-president shot it down with a simple two-word tweet: “No pirates.” Fast forward three months to December 2023, and WoW’s updated roadmap had a curious skull and bones symbol positioned in between Seeds of Renewal and Season 4, which only revived the pirate speculation. Today’s reveal of Plunderstorm has brought the entire thing full-circle, with pirates finally, at long last, surfacing in World of Warcraft later today. Blizzard’s developers make sure to mention in the video above that they’re keen to “iterate” on Plunderstorm’s battle royale mode, so they’re definitely looking to make any improvements they can for the future. 8 years after leveling their World of Warcraft character from 1 to 100 using only DDR mats, this MMO fan is trying to repeat the trick in WoW Classic Hardcore. CATEGORIESPC GamingPlatforms CATEGORIES More about mmoWorld of Warcraft director says last year’s Hardcore release was a better version of classic WoW than WoW Classic wasBlizzard’s 2024 stats expose your 480 million deaths, 1.7 trillion murdered demons, 8.34 billion hours played, and how allergic Americans are to the metric systemLatestI didn’t know how badly I wanted to grill and gobble up monsters until this upcoming survival roguelike made it look so tastySee more latest► More about mmoWorld of Warcraft director says last year’s Hardcore release was a better version of classic WoW than WoW Classic wasBlizzard’s 2024 stats expose your 480 million deaths, 1.7 trillion murdered demons, 8.34 billion hours played, and how allergic Americans are to the metric systemLatestI didn’t know how badly I wanted to grill and gobble up monsters until this upcoming survival roguelike made it look so tastySee more latest► More about mmoWorld of Warcraft director says last year’s Hardcore release was 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insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action” 3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action” 3 Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action” 4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 4 The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 5 Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: 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about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands” 4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands” 4 Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands” 5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place” 5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place” 5 Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”