What to do when you die in a Battle Royale game? Can you leave spectator mode early and still enjoy the loot? This is exactly the question fans of World of Warcraft have been asking as they try out the new Plunderstorm mode.
Why are WoW fans playing a Battle Royale mode? On March 20, 2024, Blizzard developers released a new game variant for World of Warcraft with patch 10.2.6. It is called Plunderstorm and cheerfully adopts the Battle Royale game principle.
Here again are the basic rules of a Plunderstorm match:
- You do not jump into battle with your high-level, well-equipped WoW heroes, but with characters that only have basic gear and abilities.
- Defeat creatures and players or open treasure chests to level up during a match and gain access to new skills. If you pick up a spell you already know, it will be enhanced.
- All characters have access to a healing ability and a double jump. There is no fall damage.
- In Plunderstorm, there is no gear, no inventory, and no spellbook that you have to deal with. Only the unlocks on your action bar affect the player experience. The bar consists of seven slots for spells and abilities.
- The maximum level of characters is level 10. Each match is supposed to last about ten to fifteen minutes. No WoW addons are allowed in Plunderstorm.
Here you can see the explanation trailer for the Plunderstorm mode:
What happens when my character dies? This is exactly what many WoW fans are now asking. As is typical for the genre, participants in a Plunderstorm match have the opportunity to continue following the course of the round even after their virtual death. But are they rewarded for this?
Or to put it another way: Are there penalties if you leave the match after death? Do you lose some or all of the rewards you earned? Community manager Kaivax sheds light on the matter:
If you leave two seconds after the end of the game, you will receive as much fame as if you had followed the game to the end. You can leave without penalties if you are dead (in solos) or if your team is dead (in duos).
WoW Forum
In response to reports from players that they received no fame points, the Blizzard employee stated that it may take a short time for your fame account to update after a match ends. However, the developers are monitoring this to rule out bugs.
Is it worth trying Plunderstorm? If you generally enjoy WoW but want to test a different kind of PvP experience, the new mode is worthwhile. It doesn’t matter whether you own the current expansion Dragonflight. You just need an active WoW subscription. Some of the rewards you can earn through Plunderstorm even count for the classic version of WoW.
For everything else about the new mode, you can find it here: WoW now has a Battle Royale mode – What you need to know about Plunderstorm
