Maybe.
I would like these changes if it were to go live again:
- Plunderstorm is very much a non-equal-standing, imbalanced PVP mode. That’s not always a bad thing, but I’m just throwing that out there so I can expound upon it:
- The player levels too much of a player-power gap. If the levels were chopped out, this fixes the majority of the problem I have with the gameplay of the mode itself.
- There’s too much RNG with item acquisition. This may be fun to some, and there is some interest/skill in having to rely on what you pickup, whether from mobs, chests, or people; however, random item drop locations isn’t fun for competition in my opinion. If items/skills have fixed spawn locations (would have to be multiple locations for each item because of sheer map size and the shrinking play area) then map-control becomes a serious and very important skill, especially if they made it so that you can keep picking up the skills you already have past their max level just to keep someone from grabbing the drop off the battlefield. Having dedicated spawn points for each item/skill also keeps RNG from being such an annoyance. Since you drop in, you are on fairly-equal footing to get to the first item you would want in the match if there were dedicated spawn locations for each item.
Those are really the only two issues I have with regards to uneven player power distribution in Plunderstorm, and the more important one, IMO, is to remove the player levels (I didn’t mention them above, but I think item ranks seem okay enough).
I have one other thing I think would make it the mode more fun.
- The storm needs to close in a lot faster. A lot of time in the first few minutes, you go too long without seeing another person to engage. Shrink the play area faster.
Also, if Plunderstorm returned as a separate event like this first time, then in my opinion they should separate oceanic players to their own server. Not being able to hit someone because they are experiencing high latency is just not fun for any player.
And, since WoW add-ons like ConsolePort were not available, if Plunderstorm returns as a separate game-mode like it originally was, the overall Blizzard accessibility team needs to have a much bigger hand in testing the mode versus what obviously seemed to have zero accessibility testing with game controllers because much of it was straight-up broken in Plunderstorm. Because my left hand get really hurting at times and both can get fatigued, in retail and Classic WoW, I’ve been jumping between keyboard+mouse and using a controller using the ConsolePort add-on. I started doing that last year because of the tendinitis I was having an issue with on my right shoulder, but I found it helped out a lot when my hands were not cooperative too. So, I’ve kept it up. I can’t play very well with the controller, but I can play to a degree (sorry if you are on the other end of my bg healing, since healing is the hardest for me with the controller besides some flying issues). Plunderstorm looks like it’s near perfect for playing on a controller, right? 5 actions, regular attack, drink, jump, interact, map, menu, etc. It’s quite cut down…but, oh whew, they needed someone to actually test controller support. Now, I don’t use WoW with a controller WITHOUT using ConsolePort, so maybe it’s just as half-baked, but it’s just a bad job. Sorry, the accessibility team should not be happy with what was released. Not just intuitive with lots of lacking options that you need for a good controller experience, but a straight-up bunch of bugs. There are threads and posts including a few from me around about these issues, but not many people care. This is not an issue that faces most of the community nor is it negative versus the actual gameplay; however, it’s certainly an issue with the mode overall. If Plunderstorm was added as an actual WoW PVP mode in-game and add-ons were supported, then this problem can be remedied by add-on developers if Blizz doesn’t want to put forth the effort.
That’s if Plunderstorm were to return with the same Plunderstorm-specfic style of game as it was this first time. However, theoretically, if the gist of the mode were to be brought forward into WoW PVP itself, I think I would prefer either our normal classes as they are or a cut down template with just 4 action abilities and a movement skill. Cut out the NPCs, increase the player count to 150 like 6.0.3 Ashran, and, like I mentioned, speed up the shrink. Instead of the random items/spell drops like Plunderstorm, switch in your standard BG buffs and the Warsong Scramble brawl pickups. Also, for good measure, don’t have the storm kill players, have it punt them to the center of the battlefield so they have to fight. Again, this last paragraph is if there was a BR or epic last-person-standing mode added to wow based on Plunderstorm, not changes for Plunderstorm itself as it was made for the event.
UT Instagib?
