World of Warcraft Plunderstorm was Almost Much Different

gamerant.com:

World of Warcraft fans have discovered unused spells, mechanics, and other features that were relics of previous iterations of Plunderstorm. These features were left on the cutting room floor, but they suggest World of Warcraft nearly gave players a very different type of battle royale than the piratical clash they received.

Plunderstorm is World of Warcraft’s new battle royale game mode where players compete alone or in teams of up to three others to loot Plunder and earn special cosmetic rewards for both modern and Classic WoW. After fans drop onto the battlefield, they must scour it for spells and items to arm them against the competition to be the last ones standing.

However, players have found some unused spells, items, and mechanics that indicate Plunderstorm was almost quite different. According to files discovered by Wowhead, Plunderstorm almost had a more traditional WoW theme, with items inspired by iconic classes or the infamous Goblins and Gnomes of World of Warcraft. These fans found almost a dozen unused spells – including some class-specific ones – several consumable items, and gameplay elements that never made the cut. WoW lead software engineer Orlando Salvatore, who did a lot of work on Plunderstorm, waxed about these old abilities on their personal Twitter, proving they are legitimate.

It seems like some mechanics were removed from Plunderstorm as well. Various passive abilities or talents were discovered, suggesting players could have customized their characters’ offensive and defensive capabilities, and weapons may have allowed characters to change their basic attacks. It also appears as if fans initially deployed from a single air ship, rather than on individual parrot mounts, and there is evidence that air drops and vending machines may have been planned at one time – features Fortnite fans may recognize.

Though players have enjoyed Plunderstorm, seeing these artifacts from previous iterations intrigued them. Now that they have begun to master