World of Warcraft is finally adding player housing in the next expansion, a feature I've seen people begging for since I started playing back in 2006. According to the players trying it out on the Midnight alpha, it's designed with almost no caveats to what you can create.
There are years and years of decorations from various parts of the game that Blizzard is making available to stick in your house, which is why it's always seemed like a no-brainer for Blizzard to add. But there will also be new decorations, some of which are going to cost you real money, and now we have evidence of how that's going to work.
Wowhead recently dug up a new premium currency in the Midnight alpha build called Hearthsteel. Datamined images depict Hearthsteel as silver coins with the swirly housing logo, which is based on Hearthstone's item art. Judging from the images that show different amounts of the coins, it seems pretty obvious that they're going to be a premium currency related to housing.
While I doubt anyone will be surprised to see Blizzard preparing to charge for housing stuff this quickly, it's actually a first for WoW to have a distinct premium currency. Right now, cosmetics on WoW's shop are all listed for their real money amounts, not WoW bucks or anything like that. Hearthsteel looks like it'll work just like Diablo and Overwatch's premium currencies, which means you can probably expect to be forced into buying bundles that include more than you actually need.
Blizzard hasn't made any comment on Hearthsteel and it probably won't until closer toMidnight's launch next year. But the fact that it's gone far enough to make a specific currency for it has me worried it's about to monetize housing right down to the studs. The potential to nickel-and-dime here is high: It's an entirely cosmetic system where every candlestick and wallpaper could have a price tag. Given how egregious—and profitable—Blizzard's cosmetic monetization is in its other games, I wouldn't be surprised if it goes all-out to charge people for decorations in WoW, too.
I'm not alone in this speculation. Players noticed the newly redesigned premium shop has way more tabs than it used to, and it seems built to showcase bigger objects, like decorations. It would be one thing to sell a few items here and there, but a lot of the fanciest mounts and transmogs over the years have come from the premium shop. Housing could be destined for the same fate. I sincerely hope that Blizzard strikes a good balance between free decorations and premium decorations so it doesn't feel like I'm living in a cardboard box compared to the people dumping as much as I pay in actual rent into their WoW home.
