World of Warcraft is adding its first premium currency in a future update. Discovered by dataminers earlier this month, the popular MMO will soon receive a new “Hearthsteel” currency that is designed entirely to support the upcoming player housing feature launching alongside the game’s Midnight expansion.
In a surprise response, Blizzard has officially confirmed the existence of the upcoming premium currency, explaining that Hearthsteel will not negatively impact players. First and foremost, Blizzard explained that players will be able to buy the in-game currency with in-game gold via WoW tokens as well as your existing Battle net balance.
Additionally, the MMO developer claimed that the catalogue of items that can be purchased with Hearthsteel will be kept small with the majority of items planned to be unlockable via quests and other activities.
“Housing items tied to core fantasies of a player’s race or class, or that already exist in Azeroth, won’t be sold in the shop. Thematically important decor that players know and love will also not appear in the shop,” Blizzard said.
Of course, Blizzard’s MMO is no stranger to paid cosmetics with mounts and other items already costing additional funds without needing their own currency. At the time of writing, these other items are simply purchased with normal money, but Blizzard says this new Player Housing exclusive currency is “more efficient” somehow.
“As an example, you may want a full set of chairs to place around a dining table, multiple place settings for your invited guests, or even many candles to help decorate the room for a complete look,” Blizzard wrote. “Using an in-game currency can help make the process of obtaining many of these types of inexpensive items more efficient.”
As many fans have stated on the WoW forums and, of course, Reddit, there is no additional efficiency with using a premium currency compared to real money. As anyone who has played a free-to-play game before will note: bundles of virtual cash simply make it harder to determine how much you’re actually spending on in-game items.
It’s worth noting that Hearthsteel may not start with a large number of items in the store, but there is a worry that this will eventually balloon as time goes on. Blizzard has not revealed exactly what items will be in the game’s virtual store when Player Housing releases in the future.
