World of Warcraft is officially getting a premium currency just for player-housing items, and Blizzard is now looking to explain its reasoning to a concerned and upset playerbase.
Following a datamine earlier this week that hinted at a new premium currency called Hearthsteel, Blizzard has confirmed the currency is real and how it plans to implement it in a blog post. Once WoW’s Midnight expansion releases, Hearthsteel will be available for purchase with real money and will only be used for housing items in the in-game shop. Items and Hearthsteel amounts available for purchase should align in a “player-friendly way,” Blizzard states.
The big question many players have is why introduce a virtual currency at all? Microtransactions have existed in WoW for a long time now. Blizzard confirmed earlier this year it would sell premium housing items, something that was expected. But buying a fancy store mount or transmog set has always been done with real money as opposed to having to first buy a currency. According to Blizzard, using real money when purchasing multiple items can be “inefficient, inconvenient, and often tedious.”
