World of Warcraft continues to expand its real money shop offers, with developer Blizzard now selling home exteriors for $40.
Housing is WoW’s latest and greatest new feature, having arrived in full with the MMO’s recent Midnight expansion (though players who preordered Midnight got early access to parts of housing late last year). Blizzard first started selling housing items for real money back in February, with a shockingly-low-priced set of plushies that could be used for home decorating.
Those low prices didn’t last long, however, because in March, Blizzard began selling individual trees for 750 Hearthsteel (or $7.50) alongside an expensive bundle. Somewhat predictably, player outrage saw Blizzard quickly cut prices.
Now, the sticker shock continues, as Blizzard is selling a bundle of two, treehouse-themed housing exteriors for $40. Another new bundle, priced at $75, includes the new exterior options and a large batch of decor items. Both bundles are the most expensive housing microtransactions on the shop to date, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to just buy one of the exteriors seperately.
It’s not exactly a surprise Blizzard is continuing to sell housing items, but these prices do seem to go against what Blizzard initially promised when it explained to a concerned playerbase last year how it planned to monetize housing. When datamines first revealed Blizzard planned to introduce a new premium currency called Hearthsteel just for housing, it was quickly forced to explain how the currency was actually good for players, as it would make it more “effecient” when it came to buying different quantities of inexpensive items, with “inexpensive” being the key word here. Blizzard additionally made clear the vast majority of housing items would come from the game itself, not the shop.
Blizzard’s own statements are why some players are upset with the new exterior bundles. Price, of course, is a concern, but it’s more than that. Blizzard has sold microtransactions in WoW, which still requires players to buy expansions and pay a monthly subscription, for well over a decade at this point. When it came to housing, Blizzard seemed to signal it would be taking a different approach.
The real issue is the fact that Blizzard is selling exteriors at a time when there are few in-game to choose from. Currently, players have limited options when it comes to house exteriors, with only two templates per faction to work off of.
While players can do things to customize them like add more windows, place a tower, or change the shape and color of their roof, the default options are fairly limited. With a lot of imagination and time, players can use the game’s extensive decorating tools to turn those default appearances into something entirely their own using their decor collections. That’s no small task, as it takes a lot of time and resources to gather up all that decor. There is additionally a limit to how much decor can be placed outside, further limiting players’ options.
The fact that there are so few exteriors to choose from, yet Blizzard is now selling new ones for $40, isn’t exactly a great look. In my WoW: Midnight review, I remarked how the game’s housing decor grind felt like it would naturally turn players towards spending real money out of convenience, even if that wasn’t Blizzard’s intent. These new housing exteriors just drive that point home, as there literally aren’t good in-game alternatives. It remains to be seen if the price of these exteriors will be quickly adjusted like the previous controversial housing bundle, but for now, if you are desperate for an exterior home makeover, Blizzard is happy to sell you one.
Elsewhere in WoW, it’s been a bit of a rough last few weeks. The launch of the game’s latest content update was one long list of bugs and issues, leading to Blizzard offering an official apology and a pledge to “do better.”