World of Warcraft's cash shop continues to expand, and Blizzard is now selling a bundle containing two treehouse-themed house skins for $40. The "House System" is the latest and most important new feature of "World of Warcraft". It has been officially implemented with the recently launched "Midnight" expansion pack (however, pre-order players experienced some of the content in advance at the end of last year). As early as February this year, Blizzard had begun selling paid props related to the house, such as a set of surprisingly low-priced plush toy decorations.
However, this "low price strategy" soon ended.
In March, Blizzard began selling the decorative trees individually for 750 Hearthsteel (about $7.50), as well as in pricey bundles. Unsurprisingly, player backlash forced Blizzard to quickly lower the price.
And now, a new "price shock" has emerged again: Blizzard has launched a house skin bundle containing two treehouse-style skins for $40; and another package for $75 that includes these skins and a lot of decorations. Both are the most expensive housing microtransactions to date, and players can't purchase either appearance individually.
It's no surprise that Blizzard continues to sell house props, but these pricings are clearly at odds with its previous commitments to players.
Last year, when data mining revealed that Blizzard planned to introduce a new paid currency called "Hearthsteel" to the housing system, officials came out to explain that this currency would help players purchase different amounts of "cheap" items more "efficiently" - the key is the word "cheap". Additionally, Blizzard has made it clear that most housing items should be obtained in-game rather than purchased in the store.
That's why this appearance bundle is causing dissatisfaction. World of Warcraft itself requires players to buy expansion packs and pay a monthly fee, and Blizzard has been adding microtransactions for more than a decade. But when it comes to the housing system, officials have signaled that “different strategies will be adopted.”
What really makes players dissatisfied is that while the available house appearances in the game are extremely limited, Blizzard has begun to sell new appearances at high prices. Currently, there are only two basic templates available for each camp.
While players can customize to a certain degree by adding windows, building towers, changing roof shapes and colors, etc., the default options are still very limited. In theory, players can use a lot of time and creativity to transform the house into a completely different look using the decoration system, but this requires a large investment of time and resources, and the number of decorations that can be placed outside is also limited, further limiting the space for play.
In this situation of "scarcity of optional content", Blizzard is selling a new house appearance for $40, which really doesn't look good. The appearance bundle launched this time further strengthens this feeling, because there are few suitable alternatives in the game.
It's unclear whether the prices for these cosmetics will be slashed as quickly as previous controversial packs. But at least now, if you're in a hurry to "reskin" your house, Blizzard is ready to charge you.
Additionally, things haven't been going well for World of Warcraft in recent weeks. Frequent problems and bugs occurred after the latest content update went online, eventually forcing Blizzard to issue an official apology and promise to "do better."
