50 signatures reached
To: Blizzard / Activision
End Hearthsteel: Stop Blizzard from Hiding Real Prices Behind Fake Currencies
We, the players of World of Warcraft, demand that Blizzard Entertainment cancel the planned introduction of Hearthsteel, the newly revealed real-money currency for in-game housing items.
We are calling for:
- Full price transparency — items purchased with real money should always display their price in real-world currency.
- A permanent ban on secondary “real-money” currencies (like Hearthsteel) used to disguise pricing or create psychological spending barriers.
- A player-first monetization policy, ensuring all optional purchases are clearly labeled, honestly priced, and never hidden behind conversion systems.
- An acknowledgment from Blizzard that deceptive currency systems are incompatible with the trust and longevity of the World of Warcraft community.
Why is this important?
This is about rejecting manipulative design.
By introducing a new currency like Hearthsteel, Blizzard is deliberately creating a layer of obfuscation between players and their money. Fake currencies are a known tactic used to distort value perception, encourage impulse spending, and make it harder for players to track how much they’re actually paying.
World of Warcraft is not a free-to-play mobile app. It’s a subscription-based MMO built on transparency, fairness, and mutual respect between players and developers. Using a deceptive “premium currency” model betrays that trust.
When players can’t see real prices, Blizzard profits from confusion — not from quality content. That’s not the Blizzard legacy we grew up with.
We’re asking Blizzard to respect its community and treat players like adults, not data points. End the fake currency experiment before it damages the bond between the studio and the world it created.
We’ve put up with a lot of predatory monetization from blizzard and we’ve had enough.
Signed,
Players of the World of Warcraft Community
#NoHearthsteel #TransparencyInAzeroth #RealPricesOnly