Earlier today, the New Grimtide Housing bundles were added to the Battle.net shop for Hearthsteel, a real-money currency. Many players are upset, as this decor is very Kul Tiran-themed and it's only purchasable for real-money. Some decor items in this bundle feature prominent sea theming, such as a tentacle and an anchor, while others give off the spooky manor vibe, similar to Waycrest Manor in Drustvar.
Grimtide Display AnchorGrimtide Tentacle
The House itself also gives off a Kul Tiran aesthetic on the outside and looks like it would probably fit in to Boralus, while the inside has a giant Kraken-like tentacled monster.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
To many players, this feels like a Kul Tiran house and many players are upset that this house is being sold for Hearthsteel, otherwise known as real money. Hearthsteel converts to Real-Money at a 100 Hearthsteel to $1 USD ratio, making this house cost $25 USD alone.
Blizzard's stated philosophies and guiding principles regarding Hearthsteel were laid out in a blog from November 6th, 2025.
BlizzardAt the top level, our main priority is making Housing fun and player-friendly, something that can be enjoyed by players of all kinds. To that end, here are a number of our guiding principles:
The VAST majority of Housing items are (and will continue to be) earnable in-game. Only a small fraction is available for purchase from the shop. Comparing this number against collectibles such as mounts is a good metric here, with more than a thousand mounts earnable in-game and only a few dozen from the shop.
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.
All Housing items in the shop will be available for individual purchase. While we’ll sometimes offer sales on bundles of items for a limited time, you shouldn’t feel like you have to spend money NOW or risk missing something you want.
Similarly, the costs of items are designed to align with Hearthsteel offer amounts in a player-friendly way. Buying Hearthsteel at the amount you want lets you purchase the items you want without requiring you to think about which packs should be added together to minimize leftovers.
The shop User Interface (UI) is straight-forward and easy to understand.
Hearthsteel should integrate cleanly into the existing Battle.net economy. This means not just being able to purchase it in-game, on the web, or in the launcher, but it should also be compatible with the normal flow of the WoW Token, letting you earn gold in game and then use that gold to ultimately purchase Hearthsteel via the WoW Token.
Hearthsteel is for Housing. We currently have no plans to use it for the Trading Post, mounts, transmogs, or pets.
Many players are upset at the second point: Housing items that are tied to core fantasies of a player's race (or class) won't be sold in the shop. As this feels very much like a Kul Tiran house, many Kul Tiran players and other members of the community are upset that this breaks the philosophy that Blizzard stated almost one year ago, especially after the number of bugs that caused issues during the recent Patch 12.1.5 launch.
It is possible that this house was supposed to be Talebound-related, rather than Kul Tiran-related, but this is now how it's been perceived by the community. Talebound is also over a month away from the expected launch and players haven't even gotten their hands on it to try it, with the first test occurring this Friday.
Lastly, there's only been one other exterior sold on the Battle.net shop before: the Cozy Treehouse Retreat Bundle. This cost $75 for 2 Exteriors and a lot of decor or just the Exteriors for $40. These exteriors feature the generic theme of spring, versus the very specific WoW theme of Kul Tirans or the Drust. Considering that there are two exteriors in this pack, that would make each about $20, which is cheaper than the newest one at $25.
