New decor in the shop - Turn your home into a haven and your wallet into a ghost town

Spring is nearly here!

Blizzard announced two brand new Decor Packs arriving to the shop, and they're bursting with colour and life. Whether you're the type to hang flower baskets from every beam or to scatter gnome statues across your garden (no judgement), there's something here for you.

The decor packs

Spring Blossom Decor Pack

The Spring Blossom Decor Pack brings nature-inspired items to your collection:

• 4x …
• 4x …
• 4x …
• 2x …
• 3x …
• 4x …

Lush Garden Decor Pack

The Lush Garden Decor Pack is more whimsical and earthy and adds these items to your collection:

• 4x …
• 4x …
• 4x …
• 4x …
• 4x …
• 4x …
• 1x …
• 8x …
• 2x …

The hearthsteel question

Both packs are priced at 2500 each and are available through April 23.

Now, I love getting new decor, and these packs are genuinely lovely. But if you want these items, you better open your wallet.

Housing is such a popular feature now - it feels a little predatory to be adding shop items like this without any in-game reward equivalent, particularly when we just had Lunar Festival and Love is in the Air without any decor items!

Take the Lush Garden pack: it includes some easter-like decorated eggs that would instead feel perfectly at home as Noble Garden rewards - the in-game spring celebration that's right around the corner. Historically, seasonal events have been a way for players to earn cosmetic items through participation.

Tying seasonal aesthetics to real-money purchases rather than in-game celebrations feels like a missed opportunity to make the event itself more rewarding for housing enthusiasts.

Furthermore there's the question of buying repeat items - you shell out your 5000 and then if you need more, you'll need to buy the items again with hearthsteel.

This is fundamentally different from mounts (which are a one-time purchase) and transmogs (which you then apply with in-game gold). Decor items need to be bought and placed individually.

If you're building a floral-themed house, you'd likely want to use more than the four … that the pack gives you - so off to the shop you go to spend your hearthsteel.

A possible solution?

The community loves housing, and we understand that making and maintaining a game is expensive and everything we spend is funding future development, but it feels a little like our wallets are being squeezed out.

Why not introduce a few vendors that sell items that you've bought in the shop for gold? It's a good middle-ground and it feels way less predatory.

My take?

The decor itself is beautiful, and we'll no doubt see some stunning homes come out of these pieces. Blizzard's art team always knocks it out of the park.

But I'd love to see a future where at least some of this seasonal flair is earnable in-game through seasonal events.

Where can I buy these items?

Both packs are available now through April 23, via the in-game shop and Battle.net shop. Individual items can also be purchased separately.