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Blizzard is a company that has courted its fair share of controversy over the years. It is a company that even a lot of its own fans don’t really like, with them regularly calling out some of its practices.
Now though, Hearthstone fans in New Zealand have complained to their Member of Parliament about a new interactive pet feature in the game (and these are cosmetic and have no bearing on your play) that you can’t just buy. (The original post now no longer exists on the Blizzard forums, so we can’t link it for you but you can read the original story here.
Your eyes may already be rolling as you know what’s to come, but when King Krush arrives in the game in the patch earmarked for July 8th, the only way you can snag him is by a pull on a random in-game mechanic called the Darkmoon Faire Treasures – which is, effectively, say the critics, a slot machine.
Each time you play the machine, it will be stacked with 10 items, one of which is the pet – the others are virtual card backs, skins, and the like, but not the pet that you want. Your first pull is free, so you can land King Krush if you are lucky – be sure to let us know when you don’t manage that, but after that, each pull gets increasingly more expensive.
Blizzard even states, “the rarer the reward, the less likely you will get it,” which kind of explains what the word rare means, even though it is possible on your first pull, it could actually take you all 10 attempts.
In the stated odds, should you delve that far, Blizzard tells you that on the first pull, the chance of getting the pet is a huge 0.1% compared to 30% for the least rare item in the Darkmoon Faire Treasures. In fact, the odds are so blisteringly low, players have worked out that even if you have pulled eight times and managed to leave the two rarest items in the box (what are the chances, eh?), you will still have only a 6% chance of getting the pet, such is the weighting on that “50-50” pull. Mindblowing.
Wallets ready?
The game can only be played using Runestones (in game currency), and should you get to the last pull with just King Krush remaining, it will have cost you 158,000 Runestones, which equates to about $158.
Sure.
And that’s not even the real kicker. This Faire thing will come around again and again, so maybe again with a new pet next time, and then another. It doesn’t sound great.
The small print reads that the mechanism will not be available to under-18s in certain areas, presumably countries such as the Netherlands, which have laws against loot box exploitation of minors in place.
Darkmoon Faire Treasures isn’t due to land for a few weeks, and Blizzard says it is keen to hear fans’ opinions, but so far, it has not gone well. Will they change it? I’ll give you 10 pulls on my new game mechanic – nine say yes, the last says no. I wonder how that will pan out.
Darkmoon Faire treasures Simulator
If you want to try it yourself to see how difficult getting King Krush might be, this website has built a version of the game with the provided odds that you can play to see how long it will take and how much it will cost to snare him for yourself.
Published: Jun 26, 2025 04:17 am