We've reposted this from December 2019 due to a client bug which results in seeing information on Arcane Orbs and Runestones.
We've been hard at work going through today's huge patch and we've come across some interesting new currencies in Hearthstone!
UPDATE: Looks like this is a China-only currency, as previously speculated. A blog post in China, that was not previously available, showcases it. One hell of a way to get around loot box stuff, Blizzard.
Now, before we get into this, please understand that everything that follows this sentence is datamined information and is subject to change.
What Are Arcane Orbs and Runestones?
Arcane Orbs and Runestones are both new currencies related to the Hearthstone shop. Here's what we know about them.
- Prior to today's patch, there have been no references to either Arcane Orbs and Runestones.
- You can use both currencies to purchase different types of items in the new in-game shop.
- There are separate sections in the shop to use Arcane Orbs and Runestones.
Arcane Orbs
- Arcane Orbs can purchase Card Packs.
- You can earn Arcane Orbs through quests and events.
- There is a cap to how many Arcane Orbs you can own, encouraging spending. Cap appears to be 9999.
- There is a quest called "Embrace the Arcane" that rewards you with 180 Arcane Orbs for playing 3 games in any mode.
Runestones
- Runestones can purchase Arcane Orbs, Heroes, Adventures, or Arena Tickets.
- Runestones can be converted into Arcane Orbs at an unknown rate.
- Runestones can be purchased with real currency.
- They appear to be unearnable in-game.
Outside of the information above, we aren't sure what the plan is for Arcane Orbs and Runestones.
- It is possible they could be a region-specific currency to get around loot box laws.
- With them being available from quests and events, the currencies will be used to catch players up on older content.
- No references to card backs tells us it is unlikely they are here to bring back unobtained card backs.
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 23 - Day 13 [Finished]](the-great-dark-beyond-day-13.webp)
Comments
That is on purpose, obviously, and not only Blizzard does this. Hell, not only game companies do this.
Ok so after reading the update yes, by the end of the day, it was a country limited currency. China-only; fine by me. I can sit a bit less worried at this point.
Thanks again for the coverage, Flux and team
Dissapointment- China only..
Really wish they will rework the current system though..
People are of course free to downvote posts as much as they want, but -22 for a post as innocent as this? Really?
phew, crisis averted,
Does this mean that Chinese players can't buy adventures for gold anymore? Or is this just a direct purchase circumvention?
I'm more confused about them not being able to buy arena tickets. That seems like a really strange decision.
So a since "playing 3 games in any mode" is 60g quest, I suppose we can reasonably infer a 3:1 Orbs to Gold ratio. So the real question for me and (I expect) for all the F2P people out there: if you use orbs to buy packs, are those packs going to cost 300 orbs? More? Less? Truly I guess the question is: is this slapping a new veneer onto the existing economy (I doubt it), or is it going to be making the game cheaper/more expensive to play?
My guess based on what info you've got here: they'll keep the gold/orbs economy the same (amount rewarded for quests, etc./costs of packs, etc.), and offer better exchange rates for the runestones in expectation that people will spend more money on the currencies you can't actually acquire in-game. So right now it's what $50 for 40 packs - maybe it will only cost the equivalent of $45 in runestones for those same packs. When faced with what amounts to lower prices vs exact same grind rate, people might just spend a little money they might not have otherwise.
But as you said this is all conjecture so will be watching this to see how it shakes out once they officially announce.
I'm surprised and amazed that finally they're going to completly rework the obsolet economic system of HS. That was both unexpected and very nice.
Overall looks like a more eloquent way of doing what they had to do for China. Buying a Runestone feels much more thematic than buying dust and getting a pack that I turn into dust.
As someone who hoards quite a bit of gold (24k by the time DoD is live), I dislike the idea that the new currency system will have a cap.
I am worried. Very worried, but also curious.
It would seem pretty strange that with all the customer friendly changes we got so far they'd suddenly introduce a pay2win/premium currency feature that isn't needed.
Runestones make sense because paying for each arena run in cash is a really awkward mechanic (although introducing a middleman currency technically carries some....scammy tendencies)
I guess we'll see how it turns out. As pointed out this could just be something to circumvent lootbox laws in a more elegant fashion (which isn't a scummy move, because card packs aren't really the same as actual lootboxes)
Either way, I doubt they would introduce Adventures that grant new cards only to immediately hide them behind a strict paywall.
I guess we'll find out soon enough. If this really is just a blatant ripoff then we have yet another reason to just quit the game for good.
I don't know if I should be worried or not. It depends on who designed the new model: I trust the people working on Hearthstone, but I don't trust Acti-Blizz upper management.
A different currency alone won't satisfy lootbox laws: they'd have to change how packs work, for example showing what the next pack would contain and then refresh those contents every few hours.
Personally, I like the model that Faeria adopted: you get random cards, but no duplicates. So you can get a full collection by opening a few dozen instead of a few hundred packs.
I guess the true question is; are these currencies going to entirely replace gold? Are packs the only way to spend Arcane Orbs, and, if they are, does this mean F2P will be now permanently relegated to Ranked, Casual, Battlegrounds and Brawl, excluding both Arena and new Adventures? To put it more bluntly; are Arcane Orbs a way of helping HS's economy or a way to tilt it even more towards the typical freemium mobile market?
Would love to have more clarity on this stuff, but I guess we will have to wait a while for it. Either way, great job on the coverage
Edit: And yes, there's also the possibility that this is Activision's way of gearing up for loot-boxes ban and specific countries' laws
Hope for a much needed currency redo.. Make the game more accessible.. Maybe..
Slightly worrying that there’s the potential for a premium currency now in the game. Just hope they’re not using the recent update to cover this up a bit, since a good few things people have been asking for will now be available
If this becomes a global thing, Blizzard will without a doubt put up a blog post about it when either the new shop goes live, or when they activate the currency.
Interesting Read, this could be something big for good or bad. Hope it is not the later one