Summary
- New achievements on the PTR hint at the next World of Warcraft expansion, with players earning bonus Traders Tender based on the edition they purchase.
- The upcoming expansion may be announced at Blizzcon, allowing players to pre-order and earn these achievements.
- Some players are concerned about the monetization of the Trading Post, fearing it may become more of a cash grab than a rewarding game activity.
New achievements have been discovered on the World of Warcraft Public Test Realm that reward bonus Traders Tender based on what version of the next expansion they purchase. This discovery is a huge hint that World of Warcraft may be gearing up to announce its next expansion soon.
Right now, World of Warcraft is testing Patch 10.1.7, Fury Incarnate, on the PTR ahead of its launch on September 5. This means that, in addition to the content players can publicly test, tons of development files are available for players to peruse using datamining tools.
Some of these hidden files point to a number of new Feats of Strength. While these achievements do not have names associated with them yet, they reference the currently-unnamed 10th expansion for World of Warcraft. According to the entries, players will earn 500 Traders Tender–the currency for the Trading Post–for purchasing the base version, 750 if they buy the Heroic version, or 1000 for getting the Epic Edition of the new expansion once it is announced.
World of Warcraft usually offers three editions to choose from for its expansions, each with higher costs and more rewards. Additionally, Blizzard usually puts the expansions up for pre-purchase almost immediately after announcing it. With Blizzcon in just over two months, many players suspect World of Warcraft is making preparations to announce the expansion pack after Dragonflight at the upcoming convention, after which players will be able to pre-order it and earn these achievements.
This is technically the third time players could get bonus Traders Tender through cash transactions. The first was by purchasing Dragonflight itself, and the second was via World of Warcraft’s controversial Corsage Pack, which granted a small stipend of the currency. Many players have concerns over the monetization of the Trading Post, and while a WoW expansion may qualify as a “major purchase” as defined by game director Ion Hazzikostas in an earlier interview, some fear Blizzard is on a path that will transform the Trading Post from a rewarding game activity to a cash grab.
The exact theme of this upcoming expansion is not yet known, but World of Warcraft may have hinted at what it could be with the Seafarer’s Pack–a cosmetic bundle full of exploratory and piratical collectible items. Players will have to wait until Blizzcon to see if their theories of a seafaring expansion come true, if Blizzard will announce it at the convention, and if bonus Traders Tender will be attached to the various editions.
World of Warcraft is available on PC.