Hearthstone



A hearthstone is an enchanted stone that can teleport the wielder to the location it is bound to, such as an inn. All characters receive a Hearthstone upon creation that returns them to their starting area. Asking an innkeeper to "make this inn your home" will set that as your new home location. Should the player destroy their hearthstone, they can recreate one by simply speaking to an innkeeper.

Background
Hearthstones are very rare objects. King Varian believed them to be only a legend, calling them "things heard only in stories concerning magi... or elves." A hearthstone owned by the night elf ambassador to Stormwind was coveted by Tyrande Whisperwind, Broll Bearmantle, and Thura. They intended to use it to return to Darnassus when Stormwind was attacked by the Emerald Nightmare. In the end, the group was ambushed and only Broll made it back.

Jaina Proudmoore gave Anduin Wrynn a hearthstone she had arranged to be created for him, bound to Jaina's tower in Theramore so that he could get away whenever his father was in one of his "Lo'Gosh moods". Jaina stated that such an object was rather rare. She explained that it would bring Anduin straight to her hearth and that the rune on the stone means "home". They also have runes that refer to the location they are set to - in this case, Jaina's name. Anduin assumed that it was purely magical, which Jaina confirmed. As it was apparently bound to her, she instructed him to hold it tightly in his hand and focus, to "take the stone into himself" and make it his. As she placed her hand over his, a faint blue light lined both their hands. Anduin concentrated, and Jaina could feel the binding of the stone shift from her to him. The prince later used the hearthstone to escape Ironforge when it fell under the control of the Dark Iron clan. Years later, Anduin attuned the stone to Stormwind instead. At one point after the Argus Campaign, he used it to quietly return to Stormwind after a visit to Darnassus. During the War of the Thorns, he gave the hearthstone to Tyrande Whisperwind, allowing her to save her husband Malfurion from Darkshore and transport him to Stormwind.

Both the Alliance and Horde have lent hearthstones to adventurers to allow speedy relocation to areas in need of help. One such adventurer found in Tanaan Jungle wrote in his journal about how he planned to kill ravagers and stockpile their hides before hearthing back to Ashran.

The paladin Gidwin Goldbraids lent an adventurer so that they could return to Light's Hope Chapel. Vol'jin's Hearthstone was bound to The Den in Durotar. After barely surviving Garrosh Hellscream's assassination attempt, Vol'jin gave the hearthstone to an adventurer so that they could go seek Thrall for help.

According to legend, Bryher Stonekeeper ran a prosperous tavern near Loch Modan. His daughter, Keelin, traveled far from home, eventually developing the kind of reputation that embarrassed her father. Bryher made a deal with a gnome warlock to keep his daughter close to home. The warlock turned Keelin into a hearthstone, so that she would always return to the inn. The small stone found through archeology resembled a hearthstone. It was warm to the touch and made very faint giggling noises at inopportune moments, which may confirm the story.

The Hearthsteed, a mount rumored to be chiseled from the same rare mineral as hearthstone themselves, bears a striking resemblance to every adventurer's most useful item. A construct of exquisite craftsmanship awash in a mystical blue glow, its rocky exterior just barely manages to contain the power that lurks within.

In World of Warcraft
A player's hearthstone is a key adventuring item in the game. Upon moving to a new area or reaching a new continent's capital city, players will often want to bind their hearthstone to the local inn to allow efficient travel back to the area. Among the most common times to use it are:
 * after completing special events like the Darkmoon Faire or holiday activities;
 * before or after visiting capital cities to make use of the auction house, bank, profession trainers, and chat and trade with other players;
 * after finishing a "one-off" quest with no follow-up;
 * to aid in a quest tasking the player to travel a long way or to many locations;
 * returning from an in-person visit to an instance;
 * to save a few minutes of walking back to the quest giver after completing a set of quest objectives.

Item usage details
Activating the teleportation effect:
 * After using a hearthstone, it has a cooldown of 30 minutes. This cooldown continues even if the player is logged off.
 * The guild perk Hasty Hearth reduces this cooldown to 15 minutes.
 * A hearthstone has a 10 second Cast time.
 * A hearthstone can be used during combat; however, the casting will be interrupted if the user takes any damage.
 * Being hit will not interrupt the casting of a Hearthstone if the player is immune to the type of damage caused by the hits. As such, Bubble Hearthing is possible for paladins.
 * A Hearthstone can be used while sitting or laying down.

Working with innkeepers to manage hearthstone "bind points":
 * Players can talk to an innkeeper at any inn to change their bind point (the place the hearthstone will teleport them to once it's activated). Sometimes the "inn" is simply a small tent or rest area. Rarely, the "innkeeper" is simply an object that shows the hearthstone icon when hovered with the mouse, not a person.
 * [[File:pointer hearth on 32x32.png]] interact with innkeeper [[File:pointer hearth off 32x32.png]] innkeeper out of range


 * The hearthstone is initially bound to the starting zone of the player. Specifically, the very spot that the character was initially created. There is no way to set a hearthstone back to this location once changed.
 * If a hearthstone is destroyed, any innkeeper can provide a new one to the character, but it will be bound to that inn rather than the location of the one that was destroyed.

Similar items
Several items in the game have an effect similar to that of a hearthstone. The following ones share a cooldown with a regular hearthstone, essentially acting as a cosmetic change to the typical tool: Abilities that behave similarly to hearthstones without sharing a cooldown also exist, but are much rarer or more restricted:
 * The Innkeeper's Daughter, a rare Dwarven Archaeology find.
 * Ruby Slippers, a drop from the Wizard of Oz Encounter in Karazhan.
 * Ethereal Portal, a TCG item.
 * Dark Portal (TCG), another TCG item.
 * Tome of Town Portal, from the Diablo's 20th Anniversary world event. See also the Scroll of Town Portal below.
 * Headless Horseman's Hearthstone, from the Hallow's End world event.
 * Greatfather Winter's Hearthstone, from the Winter's Veil world event.
 * Lunar Elder's Hearthstone, from the Lunar Festival world event.
 * Peddlefeet's Lovely Hearthstone, from the Love is in the Air world event.
 * Noble Gardener's Hearthstone, from the Noblegarden world event.
 * Fire Eater's Hearthstone, from the Midsummer Fire Festival world event.
 * Brewfest Reveler's Hearthstone, from the Brewfest world event.
 * Scourgestone (death knight), provided to death knights in place of the usual hearthstone. This only returns them to Acherus: The Ebon Hold, the only friendly inn before completing the introductory quest chain, after which they can acquire a real hearthstone by talking to any innkeeper.
 * Eternal Traveler's Hearthstone, from purchasing Shadowlands Epic Edition
 * Scroll of Town Portal, the counterpart to the Tome of Town Portal, from the Diablo's 20th Anniversary world event. It has no cooldown and is consumed upon use.
 * Scribes can make and use stacks of of various levels. They have a 20-minute cooldown, and one scroll is consumed on each use.
 * Astral Recall, a Shaman spell, has a default cooldown of 10 minutes.
 * Warlords of Draenor introduced the Garrison Hearthstone, a special hearthstone with a cooldown separate from the normal one. However, it can only return the player to his or her Garrison.
 * Legion provided a similar Dalaran Hearthstone to players upon entering the new continent, which again has a separate cooldown and only returns to that one location.
 * Vulpera characters can use their Make Camp racial ability to create a campsite in any outdoors location that acts as a rest area and can be teleported back to using Return to Camp (racial), which has a 1-hour cooldown.
 * A number of items and spells can teleport players to specific locations, which may avoid the need for a player to bind their hearthstone in that area.

It is possible to bind the hearthstone to a capital/hub city with many permanent portals, allowing access to many different continents through a single hearthstone location. During expansions in which the hub cities are not Orgrimmar and Stormwind, low-level characters can reach that city with the help of a friendly mage's portal spell, and they can use their hearthstones to return to the city later, then take a portal to a desired destination. This is sometimes done for alts for accessibility to cities far away from each other. However, since the hearthstone is committed to that one location, it becomes less useful and flexible for the smaller-scale movement an alt might be doing while questing.

Recommended home locations
While leveling, players usually set their hearthstones either to a major city close to their questing zone, or individual inn locations where the quests revolve around. The capital allows for quick shifts in focus such as pausing questing to partake in holiday events or meeting with other players, while local locations allow hearthstones to be used "tactically" for short trips within a questing zone. Such hearthstones can still ease travel on the return trip from a capital city, of course.

For max level characters, those with fast flying mounts, or others not focused on questing and short-distance movement, ease of travel throughout the world is the priority. During most expansions, there is typically one "hub" city with many permanent portals to various continents, so players will want to bind their hearthstone in that hub, unless they have some other tool to get there such as the Dalaran Hearthstone. See Portal (city) for a list of past and present portal connections out of hub cities.

Level to level, if a player wishes to bind their hearthstone to a central location rather than local quest hubs, these locations often serve well:

For the Alliance
 * Levels 5-10:
 * Goldshire (Elywynn Forest)
 * Dolanaar (Teldrassil)
 * Azure Watch (Azuremyst Isles)
 * Kharanos (Dun Morogh)
 * Levels 10-20:
 * Sentinel Hill (Westfall)
 * Lor'danel (Darkshore)
 * Blood Watch (Bloodmyst Isles)
 * Thelsamar (Loch Modan)
 * Levels 20-58: Ironforge, Stormwind, Darnassus
 * Levels 58-68: Shattrath City (Outland)
 * Levels 68-74: Valiance Keep or Valgarde (Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord, respectively)
 * Levels 74-80: Dalaran (Northrend)
 * Levels 80-85: Stormwind (for the Cataclysm zone portals)
 * Levels 85-90: Shrine of Seven Stars (Vale of Eternal Blossoms)
 * Levels 90-100: Stormshield (Ashran)
 * Levels 100-110: Any questing area. Use Dalaran Hearthstone to get to Dalaran (Broken Isles) instead of your hearthstone.
 * Levels 110-120: Boralus (Kul Tiras)

For the Horde
 * Levels 5-10:
 * Razor Hill (Durotar)
 * Brill (Tirisfal Glades)
 * Bloodhoof Village (Mulgore)
 * Falconwing Square / Fairbreeze Village (Eversong Woods)
 * Levels 10-20:
 * Crossroads (Northern Barrens)
 * The Sepulcher / Forsaken High Command (Silverpine Forest)
 * Tranquillien (Ghostlands)
 * Bilgewater Harbor (Azshara)
 * Levels 20-58: Orgrimmar, Undercity
 * Levels 58-68: Shattrath City (Outland)
 * Levels 68-74: Warsong Hold or Vengeance Landing (Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord, respectively)
 * Levels 74-80: Dalaran (Northrend)
 * Levels 80-85: Orgrimmar (for the Cataclysm zone portals)
 * Levels 85-90: Shrine of Two Moons (Vale of Eternal Blossoms)
 * Levels 90-100: Warspear (Ashran)
 * Levels 100-110: Any questing area. Use Dalaran Hearthstone to get to Dalaran (Broken Isles) instead of your hearthstone.
 * Levels 110-120: Dazar'alor (Zandalar)

Removed functionality
During the World of Warcraft alpha, hearthstone functionally was made available by a spell called "Word of Recall".

Until patch 3.1.0, it was possible to "trick" the game into teleporting characters to their hearthstone point while it was on cooldown. A player would create a group with someone else, zone into an easily accessible instance (such as the Stockade), then pass the group lead to the other person and leave the group. The system would then teleport them to their hearthstone point as an invalid group member. This technique was known as "ghetto hearthing". Post-patch, the game transports such characters to the nearest graveyard instead of to the hearthstone location. At this time, the cooldown of a hearthstone was also lowered to 30 minutes, reducing the motivation for such tricks.

In other Blizzard games
The digital card game Hearthstone is named after the famous stone. The game itself takes place in an inn and is narrated by the innkeeper who welcomes back returning players upon logging in. The trademark Hearthstone swirl also serves as the game's logo.

Hearthstones can also be found in the team brawler Heroes of the Storm, where it serves a similar purpose to that in World of Warcraft, to teleport the player back to the Hall of Storms.

Trivia

 * A Hearthstone plushie was available at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con.
 * The release of Hearthstone has seen the creation of an extensive range of both official and third-party merchandise featuring Hearthstones or the Hearthstone design, including plushies, t-shirts, mugs and phone cases.

Patch changes