Hearth & Hamlet: Master Your World of Warcraft Housing
Finding the perfect home in World of Warcraft's player housing can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Between tracking down available plots, figuring out which neighborhood subdivision you're standing in, and keeping tabs on your house's leveling progress, there's a lot to manage. That's exactly where Hearth & Hamlet comes in. This compact, thoughtfully designed addon transforms your housing experience from overwhelming to effortless, giving you all the information you need in one warm, accessible interface.
What Makes Hearth & Hamlet Essential for WoW Players
Hearth & Hamlet for World of Warcraft isn't just another interface addon—it's a complete housing companion. The addon solves one of the most frustrating problems players face: knowing exactly where you are. Guild neighborhoods often share the same name across multiple subdivisions, making it genuinely difficult to coordinate meetups with friends or guildmates. Hearth & Hamlet brings the neighborhood name and subdivision number together, so you always know which instance you're visiting and can direct others to the right place.
The addon displays your housing zone, neighborhood, subdivision when available, and subzone all at a glance. When WoW supplies the data, you'll also see the current plot number, owner, and interior visitor-access information. Expanding a house? Hearth & Hamlet identifies Founder's Point or Razorwind Shores directly in WoW's View Houses list. The minimap zone tooltip even shows neighborhood and subdivision details as you navigate.
Finding Your Ideal Plot with Hearth & Hamlet
Stumbled upon an occupied plot that perfectly matches your vision? The Find This Plot feature searches for that same plot number in an unowned state across other neighborhoods within the housing zone. You can search suggested guild subdivisions, public neighborhoods, or both simultaneously.
- Set a minimum neighborhood occupancy from 0 to 90 percent, with a default of 75 percent
- Include nearby available plots within an adjustable 50 to 200 yard range
- View occupancy and the target plot's claimed versus unclaimed rate across searched neighborhoods
- Visit returned plots directly from your search results
It's worth noting that occupancy measures claimed plots, not players currently online. The claim-rate statistics describe your current search sample rather than historical or realm-wide popularity. For players who want a streamlined installation experience, the foxygame.net launcher offers one-click installation of Hearth & Hamlet alongside automatic updates, ensuring you're always running the latest version without manual file management.
Tracking Your Home's Growth and Community Connections
Monitor Your House Leveling Progress
Hearth & Hamlet keeps you informed about your selected house's level, House XP, and progress toward the next level. Own two houses? Click the house selector to switch between them—your selection is remembered. The My Active Endeavor section stays tied to your account's active Endeavor while you travel, offering up to three activity suggestions using next-completion House XP and remaining cycle allowance when WoW exposes those values.
You can exclude dungeon, Mythic, raid, or PvP activities from suggestions, hide individual activities, or collapse the section entirely when you want a cleaner view.
Stay Connected with Friends and Guildmates
The Friends and Guildmates browser lets you search names, load available houses, and choose which home to visit. Friendly Battle.net names make the list easier to scan, and independent online and recent-activity filters help you find who's around. Cross-faction visits remain subject to WoW's house permissions and cooldowns, of course.
Optional shortcuts integrate with EmberHearth / Housing Log and Guestbook addons—though these are separately installed and not bundled. Each shortcut appears only when its companion addon is available, and you can hide either through Social settings.
Installation and Compatibility Across WoW Versions
Learning how to install Hearth & Hamlet is straightforward. You can download Hearth & Hamlet through CurseForge, or manually extract the HearthAndHamlet folder into your Retail Interface/AddOns directory. Restart WoW after manual installation so artwork loads properly. If upgrading from earlier HousingZoneIcons test builds, follow the README's saved-settings migration instructions and remove the old addon folder.
Regarding compatibility, Hearth & Hamlet currently supports Retail player housing only. While the addon doesn't extend to Classic, TBC, WotLK, Cataclysm, or MoP versions, its focused design ensures Retail players get a polished, reliable experience. The addon uses information WoW makes available—unavailable data is identified rather than guessed, maintaining transparency about what the game actually provides.
Customization and Command Options
Make Hearth & Hamlet your own by choosing whether Housing Details opens when entering a neighborhood or closes when leaving. Adjust search and social preferences, toggle interior-access information, and disable the minimap icon if you prefer alternative access methods. Settings are available through Escape → Options → AddOns → Hearth & Hamlet or by right-clicking the minimap icon.
Quick commands include /hh to show or hide Housing Details, /hh settings for the settings window, /hh options for WoW's native Settings category, /hh friends for the Friends and Guildmates browser, and /hh finder for Plot Finder.
Conclusion
Hearth & Hamlet transforms World of Warcraft housing from a confusing maze into an enjoyable, organized experience. Whether you're hunting for the perfect plot, tracking your home's growth, or coordinating visits with your community, this addon delivers exactly what you need without overwhelming you with unnecessary complexity. For Retail players invested in the housing system, Hearth & Hamlet is an invaluable companion that makes every neighborhood feel like home.