The developers of MMORPG World of Warcraft are back with a new blog post dedicated to the first look at housing, the long-awaited feature coming in the next expansion Midnight.
“The construction of the new Housing system in Azeroth is underway, and we’re taking you behind the scenes to give you an early look at what the Housing development team has been working on. Watch your step, and don’t mind the dust. Hard hats are not required.”
First, the developers outlining the feature’s main pillars to help the development team get on the same page before starting the work. While these pillars are broad in scope by their nature, they aren’t all-encompassing. Just because something isn’t mentioned in a pillar doesn’t mean it’s not important or isn’t part of the feature.
- Boundless Self-Expression: The highest priority is to allow players to build a house that shows off their own personal tastes or their Warband’s, acts as a desired backdrop for roleplaying, or just allows players to create something in a flight of fancy.
- Deeply Social: World of Warcraft is more fun with other players, and Housing should be no different. While players can enjoy housing purely on their own, its systems are designed at a fundamental level to encourage interacting, playing, and progressing with friends, neighbors, guilds, and the wider community in a meaningful way.
- Long-Lasting Journey: Housing is being built as an evergreen addition to the game, with its own roadmap, reaching across multiple patches and into future expansions. Housing isn’t something players should expect to “finish”, but instead continually look forward to the next housing release, be it new content or systems. This is a long-term commitment for the developers and offers players rewards all along the way.
There will be two Housing zones available at launch, one for Alliance and one for Horde, with more possible places to live in the future. The Alliance zone takes inspiration from Elwynn Forest with touches of Westfall and Duskwood, and the Horde’s is inspired by Durotar, its coastline, and Azshara.
Housing is designed to be primarily player-first and not revenue-first. Housing will offer hundreds and hundreds of decorations and house customizations via in-game rewards but will also offer a smaller number of items in the cash shop as well. This is comparable to how transmogs and pets are currently handled in game versus the shop.
“As a part of our focus on wide adoption, we wanted to ensure that Housing is available to everyone. If you want a house, you can have a house. No exorbitant requirements or high purchase costs, no lotteries, and no onerous upkeep (and if your subscription lapses, don’t worry, your house doesn’t get repossessed!). Your houses are also shared amongst your Warband with your different characters being able to come and go as you see fit (so your Orc character can hang out in your Alliance house without a problem). Housing rewards are also shared across your Warband, so you’ll be able to use your décor collection no matter which character earns it.
Furthermore, it’s not just Warbands that cross factional lines but friendships as well, so you’ll be able to live in or visit your friends’ or guildmates’ houses and their neighborhoods with minimal restrictions regarding faction. For example, while it’s not possible for your Human character to buy a house in the Horde zone, your Troll character in the same Warband can, and then your Human can use it as if it were their own.”
Lastly, the developers also teased the concept of Neighborhoods. Houses are organized into roughly fifty plot Neighborhoods, letting players live next to each other, work together, and share in the rewards of being part of the Neighborhood. These come in two flavors:
- Public Neighborhoods, which the game servers are responsible for creating as needed and maintaining.
- Private Neighborhoods created by groups of friends or guilds to inhabit, progress, and customize together.
