What's so interesting about player-controlled housing to you?
by Krystalle Voecks 
Apr 24th 2007 at 11:00AM
![[I can see it now! You can cook here, and I'll fight crime over here!]](http://www.blogcdn.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/2007/04/guildhall_curtains.jpg)
Much like many of you, I've been playing WoW since the start. In the two-plus years that have passed, my bank has become a bit cluttered with mementos; tabards, pets, and in the case of my rogue, the entire set of Dungeon Set 2 (or Tier .5) armor. At the time the set was completed it was a real achievement to me and to my small guild. Despite the fact that my rogue also happens to be an enchanter, and I could seriously use the Large Brilliant Shards and Nexus Crystals, I just can't bring myself to shard the set. Never mind that I know I'll only ever wear it again for looks, if that. (Did I mention the collection of festival dresses I have?)
Why? Call me sentimental, but a lot of those items represent gaming milestones to me. Keeping them has meant that I've had to spend free time farming the mats for the 18-slot-bags. It also has made me stay on top of my inventory at all times, which is a good thing in a lot of respects. But there's a reason for the madness. It's something I dream of, and I hope that the Blizzard Devs will consider if (or when) they implement housing...
What my little roguey heart goes pit-a-pat for is housing with the ability to display things like suits of armor, trinkets, tabards, pets, and other things that have sentimental value to the player in question. It would be especially cool if you could add a small note to the item - like a small placard in a gallery - so that whoever hovered over it saw your personal commentary. I realize that were you to do it for a full guild, you would likely have to put in some control that made those items only available to the player in question to avoid account hacking problems. Additionally, for a large guild you would have to script in some method whereby the game would randomly rotate gear/tabards/etc. That said, a personal house would most likely be best in the interest of keeping the design fairly simple in comparison.
So, for those of you who are dreaming of Guild or Player housing, what precisely is it that you want to see player-controlled housing do? Is it just so you can have a place for you to rest and call your own? Or are you, like me, seeking a place to show your personal trophies to the rest of Azeroth as opposed to leaving them to gather dust in the bank?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Pingmeister Apr 24th 2007 11:15AM
I think having a house to decorate is a great idea. I enjoyed my homes in DAoC.
However, I sure hope that they don't give too many functional options for the houses.
In DAoC they allowed folks to add forges and merchants, etc. and almost immediately the main cities were deserted.
I enjoy walking through Stormwind with a bazillion people milling about.
Jenet Apr 24th 2007 11:19AM
Frankly, I'd love to see guild housing with a guild wide quest giver, perhaps similar to the AQ opening where you give materials to him. And as you turn stuff in, your guild tabard gets buffed. So, say you turn in 1000 netherweave bandages, if you wear the guild tabard, it gives a +5 stamina bonus. You could make it configurable by the GL, where you get X amount of points to spend, and can put it in various things, like training a hunter pet. So, if your guild is going to MC, you can have a +20 FR +10 stam tabard. Granted, this isn't very guild housing centric... it's just a guild wide thing I'd love to particpate in.
Mogal Apr 24th 2007 11:22AM
I know for myself personally I would love to have something like this. Right now I have my full t1, full t2, and my Staff of shadow flame sitting in my bank because I could never get rid of those items. It took me so long to get it and the sence of accomplishment that I had once I recieved the last piece to complete a set or the day that damn staff finally dropped after my like 50th Nef kill was a great feeling. To be able to put those things up somewhere for me to look at once in a while would be a great addidtion to this game.
Flit Apr 24th 2007 11:25AM
No crafting equipment (forges), no AH, no general goods vendors. Maybe a guild "lockbox" that has to be quested for, instead of a guild bank. Focus on guild acheivements, like a log of bosses taken down, how many times, and the list time killed. Possibly a bulletin board for run dates (currently my guild uses guild portal, a sketchy solution), And ability to decorate using things like onexia's head or whatever.
Keystone Apr 24th 2007 11:28AM
I play on a PvP server, and the one thing I miss the most about housing from Ultima Online was the PvP battles that took place around houses.
In Ultima Online the houses were also part of the actual world, not instanced, so property had a location value added to it as well. A small house located close to town was worth more than a mansion out in the desert.
I also liked that players could place vendors in their houses, so people could actually roam around looking for that special vendor with dirt cheap prices, buy the goods, then travel to town and re-sell at a profit.
I know the auction house makes the vendor possibility obsolete, and the WoW world wouldn't stand up to non-instanced housing. I just hope that if / when they implement player housing that the "instanced" areas allow for PvP action. Some of my fondest memories of UO were from the small house I paid a fortune for that was located in a popular player-ran town. I couldn't walk around my neighborhood without a group of murderers chasing me. Sometimes I would hide inside the local pizzeria, or make it to the safe area of my house; however, sometimes I would bite the dust... Ahhh, good times!
Deadley Apr 24th 2007 11:36AM
Guild Housing is a great idea, and being able to customize or decorate it's look could be nice while recruiting.
Guest Passes could be handed out like one-use tokens to non-guilded players. They could come in have a look around etc.
Additional storage at ones Guild House would always be welcome, like a guildies Foot locker, and a Vault for Guild Officers, to store non-binding items.
There could be raid or Dungon quest for Guild Home upgrades, such as Major City Portals, Guild Mascots, Crafting Devices like mana lumes or forges.
Ryan Apr 24th 2007 11:45AM
This is the dumbest damn idea ever. Someone said it best on the forums... if you want houses in a video game, go play Second Life... the game for people that don't have a First Life.
BoBoTheChimp Apr 24th 2007 11:49AM
I think housing is a great idea. Instancing would be great to keep those you don't want in, out. They could be linked to a larger Guild Hall or something any only guild members (or those given permission-like the previous writer's token idea) would have access to them. I remember back in 03 when I played Shadowbane they had a system set up where a guild could actually build a city. Only problem with that was it took forever to build and anyone could attack and destroy it. Therefore you had to "hire" NPC's to patrol your city and fend off attackers. On top of that you had to constantly put money in each building for "upkeep".
This leads to a whole new level of Tomfoolery...I remember my RL freinds (who were in my guild) took all the money out of the buildings before they quit playing the game (our guild leader was a bitch, she had it coming, but I had no part in it). Point is, I hope Blizzard shys away from this sort of thing
Todd Apr 24th 2007 11:51AM
Player housing in FFXI was a fun time-and-money sink. Very few time sinks are fun, but this one was (in a game of time sinks) a blast. Different furniture gave the character different meta-game buffs (little things that built to big things) and fed sales of tradeskill items.
Additionally - there were very specific trades you could only do in your house - like horticulture. I'd often drive my wife a little nuts waking up at 5am for a harvest of something i'd invested a lot of money in.
The trophy idea rocks - being able to put benediction over the mantle would be cool.
desfaber Apr 24th 2007 12:02PM
@2 - Great idea!
Coming from a small guild that runs instances together - all the way from RFC up - I'd definitely like there to be some kind of trophy system for guild houses.
Who wouldn't want a room where they could display all the victories they've won - who wouldn't want the heads of Gahz'rilla mounted on their wall? Princess Theradras' sandals? Thermaplugg's spanner? Just something that shows that you've done those instances and that you never have to do them again.
Hank Apr 24th 2007 12:11PM
I only want one thing-an integrated guild calendar. I want to be able to post what instance runs I'd like to make, and arrange availability and such for when they could be done.
Anything else is optional. Maybe a banner with a list of major bosses downed. But that's something we'd like others to see, isn't it?
Matt Apr 24th 2007 11:57AM
@ 7
Why are you against it?
I think it's a cool little idea, just as long as it's not too ridiculous.
Metaphyzxx Apr 24th 2007 11:58AM
I'd like to see the guild system somewhat reformatted accordingly with guild housing. Maybe allow guilds to have levels, and have the "guild house" be the point that guild quests are turned in to level up the guild. Maybe a L1 guild could only have a certain number of members and a shack. An L2 guild would get an additional officer spot, a Stronghold or something and (obviously) a greater number of members. L3 would have an increase in all the above, plus the tabard has stats. Maybe later, get guild vendors and guild "rep grinds". Maybe it'll be a solution to equipment dyes... Have a set of guild colors, and when the guild is high enough level for a piece of gear, it's configured in guild colors... That'd ease up on the pink guilds, if nothing else...
Drakar24 Apr 24th 2007 12:07PM
Absolutely no interest in this. Guilds can show off by the loot they have. Trophys? I'd rather get a rare tabard or pet. Really, what are you gonna do in a guild house? Party? Bah! I'd rather be fighting in Kara.
Oldbear Apr 24th 2007 12:10PM
Does no one remember UO and the cluster (and I do mean cluster) that personal housing became - the Barrens would no longer be barren... Just like RL urban sprawl became such a problem that the wilderness gone...
Don't get me wrong, I'm no tree hugger - I just want to kill the giant stag in peace - without some vendor yelling at me to buy his masters crap.
I like the idea - if it was like an instance - not taking up huge space... Barren's chat already makes my eyes bleed - I don't need someone talking about how Chuck Norris does something in their house...
mr_disco Apr 24th 2007 12:12PM
I played Galaxies for a while, and was part of a payer-city called Brightstar. I loved the fact that you could form areas that were player made. Someone mentioned it earlier but I'd like to see a "guild center", maybe like a palace or castle and everyone in the guild could have a room, and with $ you could add on to multiple rooms. A trophy room (guild-wide and personal) would be sweet! Like in your trophy room, it starts as a small display and you can pay to enlarge it to display more items at one time. And the Guild Trophy room would be HUGE, like the main hall. And in there either Guild battles, or Bosses heads and epic drops could be displayed. Suits of armor and maybe even guard NPCs for decoration would be cool as well... There are thousands of beautiful places around Azeroth, a Guild Hall could be guild-personal and add more unique play to the game.
Zequel Apr 24th 2007 12:22PM
I'd love guild housing, probably need it instanced off IF/Shatt City, you'd zone into your own guild house. Decorations on your wall based on guild kills.
Blizz could allow different options to add things to the house depending on the number of active players/guild achievements (PVP and PVE)/rent paid.
Maybe a hottub (30 min buff to stam/spirit)?
How about a cooler for mage water/food (1 hr duration till they poof)?
A common guild bank with officer access, or a special section that requires 2 officers to access it.
1st server kills receive special enhancements.
It'd be a fun place to host guild activities.
Sarah Apr 24th 2007 12:13PM
I could get my sister to play if they had houses to decorate, she's a huge Sims fan, it'd be like animal crossing with killing and stuff ;)
mr_disco Apr 24th 2007 12:15PM
oh and NO VENDORS! I too don't want to see the Cities die off... imagine a door in a major city is the instance to your Guild HQ. Not an actual Ginormous castle sticking out in the barrens.
Todd Apr 24th 2007 12:16PM
Houses will probably cost 20,000 gold and 300 level "carpentry" or "real estate" skill once all this launches. Getting to the 300 skill will still cost 5,000 gold.