Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsMore ideas for player housing
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 24th 2009 at 2:00PM
Spicytuna has a nice little writeup about a much-discussed but never implemented feature in World of Warcraft: player housing. Blizzard has borrowed (and subsequently improved upon) many of the most common features in MMOs -- they revamped leveling with ideas like rested XP and recruit-a-friend, they changed the endgame with the ideas of Heroic instances and daily quests, and they've tweaked PvP with battlegrounds, Wintergrasp and Arenas. But for some reason they've never taken on the idea of player housing: a place in the game for players to make their own. The reason we've always heard is that they never landed on a good implementation of it -- if they couldn't do it right, they wouldn't do it at all.
But Spicytuna proves there's no shortage of ideas. The main thought so far is that such an area would be instanced, as having actual buildings in the game as player houses just leads to emptied out ghettos of buildings left to rot.
Spicytuna throws in a few other great ideas as well: houses could give your character more storage space, or add bonus to your rested XP by sleeping in your own bed. A new profession could build furniture, and your house could reflect your travels: kill a certain boss, and see a memento from the fight on your shelves.
Lots of great ideas there, and it's strange that we've never heard a peep from Blizzard about acting on any of them. A little while back, we did hear confirmation that they were at least testing the waters of guild housing, but even with all of the current speculation about Cataclysm and the Worgen/Goblins, that idea hasn't yet come up again. Maybe we'll finally hear it at BlizzCon: it would be nice to finally have a place of our own in Azeroth.
Filed under: Engineering, Tailoring, Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 7)
Tek Jul 24th 2009 2:12PM
So long as they aren't gold sinks. Hard enough as it is raising enough gold to buy say a Mechno-Chopper or Traveller's Mammoth. Houses shouldn't be "prestige" items, imo.
devilsei Jul 24th 2009 2:39PM
nope, instead it will work out like those "Animal Crossing" games.
You walk into town and a goblin stops you by the road. He tells you that you now own a house, courtesy of him, and must now pay him off.
You can choose when to pay him off, but if you do manage to pay off all that money, he goes and adds more to your house, giving you an even bigger debt to pay back to him, and this vicious cycle continues over and over...
Sounds exactly like what a goblin would do too!
Burgylleb Jul 24th 2009 2:11PM
I'm attracted to some points of having my main chill in his own crib, but then there's a part of me that wants to say, "Look, if I want to play The Sims, I'll play The Sims."
Piper Jul 24th 2009 2:16PM
I doubt Blizzard will ever have player or guild-housing. Keeping people out in the streets, so to speak, keeps the capital cities feeling full and vibrant. That makes a server seem much more active. If we had player/guild housing the major cities would all look like Shatt. Dead and lifeless. That's a bad impression as it starts to look like the game is dying.
Time will tell. If guild/player housing becomes a player-retention feature I'm sure Blizzard will slap something into the game.
Vladeon Jul 24th 2009 2:53PM
Yes, but what you're forgetting is that all of our Frame Rates in Dal would jump up ten fold! that's something I could get behind. Besides, if you could have a mailbox right in front of your own little place, wouldn't that be awesome? I think that LotRO did a very good job with player housing, except that the neighborhoods were too large and spread about. It wouldn't be too hard to implement an instanced area in the sewers of Dal for instance and in the violet citadel that leads to a place where about 20 different people could have apartments where they can each have a specialized area.
But then again, I hardly ever stay in one spot in WoW and would only find it useful if there was a way to use the AH and Mail conveniently. Or if there was a rep boost attached to wherever you have your house. Like if you live in Dal, you have a 25% boost to rep gains for the Kirin Tor. Or likewise, if you have a tent at the Argent Tournament, you get rep bonuses with your chosen valiant faction as well as the argent crusade and the silver covenant (if your Alliance).
Quark1020 Jul 24th 2009 5:11PM
I don't think player housing will create ghost towns. People would still need to leave their homes to visit the auction houses and whatnot. Think of it as just another place to set your hearth stone.
Gridneo Jul 24th 2009 2:17PM
I need to fire up my blog. Geeeze. I beat this subject to death.
Blizzard needs to make player housing available, along with Guild Housing. They're dropping the ball if the next expansion is the Maelstrom and there isn't player housing/guild housing in the form of Airships. We've now seen them above Icecrown, but grow that thought a little bit.
Each Guild could purchase/upgrade their Airship. There could be Horde/Alliance Airships out in the vast area between the continents; changing locations constantly, etc.
Don't know how I feel about the extra profession, but it would add items to ALL the professions out there. Requiring componenets from the different professions would keep everybody involved.
I want to say that EQ2 had a common house for all your characters. That could be interesting.
Mike, ya feel me?
Keith Jul 24th 2009 3:50PM
EQ2's player housing was cool to say the least, wish i had more books (e.g. mastery of some mob or quest line) to make a real library tho.
SuckItTrebek Jul 24th 2009 2:18PM
Am I the only person who never really gave a shit about "Player Housing" and thinks it's an overcomplicated and ridiculous idea?
Besides, Blizz didn't even bother making housing in the cities for it's NPCs, do you really expect better for us? :-P
Kylenne Jul 24th 2009 2:32PM
If you've ever actually played a game with player/guild housing, you wouldn't be saying it's ridiculous.
It's an enormously useful concept. Aside from the RP and aesthetic benefits, you can have extra storage (like a "closet" for tabards, or a bigger stable for hunter pets). Herbalists could also potentially grow their own low level herbs, fishermen could have a private pool that randomly spawns different fish. There's a huge amount of potential. My Mog House is one of the things I miss most about FFXI.
And Guild Halls? Even MUDs in the stone age had them, and they did a lot to add to the flavor of the games. On one of the MUDs I played for several years, I was part of a pirate-themed guild (on this game they were called clans), and our clan hall was a ship with its own vendors, trainers, storage, graveyard, portals, etc. There was even a pvp element to it because clans could raid each other's halls.
As for cities being ghost towns...uh, most of them are already. Places like the Exodar, Darnassus and Silvermoon aren't exactly bustling hubs of activity (short of SMC on a roleplaying server). Player/guild housing would do nothing to change this.
Robert M Jul 24th 2009 2:32PM
Honestly, I never even thought about it. Final Fantasy was the first RPG I ever played, and I was so in the habit of going to an inn or setting up a cabin to save that the idea of player housing just seems a bit extravagant.
I'm all for the current system, besides adventurers really don't have time to tend to the daily activities required to maintain a home, nor would I want to, what am I a hobbit?
veil Jul 24th 2009 2:33PM
you are not the only one. my apologies if the idea of "player" or "guild" housing escapes me. wtf are you going to do with a house? line it with "the crow" posters, dart boards, and kegs? maybe moose heads and a foosball table? seriously...im in a game to chat with friends, kill imaginary monsters, and collect teh "phat lewtz" categorized within the "purple" classification. not to play martha stewart with imaginary real estate.
Terrordactyl Jul 24th 2009 2:20PM
Could player housing be instanced to avoid "ghost towns"? You could invite people in your party to "visit" and you could all share the spoils of your household professions: imagine sitting around with your party before a run, in furniture you built that grants fun buffs, eating food w/ special properties u can only cook at home, etc
And here's a fun idea: "storytelling" a profession you level by collecting books or relics or battling bosses and then re-telling the stories of your travels while granting those listening in your home buffs like a 0.5% increased chance for certain related items to drop in the instance you're about to run . . . sounds fun, yea?
Keith Jul 24th 2009 3:50PM
your reading my damn mind.
Wulftracker Jul 24th 2009 2:24PM
Guild housing/Guild halls would be a great idea. Individual housing.. meh
Hopefully either one they do (or do not) eventually go with will be free and not break the bank like 70000 gold, or monthly rent.
Guild halls would be good, a place to hold a guild party, see each others toons, show off new gear, do personal trades.. a place to meet other than the chat box. Now I'm nto talking like some folks do of finding some island or empty building and making it their treefort. I'm talking actual guild members only accessible with the rank system being implemented like guild vaults have. Maybe a dueling ring in the middle of the neighborhood for guild issues to be settled, or for the settling of cross guild arguments.
That would be ok.. But does WoW really need individual player housing.. We may nick them as toons but this isn't ToonTown or Wizard10.
peagle Jul 24th 2009 3:01PM
Agree Guild Halls with trophy heads of downed bosses and parties yes, Player housing not so much.
oricus12843 Jul 28th 2009 4:50PM
Much as this could be cool and interesting. They're having trouble with Instanced servers as it is, why could we hope to ask them to expand that even more with Player Housing. And storage space in the houses would be a no go for awhile too, this was addressed not to long ago stating that the reason we don't have more space, is because to do that they need to change hardware which requires a move of all slots (bag, bank etc) which could result in players having items missing from their storage space. They called it a "show stopper" as the often do.
scarybooster Jul 24th 2009 2:23PM
I was one of those players that cried for player housing in beta and up till TBC but, now I'm not sure if it is a good idea anymore. There is so much to do in WoW, it is not a game geared to sitting and knitting. Blizzard wants people out socializing, fighting, grinding, crafting, and PvPing not hanging art.
Maybe Blizzard is quiet about it because it will be in next paid expansion pack instead of new race or Hero class? Ofcourse, I would buy the new expansion pack but player housing would not be the reason. Bring it, I will love it. Don't bring it, I will love it.
Draul Jul 24th 2009 2:26PM
My suggestion would be to somehow allow the obtaining of achievements to unlock different items for the house. Example: You defeat Boss A and you have the ability to purchase a home gym which buffs up a character's Strength by X for 1 hour. Also, they should have kitchen related Cooking recipes that can only be used in the kitchen of your characters home. Outside the home, you could have a garden and create your own Herbs and Cooking ingredients. Finally, they should have a garage to house your mounts and pets.
Josin Jul 24th 2009 2:27PM
Mementos/trophies for the houses could easily be tied to Achievements, giving them yet another purpose besides just epeen.