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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria 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 3 of 7)
impurezero Jul 24th 2009 2:43PM
How does a physical representation of your "achievement" stop if from having something to do with epeen?
Josin Jul 24th 2009 2:56PM
Having a physical representation gives you something BESIDES just going "Hey, I have a lot of points!" It gives you something in game to show besides a meaningless number. Maybe epeen wasn't the right choice of word, but I think the meaning was gotten by most.
impurezero Jul 24th 2009 3:20PM
But the end effect is the exact same: Pizels representing that you did something. Hell...the achievements already have pictures attached to them. So, a 3d model of a picture is any different?
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree...
Josin Jul 24th 2009 3:28PM
Everything in the game is just pixels representing you did something. Why are we playing this game? It's all pixels! My life is meaningless!
I'm just saying... it'd be nice if there was more in-game stuff tied to Achievements, and "trophies" for personal or guild housing would be a good way to do it.
impurezero Jul 24th 2009 3:48PM
Like I said...we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Everything in this game is not just "pixels." The effort you put in to attaining an achievment and the fun you have while doing so is very real. That's why I'm playing the game. For the fun I have between each achievement pop-up.
Once that part is over though, any "display" of that achievement, be it a number, a picture, or a 3d model is indeed pixels. THAT'S the part that isn't important to me. It's fine that you think a trophy would be a cooler way of displaying that. I don't.
We've veered far away from the original point of my first reply, though. I'm not trying to down your idea. I just didn't understand your stated reasoning for your idea.
Sorry if I've offended you. I'm really not trying to. Just discussing my own opinions.
Alchemist Jul 24th 2009 2:31PM
I rather see a guild hall. You could have a trophy room to show off your boss kills. Access the guild bank. The rested XP and other player housing features could work as well.
impurezero Jul 24th 2009 2:31PM
I just don't get the draw to player housing...
A place to show off my boss kills? Got it: Achievements.
A place to show off furniture? Got it: My real house/Animal Crossing (which was very much not that fun)/PS3 Home (Which was even worse than AC)
A place to talk to people in my party/guild? Got it: /p and /g. Except I don't have to ask them to travel across the world to have conversations there.
I've got enough mini-game style crap in the rest of the video games I play. For once we're playing a game where the social aspect is already built in. How could a room to call my own add to this game in any way?
Perhaps someone's got some brilliant insights on this, and if so, please enlighten me.
I, for one, just don't get it, though.
Kylenne Jul 24th 2009 2:38PM
Storage--extra bank slots, a "wardrobe" for tabards, stables for mounts and pets you never use but are tired of having them clutter up your mount tab. Service NPCs such as repair vendors. Fishing pools with random schools, an herb garden to cultivate low level herbs. All in an instanced environment so you don't have to deal with the 40 billion people hovering around the Org bank mailbox on their mammoths. And that's just off the top of my head.
People who think player housing is just a "mini game" time waster have either never played a game that implemented it, or you're just not thinking big enough. There is a great deal of potential for practical things along with the RP/aesthetic value.
dfjdejulio Jul 24th 2009 2:51PM
The reason I want this is, it could provide a better user interface for a lot of the stuff I need to do with my guild. I want the calendar to be up on a wall in-game, where people can notice if an event is coming up. I want a bulletin board in-game, where people can post notices, using it as a sort of in-game mini-forum. I want a guild bank right in there next to the board and calendar.
Eventually, I want folks with gathering professions to have access to an instanced area for doing outdated gathering, so it can be done easily and without competition. Yes, this means stuff like the market for copper ore would crash -- the market for copper ore *should* crash, it's absurd that someone should be able to make real money off that kind of thing. And either guild or player housing with a mine or greenhouse would be a fine way to implement this.
impurezero Jul 24th 2009 3:16PM
I'll respond to these individually...
Storage--extra bank slots ~ So why not just make more slots available at the current banks. Then that extra storage space is available wherever a bank is...not just in your house.
a "wardrobe" for tabards ~ If you ask me, they should treat tabards like pets and mounts...1-charge usable items that then go in a "tabard" tab on your character screen. You really want to have to go to your "house" everytime you wanna switch tabards? Besides..a wardrobe sounds suspiciously like more storage space. Something else that could be solved at the existing banks.
stables for mounts and pets you never use but are tired of having them clutter up your mount tab ~ Now that's just lazy. Make macros for the ones you do use. Who cares if old 60% mounts are cluttering up a tab? This is a tiny, tiny concern that I would never find myself worrying about. Hell, even just doing something to better organize those tabs would fix this. Like subtabs: Normal Ground, Epic Ground, Flying, etc...
Service NPCs such as repair vendors ~ I look forward to walking by the vendors in town on the way to my house. From an rp perspective, why would vendors be in your house anyway?
Fishing pools with random schools, an herb garden to cultivate low level herbs ~ This is the one somewhat neat idea I see here, but hardly something to make this all worth it. Plus, it kind of goes against the free-for-all that gathering is supposed to be.
All in an instanced environment so you don't have to deal with the 40 billion people hovering around the Org bank mailbox on their mammoths. And that's just off the top of my head. ~ Add more mailboxes to the old cities (in fact, I thought I read that this was happening anyway). Or just make mailbox areas be considered "indoors" so that people will be auto-dismounted. And then of course, I can't wait to get home to find myself being told, "Additional Instances cannot be launched at this time."
There are simple ways to do all of the things you consider to be benefits. Ways that would require way less time spent by the development team so they could move on to something that more people would want or care about.
Also, now that I think about this...these couldn't even really be instances. Instances are easy because they just have to start out the same way each time. This, however, would have to keep the memories of all things you've done and furniture you've moved around, etc. So, for this to really work, it would be more like transporting you to a specific section of a brand new world map comprised of nothing but thousands of apartments. Again..I want developers spending their time on something more worth-while.
I'm not trying to fight you here or be a jerk. I'm just saying...if those are the reasons you see for this being a good idea...I'm still 100% convinced that I don't want this to happen.
impurezero Jul 24th 2009 3:36PM
The reason I want this is, it could provide a better user interface for a lot of the stuff I need to do with my guild. I want the calendar to be up on a wall in-game, where people can notice if an event is coming up. ~ Your guildies can't be bothered to look at the calander that is in the corner of their screen all the time...but you think that a picture of a calendar in one place in all of Azeroth will suddenly get their attention? Better idea, the game should automatically send out notices in /g when events are created or coming up.
I want a bulletin board in-game, where people can post notices, using it as a sort of in-game mini-forum. I want a guild bank right in there next to the board and calendar. ~ I like the idea of a guild bulletin board. Again, though...this doesn't require housing. This could be implemented in the banks themselves. A board next to each guild bank. Hell...your wall calendar could even be there, too if you really think that's important.
Eventually, I want folks with gathering professions to have access to an instanced area for doing outdated gathering, so it can be done easily and without competition. Yes, this means stuff like the market for copper ore would crash -- the market for copper ore *should* crash, it's absurd that someone should be able to make real money off that kind of thing. And either guild or player housing with a mine or greenhouse would be a fine way to implement this. ~ That's absurd that you think anything should be implemented to force the market to crash. If they're charging too much at the AH, here's all you have to do. Don't buy it. Go farm your own low level herbs and metals. If you're too lazy to do that...oh well, I guess you have to pay someone who isn't.
(By the way..if the low-level market crashed, those farmers would move on to higher level herbs. Then guess what happens to the cost of those? It crashes because of too many people farming them. So then they would move on again, and so on, and so on. Eventually people would get sick of not making money on herbs and a ton of them would quit doing that profession altogether. Then the prices for all herbs would shoot right back up.)
Bubsa Jul 24th 2009 2:32PM
Just don't see the appeal, to be honest.
Cyanea Jul 24th 2009 2:33PM
Some sort of guild housing could be awesome. If it were tied to achievements, like the OP said, that would be awesome. If your guild downs Yoggy, your guild hall gets a Tentacle nailed to its wall or something, or maybe a row of heads mounted on the wall?
I don't think they should go into individual housing, though. Keep it at the guild level, but at the same time, let individual guild member's big achievements show up in the hall somehow, like...when someone in your guild gets Glory of the Ulduar Raider, a statue of a Proto-drake sits outside the hall's door or something.
steven.thomas.martinez Jul 24th 2009 2:34PM
Player Housing is a horrible idea. I mean, the concept of visualizing your achievements is great, via mounted heads on your wall and such, but there must be some other way!
I propose instanced guild housing, where a guild can combine their assets to purchase a keep of sorts. The keep can then be outfitted with the trophies of raid bosses they've killed (complete with plaques detailing who has downed the beast), and upgraded to include portals to different areas. The portals could correspond to raiding dungeons, which would give players a reason to congregate in the keep as the raid organizes. Other upgrades could be a smithing hall with forge and anvil.
Lastly, you could "pay" an NPC to park in the courtyard and offer the ability to buy/sell/repair most items.
The possibilities are endless, like providing a dueling hall for players to duel or set up round-robin tournaments. This would be MUCH better than single player housing, would require less instances, and the price would be prohibitive enough that having a guild doesn't mean having a keep. You'd have "hedge" guilds and landed guilds.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Jul 24th 2009 2:38PM
What would be cool would be "portable" housing like tents. Throw up a tent and there's your portal to your home.
...sorry was playing FFIX and the tent just came to mind.
xaospro Jul 24th 2009 4:26PM
It is am amazing idea that will NEVER HAPPEN, and I will tell you why...
With over 20+ servers labeled as RP or RP-PVP, barely a few hundred players per server RP at all. Yes, it is very pathetic that blizzard wont enforce their own rules, all because they want as much money as possible.
WOW has changed. They are building their game content towards bitter players that have no life and dont even enjoy the game - thesep layers just care about haaving 80s and gear. Then there are players that do nothing in game but PVP or raid. All fun stuff, but noone seems to care that WOW was originally intended for rpers, as well as action and adventure junkies.
They wont spend the time to make personal homes for players because if they dont care enough the enforce their own rp rules, why spend the time for the few thousand players that still actively RP? ITs a sad sad thing.
I love this game and I love the new content, but its ridiculous how Blizz is catering to players that use 10percent of the games features and abuse most others, rather than catering to the players that actually ENJOY the game.
I hate that rushing through everything just to parade around with an unskilled, overgeared toon - is what is commonplace. And whats sadder is new players start wow and love it, but then they come across those scumbag players that tell them they are doing this or that wrong,. and then they too soon become those moronic scumbag players.
Seriously, if you have 50,000 players on an rp server and only 1000 rp, yes, i say get rid of all the players that dont rp!!!!
IT SAYS RP NEXT TO THE NAME OF THE SERVER!!! IF SOMEONE IS SCUMMY ENOUGH TO JOIN AN RP SERVER and NOT rp - they deserve to be kicked from that server and learn the fracking abbreviations!!!
kunukia Jul 24th 2009 7:51PM
But there are levels of RP. Are you gonna kick me from my RP server? I only RP a little, although I respect players who do RP, but do I do it every minute of play? No.
xaospro Jul 25th 2009 10:12AM
to kunukia...
No! lol
But, people should only join an RP server if they want to roleplay, period. Doesnt matter if its once a week or once a year - it means you accept that others will RP on that server and you will ABIDE by the RP ruleset.
BUTTT.... if you dont want to RP or have a problem following the rules of the server, then just join ANOTHER server, one that is NORMAL or PVP.
Its playing ur toon as if he/she was really in the WOW world. It doesnt mean you have to have elaborate stories and speeches, but that is welcome also. It could even be as simple as Walking when in towns and fighting monsters in a way OTHER than just standing there and pressing hotbuttons. There are many ways to rp, but the main rules are below..
There are hundreds to choose from, yes idiots constantly join RP and Rp-PVP servers to purposely NOT rp! lol , its ridiculous! lol
READ THE WOW RP RULES and you will see what an RP server is SUPPOSED to be like...
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=20458
Zandrae Jul 25th 2009 8:24PM
I play on a RP server. I've found a lot of folks who play there are ones who play in private, in guild chats, in channels. There are also people who have issues with spying, rumormongering, and trash talking.
I'd adore the idea of having a place where I can go and chill that's pretty and lag free where my friends and I can roleplay without worrying about trolls, griefers, or e-skanks bugging us. Sometimes a little quiet R&R would be nice, especially seeing as how I run raids 7 days a week and I'd love some quiet time.
I adore the idea of allowing guilds to set a 'home base' in one of the major cities and have a guild hall there. A little instanced off portion of the city where guild members (and their invited guests) can go and chill. Perhaps having a player housing being part of those instances.
I love the idea of collecting old gear. I've got full sets or near full sets of several tiers and oldskool keepsakes. I'd adore the idea of being able to take that old gear that I'd really never wear for something other than fun, and put them on a little armor stand. I mean, I love my Quel'Serrar, my Judgement, my Hand of Rag, my mementos of raiding at various tiers, etc, but I'd really love bag space too.
Rich Jul 24th 2009 2:42PM
mah keyz!