World of Warcraft's upcoming housing system: A different approach to player homes.
Blizzard has offered a first glimpse into the player housing feature coming to World of Warcraft (WoW) with the World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion, subtly contrasting its approach with that of Final Fantasy XIV. The WoW team emphasized accessibility as a core design principle.
The dev blog highlights "A Home for Everyone" as a key objective. Blizzard explicitly stated that acquiring and maintaining a house will be straightforward, devoid of exorbitant costs, lotteries, or harsh penalties for lapsed subscriptions. No repossessions!
Player housing in WoW will function as expected: players purchase and personalize homes, open to visits from other players. This contrasts with Final Fantasy XIV's system, renowned for its player creativity (resulting in in-game theaters, clubs, and museums), but also infamous for its limited plots, high Gil costs, lottery system, and risk of demolition for inactivity.
WoW aims to address these concerns. Housing is shared within a player's Warband, allowing access for all characters regardless of faction. While a Human character can't buy a house in Horde territory, a Warband member's Troll character can, and the Human character will still have access.
While WoW's housing will initially be limited to two zones with "Neighborhoods" of approximately 50 plots each, these are instanced and offer both public and private options. Public areas are dynamically generated, suggesting scalability and avoiding a fixed plot limit.
Blizzard's commitment to WoW's housing system extends beyond the initial launch. The team envisions a "long-lasting journey" with ongoing updates and additions across future patches and expansions, demonstrating an understanding of potential pitfalls observed in other MMOs.
Further details are expected before the summer reveal of World of Warcraft: Midnight.
