World of Warcraft Housing: 5 Minute Review
Only a handful of years after players wrote off player housing in the wake of game director Ion Hazzikostas stating that the feature, while “still alive”, was something that was “very time-consuming and would cost [players] for example a raid tier”, World of Warcraft has received its player housing update ahead of Midnight’s launch next year. While the current implementation is limited both in playerbase (it’s only available for those who have pre-purchased the expansion) and features, the technology on show is impressive. I’ve written previously about the ways in which MMOs like WoW have been making serious efforts to rehabilitate their aging games, and the strides that the WoW team have taken in recent years are perhaps most tangible here. WoW’s player housing toolkit is a full 3D modelling suite and has an impressive number of props implemented even in this early build. Neighbourhoods have been naturally integrated in to the world, hundreds of quests and vendors have been updated to reward players for their historical achievements with new props, and it all works seamlessly with minimal performance impact and segmentation.
In a clear direct response to Final Fantasy XIV’s housing market – which has limited space in finite neighbourhoods that limit who has access to the feature – WoW’s implementation guarantees all players a plot, with guild-organized and private neighbourhoods coming with Midnight. Currently, players get to choose one of about 45 plots in either the Alliance or Horde neighbourhood maps, depending on their character faction. From there, props can be obtained through achievements, trading with other players who crafted them with their professions, or through purchasing them from NPCs, largely associated with different factions players can gain rapport with. This system works very well and I’ve already had the nice experience of folks in my neighbourhood reaching out to compliment my house design and share tips.
Beyond the housing itself, though, the collection of props has proven to be the most compelling part of the update. For long time dedicated players, many of the items now available will be something they get just with gold. They can hunt down the appropriate vendor and purchase things as usual. For newer players (or folks like me who no longer have our original accounts and characters), props represent one of the most compelling impetus for returning to old content. Old niche factions offer unique decorations that are perfect for your room. Achievements from 2016’s Legion ask players to work on behalf of their order halls (one of the coolest features of that era of WoW) in order to get thematic items for their main character’s class. It’s been fantastic to see players returning to areas that had been long dead, newly motivated to get to know The Tillers from 2012's Mists of Pandaria or play through the Defias questline in Elwynn and Westfall. In an era where self-contained, theme park ride content releases have become so streamlined, having reason to explore the old and weird and idiosyncratic parts of Azeroth and then use your rewards for something creative has really led me to appreciate the game from a new perspective.
Housing still has some issues. The economy of crafted items, limitations in certain types of props (windows feel particularly awkward, for instance), and the lack of neighbourhoods themed around something other than Elwynn Forest and Durotar stick out. But the housing development team clearly gets what makes this feature exciting and is moving in the right direction. I fully expect to see player housing bring about something of a roleplaying renaissance and give solo, collection-oriented, players a reason to socialize and find communities, and those are worthy goals. New youtube channels and community hubs have already begun to pop up around housing, and the obvious excitement for housing promises great things for the future as both Blizzard and the playerbase hone their craft.