I'm just gonna say it; Blizzard is being stupid by NOT implementing a Housing system

[MrExcelion]

I've always liked the concept that the OP suggested, but the cost of monthly rent on a high pop would probably be a big turnoff, reminds me too much of paying IRL bills. High pop BMAH is already like 10x a low pop so I never touch it. Not worth giving up the free gametime instead. Maybe you'd get it for like 90 days at a time.

With that said, I'd rather it be region-wide than server-wide, and that'd add some coolness/uniqueness to it, even if it makes the prices go crazy. So whoever buys it would really put a lot of effort into it and it'd be cool to check out.

[Stormspellz]

"you think you do but you don't"

[Gurluas]

It shouldn't be a Garrison at all, it should be your character's personal house. You need to be able to choose racial style, decorate it, collect furniture, etc.
Look at ff14, ESO, SWTOR, etc.

[Cathululock]

Everquest added housing literally 13 years after it's release. If that skeleton crew can do it, blizz can.

[Louz]

I don't play that weeb shit that is FFIX, but even after a quick search and a couple of YT videos, the consensus is that it's an absolutely meaningless thing that only a very few people actually care about, that most people just hang around in a city, and finally, the masterminds behind FFIX made it so that your house (and what you put in it) vanishes if you unsub even for a moment, so you just have to keep the sub money flowing. Funny how that never gets brought up here

Housing is a waste of development time. It's not that it's hard to implement - you can boot up even a vanilla private server and have a sort of basic housing system already by spawning game objects - which can be placed very precisely and also are persistent, all you need is more variety and some more convenient UI, but it certainly is possible.

What it comes down to is - who would use it and why? FFIX answers those both questions

[wushootaki]

Why the fuck would I want to sit around in a game looking at the walls and crap on them? Why? And why would I go to other people's houses? I don't want to play SIMS. I'm not an interior decorator.

I mean, if this were a VR game where you could experience something very close to hanging out with friends in a virtual space... yeah, I can see that. Lots of people who don't live near one another would love that, I bet. But in WoW as it is?

- - - Updated - - -



And yet... Dead. Game. So it wasn't awesome enough to keep people subbed I guess.

It doesn't need to be enough to keep people subbed in Wildstar. The game had other issues. WoW doesn't have those same issues, and would only benefit by a robust housing feature that offers additional gameplay. People thought pet battles were a waste and get content each new xpac, and are getting a mobile game.

Just because Wildstar failed as a game, doesn't mean there weren't good things in it. Lots of games succeed or fail, and plenty of the bad ones have something good to mine from it. For Wildstar, it was housing, which consistently won awards each year for MMOs.

[analmoose]

What is the appeal to player housing? Ive never understood it. A space where you can arrange things and then stand around in them? yay? Go play minecraft and build yourself a sweet house. It would serve no purpose in WoW

[Mellrod]

Garrisons were a sort of testing phase. A poke at the idea of player-owned property. Order Halls were another experiment with that concept. It's not that it was half-assed, it's that it was experimental.

[Skylarking]

Is there a TLDR?

Anyway, i wouldnt really care if there is housing or not. I dont have anyone to show it to.

[Akasha64]

I'm glad we all can agree Garrisons weren't housing.

[Motso]

DC Universe Online does a solid job of player housing.

[Soon-TM]

Why the fuck would I want to sit around in a game looking at the walls and crap on them? Why? And why would I go to other people's houses? I don't want to play SIMS. I'm not an interior decorator.

I mean, if this were a VR game where you could experience something very close to hanging out with friends in a virtual space... yeah, I can see that. Lots of people who don't live near one another would love that, I bet. But in WoW as it is?

The nice part of housing is that if you aren't interested, you can just not participate in it, and your toon(s) won't be any less powerful for that. Much like xmog or pet battles, it would be a nice, harmless side activity.

And yet... Dead. Game. So it wasn't awesome enough to keep people subbed I guess.

A single feature won't save your game, no matter how good it is, if the rest is completely botched. Much like WoW and its raids, actually.

[tripleh]

Garrisons were fun , but keeping them limited to smv and blade spire was dull. When they first announced them it had most excited about it. Kinda wish order halls would have been the same way. Being able to move around buildings and upgrade them.

[Swnem]

And i think you are completely right after i went back to swtor and experienced it.

Decorations are rewards to strive for like pets and mounts, and to customise your own space in the game is strangely addicting.

I know some people here will cry Garrisons, but garrisons were different beasts you can hardly customise and whose expansion design was centered on.
Housing isn't that. Game design doesn't go through it. It's just your customised place with an auction house, banks, crafting stations and a vendor to sell stuff on. It can have nodes aswell, but just like in swtor not only do they take twice as long to harvest as they have like a 50% chance to incue a debuff that doesn't let you harvest again for 12 hours or so. So, it's not gonna break any economies or game balance.
Finally, they must be ACCOUNT WIDE silly devs! don't you dare bring this in and making it character specific. My house, wich i built is the hang out for all my characters. I don't want 12 houses. Don't you feckin do it!

Also, this doesn't break cities cause specialty vendors, quest givers (weeklies/dailies) and trainers will still be on them.
Also, just like in swtor, you should be able to see the chat for the zone your house is based on (like, if in Elwynn, you can see and speak on Elwynn chat).

For Blizzard, they can make special decorations just available on the store (i know, many will flip at the idea, but it's no different than the ocasional mount and pet or toy. As long as they don't overdo it).

[Cosmic Janitor]

Garrisons were a sort of testing phase. A poke at the idea of player-owned property. Order Halls were another experiment with that concept. It's not that it was half-assed, it's that it was experimental.

Both absolutely missed the point though.

[Relapses]

I'm gonna go ahead and say it: Most people don't give a shit about housing.

[Nirty999]

imo Ultima Online is the only MMO to get housing right.

I agree, UO has the best housing system

[Swnem]

I don't play that weeb shit that is FFIX, but even after a quick search and a couple of YT videos, the consensus is that it's an absolutely meaningless thing that only a very few people actually care about, that most people just hang around in a city, and finally, the masterminds behind FFIX made it so that your house (and what you put in it) vanishes if you unsub even for a moment, so you just have to keep the sub money flowing. Funny how that never gets brought up here

Housing is a waste of development time. It's not that it's hard to implement - you can boot up even a vanilla private server and have a sort of basic housing system already by spawning game objects - which can be placed very precisely and also are persistent, all you need is more variety and some more convenient UI, but it certainly is possible.

What it comes down to is - who would use it and why? FFIX answers those both questions

The gratuitous bashing of the innocent FFIX, one of the best classic JRPG's on your post is revolting.

You mean FFXI maybe?

Either way, you just say that cause you never experienced it. Decorations are random mob drops, reputation rewards, dungeon and raid rewards, craftables. It enriches every aspect of the game with more rewards and more goals. You won't understand how addicting it can be until you start building your own creation. Once you have cool decorations and see the cool stuff you can make. How you can make your own private little town/mansion, and a really convenient space/base for your characters, you will see how addicting and useful it can be.

I used to think like you. Thought it was nonsense and why should i bother with that... until slowly unlocked and decorated my Tatooine homestead in SWTOR. It is my favorite place in the game now and it does feel like home. It's relaxing and has a badass view too.

The latest houses/strongholds added to the game were one in a moving train and another in a beach with a pirate sky deck where you can run private 4v4 pvp deathmatches or huttball. It also has raid testing dummies for dps, tanking and healing. Housing is awesome dude. You don't know what you're missing.

[Alvito]

Sure who doesn't want another shut in expansion like WoD. They were even nice enough to let all our cats walk around so we could be some crazy cat person on top of it all.

[Bildur]

Not just "I want Housing", or "I think it would be a good idea..."

No.

I think Blizzard is being STUPID.

Everyone wants to point to Warlords of Draenor, like it was some sort of "real attempt" at a housing system. It wasn't; it was half-assed, and anyone who has even TOUCHED another MMO could look at Garrisons and see, there was zero passion behind it. Nothing about it was fun or interesting, it didn't offer any ACTUAL personal customization. Everyone's Garrisons were identical.

I think a real, legit Housing system -- especially something that allows you to see other players' houses easily (like FFXIV's system, albeit fairly restrictive) -- would not only satisfying a real, long-standing demand players have had, but would actually attract players *back* to WoW.

Hell, you could even springboard an entire profession off of it, like Carpentry (hell, even introduce Lumberjack/Woodcutting as a new gathering skill), focused exclusively towards building tons of house-items. And of course, you could have various bosses throughout the entire game drop new items, trophies, even leverage something like Archaeology for additional stuff.

Personally? I would give each player a single "island" to build their house and decorate to their hearts content, and have a limited number of "premium" houses throughout the game, which would be unique to that server. So maybe, while everyone has access to a house of SOME kind, the coolest houses would be ones based in specific locations, like Hrothgar's Landing (just north of the Argent Tournament in Icecrown), or maybe one of those previously-inaccessible houses places somewhere in the mountains of the world.

But even if it's just totally instanced-off "islands", I still think there would be a huge draw. Just let players visit the "islands" of other players, either in their guild, friends list, or even a "visit random house".

I dunno. I just really think Blizzard is fucking up by NOT adding a proper, fully-fledged housing system. It might not be EVERYONE'S cup of tea, but I think the MMO industry has proven that Housing, as a feature, is here to stay and not a fluke. It would just give players an additional layer of "things they can do" when they log in.

Just... don't add any GAMEPLAY-affecting reasons to have a House. No "buffs", no "free/extra resources", just an ENTIRELY OPTIONAL thing. Because nothing makes things less fun that feeling *obligated* to do them.

Fully agree.
A propper housing system with tons of customization options would be pretty damn great. Get to work Blizz