Player housing is something we need.

[TheRevenantHero]

They won't be empty unless Blizzard is moronic and puts banks, ah, transmog, all that stuff into the player housing like they did the garrison. Player housing should only be a place to go and relax and have your own little area. No AH, no bank, no trade chat, nothing in it but decorations that you like to have in it.

Honestly? They should also make it so you can't gain rested exp while in housing. So if you log out there, you don't gather rested experience duration.

[Rendark]

It really is something that should be in the game by now. The player housing in SWTOR was the best part of that game. If they do it right it could be one of the best things added to the game. If not then it will fucking suck like garrisons did.

[Redroniksre]

Man some of the people in this thread dont seem to understand that not everyone raids and then logs. Most players enjoy doing side stuff like collection and transmog. Housing would go right along with that, somewhere for the player to customize and make to their whim. FFXIV is the next best MMO to WoW and they have housing and things arent barren so the whole Garrison excuse is out the window.

Plenty of games have it. Just because you wont use it, dont deny it from other players.

[Ifeanychukwu]

The funny thing is, Wildstar, that game that was suppose to kill WoW, you know, the one with the 'really hard' raids? Yeah, that game had 'really great' player housing, too.

Wildstar was shut down by its developers. Not even a maintenance mode. Just, lights out. Cya.

The only thing that has come close to killing WoW was the time they tried to implement player housing.

What does that have to do with housing? Housing was one of the most praised features from that game. The thing that killed Wildstar was the hardcore difficulty and dedication required in that game. Something that players asked for but apparently couldn't actually handle. Also, please, PLEASE stop referring to that sad shit they released in WoD as housing. Garrisons were SO fucking far from housing that it's an insult to even equate that sorry system to housing. Look at FFXIV for housing. It's not even the best in the market but it's the sole reason that I still subscribe to XIV, I own a mansion and decorate and redecorate all the time.

[anveena]

Sure if it wasn't instanced, but we know that's how it would end up being. I'll pass on cosmetic garrisons.

[TheRevenantHero]

What does that have to do with housing? Housing was one of the most praised features from that game. The thing that killed Wildstar was the hardcore difficulty and dedication required in that game. Something that players asked for but apparently couldn't actually handle. Also, please, PLEASE stop referring to that sad shit they released in WoD as housing. Garrisons were SO fucking far from housing that it's an insult to even equate that sorry system to housing. Look at FFXIV for housing. It's not even the best in the market but it's the sole reason that I still subscribe to XIV, I own a mansion and decorate and redecorate all the time.

And the thing with Wildstar is that it STILL has a huge fan base, with people working on crafting a private server currently. Wildstar got shut down because the company just didn't care about it anymore. People were still subbing and playing the game in large quantities. There was never a time when I didn't see the major hub city empty. It was always full of people. So when people say things like "wildstar had player housing and look how that ended up" literally have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

[Binaris]

Wildstar was shut down by its developers. Not even a maintenance mode. Just, lights out. Cya.

The funnier thing is, and I shit you not, walmart still sells the game.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/WildStar-PC/37201790

[Akasha64]

15 years in we do not need housing.

Go boot up the sims or wildstar if you want to bling out a home. Or better yet get a home in real life and invite friends over.

Sad to see you're making sad excuses for the company being incompetent and delivering something that could enhance the MMORPG experience.

[Lolites]

want
we (well, you tbh) WANT player housing, we dont need it at all, thing is all it would add would be more collectible items, which there is a lot of anyhow, and place to hang out ALONE, which mmo doesnt need at all
i would actualy argue its the last thing wow need, we need more reasons to go out in the world, not a place to sit at...

[tmamass]

care to explain why instead of making a non constructive comment?

because the least an MMO needs is SOLO content.
if you wanna play a solo game, play a solo game

[TheRevenantHero]

want
we (well, you tbh) WANT player housing, we dont need it at all, thing is all it would add would be more collectible items, which there is a lot of anyhow, and place to hang out ALONE, which mmo doesnt need at all
i would actualy argue its the last thing wow need, we need more reasons to go out in the world, not a place to sit at...

For one, they could easily add a system in place that lets you jump around to people's housing without being invited to the instance to just look at what the person has collected and made like they did with Wildstar. Two, roleplayers would eat it up. Not a massive part of the player base but it's the opposite of "hanging out alone". Three, people like collecting and building stuff. Look at how successful player housing has been in every single MMO that has included it.

[Akasha64]

I think at the end of the day the reason WoW doesn't have player housing is because the engine is too old for it maybe? Blizz is lazy and doesn't want to redesign the engine to accommodate housing. It's a tall order. Most games that have player housing were designed from the ground up to have that feature,

[czarek]

People like you are so short sighted. Something YOU don't want is a waste of time? The fact that it could potentially bring back scores of players and KEEP people playing for years goes completely over your head.

Even failed MMOs, like Wildstar and SWG and SWTOR kept players in the game longer with Housing... it was like the last thing anyone did.

Ok so tell me where is Wildstar and the other now ? Ohhh wait.

Short sighted? You want to tell me HOUSING will bring back players and keep them for YEARS?! xD Dont be silly its minor feature not the game base that could glue players to the game.

[TheRevenantHero]

Ok so tell me where is Wildstar and the other now ? Ohhh wait.

Short sighted? You want to tell me HOUSING will bring back players and keep them for YEARS?! xD Dont be silly its minor feature not the game base that could glue players to the game.

Wildstar kept people playing for YEARS. It was shut down because the company didn't give a fuck about the game anymore. The fact that there's a massive discord for Wildstar where people are working to make a private server kinda shows there's plenty of people that want to keep playing. And SWTOR is still going and even just recently came out with an expansion.

You really underestimate the power of housing if you think it won't draw people to the game.

[WowIsDead64]

...

As always, there are several problems with player housing, that cause Blizzard to avoid it:
1) Houses don't have artwork, shared with all other world, like it was in Wildstar, and therefore tons of new artwork would be required.
2) Game engine is extremely weak and doesn't support lots of geometry. Remember, that even now patch x.3 always causes much slower loading, forcing players to buy SSD?
3) Too low profit/effort ratio. Blizzard can't "sell" housing, as it isn't forced content, like Garrisons were. Some players like it, some don't. Some will spend a lot of time there, some will simply avoid it. Therefore they wouldn't be able to 100% return money, spent on development.
4) Currently Blizzard hate features, they would need to support in a long term. They like xpack features, they'd abandon after xpack's end. Just because they want xpack development to be cheap (and price to be high, yeah). And housing would need to be long term feature, requiring lots of support. Something on a par with raids.
5) May be some technical issues, as too much space in DB per character (making it account-wide will help), too high network bandwidth to load lots of geometry on players' computers, too much extra space on disk, forcing players to buy 240Gb SSDs.

[Akasha64]

Ok so tell me where is Wildstar and the other now ? Ohhh wait.

WildStar failed for other reasons. Housing is still one of its most memorable features all these years later. I never heard of anyone abandoning WildStar because of the housing. Period. I can list many other things that players didn't like about the game, but housing certainly wasn't one of them. It's one of the primary reasons the game is being reverse-engineered right now to have a fan server (read: private server) now that the game is dead. People want to get a canvas to design the home of their dreams.

[Seranthor]

Now you might say one of 2 thing. "But we already had garrisons!" or "Lets just have guild housing for the "MMO" game!"

Here are my responses. Garrisons are not player housing by a mile. and 2, Who says player housing has to be solo only? Did anyone play games like Runescape? where you could have mini games and even dungeons inside of your home and invite others in for parties? (not to mention demon butlers!) Ark and conan exiles you can invite others in for RP or as a base of operation.


Player housing would be content in the game that would not only bring us back to older content, but last up through new content and even last through future expansions, instead of being an expansion feature and being left behind like the farm.


The only issue i can think of, is how you would build the base of the house, because we would have 3 options;

1; The home is pre-built but you can decorate it (almost like skyrim but you can add in what ever furniture you want)
2; You can build it in spaces / rooms and add upstairs and downstairs. (Like in Runescape)
3; You have full control of building it like in Ark or Conan exiles.


The game should allow us to have a choice between various areas of the game. Like choosing to live in tanaris, winterspring, mulgore, etc. But it would just be a template and it would ne instance. Like the homes in runescape. That you would need to venture to the portal of the designated zone to enter. (This would also allow for gathering hubs for players who wish to form parties.)

Now for the content.

Up untill now I have been using runescape alot as an example, one thing I do not want from runescape, however, is the building profession grind. While I am not fully opposed to having a profession for creating and selling various furniture, and it would allow for more ingame trading between people. I think other ways of collecting furniture, or even the recipes to create the furniture should remain in the world, pvp and in PVP.. (and maybe pet battles for those people too)

There can be standard tables and chairs, but themed furniture and decor is what most people want.

How about we return to WoD to find and collect Orcish tables, banners, fur rugs?
Or gnomergan for gnomish decor?
Even northrend for the more northern, hunting lodge themed decor sets, or even vrykrul themed?
Mulgore and highmountain for tauren totems.

There are LOADS of possibilities with player housing that can be a reward for many current and even new forms of content that can bring us back to older expacs and even feed into newer expacs so it will always be relevant.

And the best part, unlike garrisons, these would be cosmetic only, and not mandatory for raiding

all this for cosmetic only? Why? What benefit?

[Thelyron]

People (the devs included) always show up with the stupid "it would make the cities empty!" argument, while conviently ignoring games which have player housing and in which the cities are anything but empty.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Guild Halls > Housing

It's the opposite. Guild Halls << Housing, Guild Halls are only content for a hand full of officers, their best use is as a side product of a full housing implementation.

- - - Updated - - -

Honestly? They should also make it so you can't gain rested exp while in housing. So if you log out there, you don't gather rested experience duration.

That is such a non-factor since most people are at max level and you can only stock up 1.5 levels anyway. Also I will never get how people derive "immersion" from a bunch of tawts stacked up within one another in a nightmare of clipping errors in front of the AH NPC. Why does this rubbish give you guys such a hard on?

[McCrazy]

I didn't read all, but one thing:

In Lord of the Rings Online is player housing and it's implemented just fine. And you see many people in the world and in the towns. Because the housing is implemented really clever.
1. Instanced Neighborhoods with different styles of houses (2-4 rooms) and guildhouses. Special guild-requierements for buying guildhouses. 1-3 Storagechests in the house, depending on the size.

2. 1 house pro account, every character has access. (in wow it's a little complicated because two factions, but maybe that changes?)

3. Pay a price to 'own' (move in) and pay a weekly rent depending on size of the house. (with option to pay for several weeks in advance). If the rent is not payed for a while, everything in the house is sent to an NPC where one can get the stuff back. The house is then open for a new buyer.

4. In every house are several options to change things like ambient music, walldecors and what characters from other accounts have access to in the house. (crates, moving furniture, paying the rent or just visiting or no entering at all etc.)

5. every neighborhood has a few NPCs for trade and a bank. NO auctionhouse and factories for professions. (professions are a little more complicated then in wow)

6. If all houses in a neighborhood are sold, (or close to) another neighborhood is automatically generated. There is a NPC at the entrance where you can have a list of all neighborhoods and the free houses in in. And you can mark the ones as favorites where your house is and the guildhouse and the house of your best friend. So you can invite your friends to your house you give them the name of the neighborhood and street and number. They can find you there.

For customizing: there are several 'slots' in every house and backyard for different things. Like furniture = bed, table, chair and stuff. There are slots for carpets, flowers, lamps, pictures and many, many other things.
You can buy items, get them from quests, different professions can make some, find them in the world from monsters or buy at events. There are really many possibilities for getting decorations.
(a very special items needs several months to get. A profession, do some quests, find some seeds at a event in spring, plant the seeds and harvest the item in autumn at another event.)

The neighborhoods are close to the capitals in the starting areas of every race. Every race can buy in neighborhoods of other races. Every character of the account gets a port to the neighborhood, if you own a house.