Player Housing would create a HUGE new player base, like Transmog/Achievements did.

[Trumpcat]

I agree with all arguments of the OP. Housing and related cosmetics, collectibles and achievements, along with some utility is a whole mini game that keeps players invested in other games that have it. Many players only play for their houses in SWTOR, called strongholds there.

I don't know what is Blizzard's hesitation for adding and improving features that are very successful elsewhere. All they do instead is layering overproduced power increase systems on top of each other that keep being I'll received.

[Ivarr]

I think people who want player housing overestimate how much they would enjoy it themselves. If everyone is gathering the same junk then the only thing worth noticing about it is the way that junk is assembled. The novelty of that lasts for about a few seconds and then everyone is bored with it again.

The only way I think housing could work if it were absolute top tier as well as a bunch of extremely lucky players for that week get to chose one of many lots in the real world, and place their home in it. This home is their exclusive area with a ton of perks, but the type of home and configuration for said home influences the zone in which it's placed for the duration of that week.

This means that players can pick a zone and have certain quests, mobs, vendors or materials spawn in that zone that would otherwise not be there. See, now everyone is interested in your home. They will want to persuade you to place it in a specific location, or use a specific blueprint or layout for it. Now you have player-driven content in its most rudimentary form.

[Divada]

It would be cute, like pet battle cute, but it's not what WoW needs right now.

So what does WoW need right now then?

[Ivarr]

So what does WoW need right now then?

WoW needs to have the majority of its legacy content updated to evergreen relevancy.

[username993720]

Player Housing would prevent players from going out there, into the open world. Just like Garrisons did, you'd spend most of your time in your Garrison.

Secondly, it would be nothing more than a cosmetic feature. You'd furnish you house and that's about it. There's no much gameplay attached into it, other than roleplaying.

It would be nice, but a massive waste of resources.
At best, it would a secondary feature but never a main one.

[thunderdragon2]

sadly its a no from me dont want another epic fail like garrisons blizz cant do player housing and im glad they stopped trying to

[craigw]

I've always said housing would be the biggest waste of resources Blizzard could do and still stand by that now.

i stand with you on your statement.

[Cosmic Janitor]

sadly its a no from me dont want another epic fail like garrisons blizz cant do player housing and im glad they stopped trying to

The reality is they didn't stop. They just dumbed it down further and further. In BfA you could argue that they almost got rid of it entirely, but in SL they pretty much brought it back with covenant sanctums.

[Yooginava182]

idk. All of the transmogs, mounts, achievements, memories wont make me resub anytime soon.

[thunderdragon2]

The reality is they didn't stop. They just dumbed it down further and further. In BfA you could argue that they almost got rid of it entirely, but in SL they pretty much brought it back with covenant sanctums.

yeh sadly thats the issue tho i wouldn't really call the sanctums player housing not at least if we are going by the ops definition....

[Bigcountry11782]

So you think adding housing will help the game? Maybe but that would be like putting a bandage on another bandage that is on top of a 10 year old festering bleeding rotten wound. The game is so littered with terrible additions already we can't hope for a fresh coat of paint anymore. something big needs to change in wow for it to survive.

[Cosmic Janitor]

yeh sadly thats the issue tho i wouldn't really call the sanctums player housing not at least if we are going by the ops definition....

Garrisons weren't playerhousing either, neither was the farm, nor class orderhalls. They all were miniscule fractions of a whole that usually involves it's own eco system build on fundamental parts of the RPG aspect of the core game (crafting, exploration, in-world achievments).

But as I said before, Blizzard would just fuck it up and looking at the sorry state of professions is the proof of that. It's clear Blizzard would rather build the game like a (PvE) MOBA (or MOLD as I prefer to call them) with focus on the Jungle (raid/m+), than an RPG, but they don't have the balls to do it.

[thunderdragon2]

Garrisons weren't playerhousing either, neither was the farm, nor class orderhalls. They all were miniscule fractions of a whole that usually involves it's own eco system build on fundamental parts of the RPG aspect of the core game.

But as I said before, Blizzard would just fuck it up and looking at the sorry state of professions is the proof of that. It's clear Blizzard would rather build the game like a (PvE) MOBA (or MOLD as I prefer to call them) with focus on the Jungle (raid/m+), than an RPG, but they don't have the balls to do it.

actualy garrisons were the 1st ACTUAL form of player housing as it only housed that player but i agree if they retried again theyd royally screw it up

[Asrialol]

It really won't.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I think the window of opportunity for player housing has long since passed. Blizzard was stubborn for so long while time and time again, their competitors implemented player housing (LotR, STO, SWTOR, Wildstar, ESO, FFXIV, etc) that people switched to those games to get their player housing. Had Blizzard implemented it a decade ago (or even 5 years ago), the sub count would be much, much higher.

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Garrisons weren't playerhousing either, neither was the farm, nor class orderhalls.

I personally feel very attached to my farm and my garrison. My Horde paladin had his hearthstone set to Halfhill, and whenever I logged off I would port back and log off at the farm. I'd like to imagine that is the place where my Horde paladin retired. As for my Alliance warrior, I likewise hung out at the garrison, felt like a lord residing at his estate.

[Cosmic Janitor]

actualy garrisons were the 1st ACTUAL form of player housing as it only housed that player but i agree if they retried again theyd royally screw it up

If that is your definition of player housing then every inn keeper fits the bill tbh, they at least tend to have bedrolls on the floor or even actual beds in the back. Really though, Blizzard managed to sell this lie that Garrisons were player housing and sadly people still believe this to this day, but it's missing like all features that you usually find in player housing. At best it was a consoldiated place instead of the fragmented approach of things like they did in MoP, because besides the addition of the profession buildings (which have nothing to do with player housing) it just served to display very limted achievments (the statue spot) and some limited farming (the mine and garden).

[Val the Moofia Boss]

As for the class order halls, the only one I have an attachment to is the monk one, because the Wandering Isle was the home of my Pandaren character. For everyone else, it doesn't feel like home, and some class order halls come with the baggage that I might not like their faction. My Horde Sunwalker paladin has no business hanging out underneath a Christianic Church. The Sunwalkers do not worship the Light. Likewise, on my Death Knight, I lost any sense of camaraderie with the Ebon Blade when they waltzed into Light's Hope and began slaughtering their comrades - paladins they fought against the Lich King and the Legion with - on Bolvar's whim. Screw the Ebon Blade. I want out. Screw Bolvar.

[Garretdejiko]

They tried and failed. It's unlikely they'll try again under the current management.

[KaPe]

Garrisons weren't playerhousing either, neither was the farm, nor class orderhalls. They all were miniscule fractions of a whole that usually involves it's own eco system build on fundamental parts of the RPG aspect of the core game (crafting, exploration, in-world achievments)

Garrisons would work as a base for housing (or a beta test) if they didn't completely abandon it after a single expansion and never even thought about coming back. For fuck's sake, there are still random chairs named "doodad(5434324)" because that's the amount of attention they paid to the "main feature" of WoD. Then they added shipyard, which was just more boring chores - not something people want from housing. Nothing about expanding the actual look of the place, trying it to achievements, customization. Nope, second mission table, that's what we really needed.

It's really incredible that (the? 2nd?) largest MMORPG doesn't have such fundamental feature after 20 years of development. Even a failed game like Wildstar had one, and it was probably the best part of it. But nope, having something last longer than one expansion is apparently too much for Blizz.

They tried and failed. It's unlikely they'll try again under the current management.

They did less than bare minimum and failed. At this point, they do need radical design decisions like housing instead of yet another borrowed power system that will die in two years.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

let players build the foundation and let them use any racial/faction thematic appearance they want

I find it very bizzare that Blizzard couldn't be bothered to create a garrison theme for each race, only generic Stormwind Alliance/Orcish Horde buildings. You have a multi-billion dollar company that develops one of the most prestigious video games in the history of ever, with one of the most acclaimed art teams in the history of gaming. They absolutely could have afforded to build out garrison buildings for every race.

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People say that cities would be deserted if you added housing

WoW players who say that cities would be deserted if housing was added clearly did not look at the cities of other games that had player housing. The cities are still populated. Even if a housing has all of the amenities a city has to offer, people will still hang out at cities because that's where other people are, and people want to feel that the world is alive. They don't want to be alone. Also, RP happens at cities, and player trading and organizing of groups and other random stuff that doesn't happen in your garrison.

Inb4 claims of "the cities were unpopulated during WoD because everyone was AFKing in their garrisons!" no, you clearly did not play WoD then. Stormwind, Ironforge, Thunder Bluff, Orgrimmar, Dalaran, and the Pandaria Shrines were far, far more populated during WoD than any (Non-Oribos) city in WoW today.