It is f***ing BANANAS WoW still doesn't have a Housing system

[Claymore]

Seriously; Blizzard is more than happy to rip-off good ideas, and usually refines them to be even better than the source of inspiration. But for whatever reason, the closest thing to even an *attempt* as housing was the half-assed Garrisons, which offered nearly zero customization of any kind.

The thing that makes this so crazy to me, is that this is SUCH an easy "Win" for Blizzard.

Think about it; they have over FIFTEEN YEARS of ALREADY-EXISTING ASSETS they could use. No, it's not as simple as flipping a switch, but it's a damn good start.

Just like Transmogrifaction, Housing is more than just "the feature itself", but also represents SOMETHING NEW TO DO. People would immediately begin farming for House-items.

Old dungeons and raids? Tradeskills? Archeology? All of these could be sources of house items.

And hell, they could even add more shit to the Cash Shop, provided it isn't the ONLY outlet for cool shit.

Furthermore, Housing is a HUGELY COMPELLING FEATURE FOR MANY GAMERS. No, no everybody cares about Housing. But there are enough that it's clearly a trend for virtually (literally?) every other MMO on the market to have incorporated one.

My personal advice? I'd track down every single person who worked on WildStar's Housing system and hire them on the spot. WildStar may have failed as an MMO, but its Housing system set a new, unprecedented standard for what was possible in a Housing system.

Blizzard could do whatever they want with the details. Maybe it's a solo-instance, or maybe they do "shared settlements" like FFXIV where you also see other players' houses. Maybe each character gets their own house, or maybe it's one per server or even per account. Maybe they're free, or maybe they cost a ton of gold. Maybe they're limited, maybe they're not.

Point is, it would be a truly meaningful feature to the game, and there is no real downside. At worse, "some people won't be into it". Some people aren't into PvP, either, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't support it.

Like I said, above all else, it just gives people shit to DO again. Even if you aren't great at PvP, or maybe you can't Raid often, decorating your place could be a huge motivation to keep playing and maybe branch out into content you ordinarily wouldn't have.

[Daedius]

Because people believe it'd "take people away" from hubs, like the Garrison did... people were hanging out there instead of in Orgrimmar and Stormwind...

[Edward Wu]

Imagine caring this much about a virtual apartment in a video game.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

Personally I'm pretty glad Blizzard hasn't wasted any resources on Housing.

[Toybox]

Not gonna lie, even as someone who doesn't really farm anything anymore besides raids & dungeons, player housing would get me pretty damn engaged.

[vindicatorx]

I hate player housing in most games and it's something I have never wanted resources wasted on. I'm glad they continue to shitcan this stupid idea

[arkanon]

Furthermore, Housing is a HUGELY COMPELLING FEATURE FOR MANY GAMERS. No, no everybody cares about Housing. But there are enough that it's clearly a trend for virtually (literally?) every other MMO on the market to have incorporated one.

My personal advice? I'd track down every single person who worked on WildStar's Housing system and hire them on the spot. WildStar may have failed as an MMO, but its Housing system set a new, unprecedented standard for what was possible in a Housing system.

And its a HUGE WASTE OF DEVELOPMENT TIME FOR MANY GAMERS. All the other mmos you have mentioned have crashed and burned with the exception of FF. One could argue that they should have spent more time building a compelling and interesting game that functioned correctly, instead of spending countless hours allowing us to hang some pictures in a silly little building.

Garrisons were unpopular for many reasons, but one very common theme was it killed the open world mmo feeling, with people just spending all their time running around a silly little instanced area with no other players.

[Moi2003]

I think it would depend on how they did it. They could work in some pretty cool side quests with it.

[Lightforged]

I really enjoy my many apartments and houses in SWTOR. Having done a big deep dive into the housing in that game, I can guarantee you that WoW does not have enough decorations to satisfy my desires.

[Zyky]

Because people believe it'd "take people away" from hubs, like the Garrison did... people were hanging out there instead of in Orgrimmar and Stormwind...

The difference is the Garrison was a half-assed attempt at player housing, like most successful concepts Blizzard steals from other mmo's. They put in a minimal amount of effort to concepts and systems, then slap bandaid fixes throughout the expansion and it doesn't even turn out acceptable in the end. Garrison's wouldn't have been the "hangout" spot if the Capitals weren't copy/pasta building assets from the Garrison. If Capitals were Karabor and Bladespire Citadel, as originally intended, significantly less people would have spent time parked in the Garrison.

[valax]

What do you meeean. Don't you guys have garrisons? Oh they suck and the only time you go there is to get into WoD dungeons? how would housing be any different.
The game already has plenty of useless cosmetics , pets and toys in the hundreds not even mentioning mounts, they are so many nowdays it just doesn't feel special owning a new one. Maybe all you need is to play on a RP server and use one of the many many buildings already in the game, for whatever you might want to do.

[Graeham]

I'd love to see a player housing system added to the game. It's a ridiculously successful thing in various other MMO's, quite a few single player games even pseudo-MMO's such as Monster Hunter World. Those who don't want to partake of such things don't need to, but sadly this game seems to attract a considerable amount of miserable individuals who try to stamp out requests for something that would be of immense benefit to quite a lot of players.

Tie furniture to professions/dungeons/raids and there's plenty of ways to stimulate the player economy as well.

[FlemmMinis]

Wow doesn't need housing if they forget it exists the expansion after it was released.

[potis]

Because go figure, games that actually get updated with relevant content, dont need dumb shit like that to exist to make money.

Housing is the biggest scam in MMOs, just play Sims, it costs less in the end.

I could accept a form of guild housing to display raid rewards/mounts and similar stuff like EQ has had for like i dont know, 15 years now?

Personal housing is, simply go play Sims.

And because people still dont get it, WoW is all about gear chase through raiding aka Western genre MMO, if you cant figure that out you are playing the wrong game.

[LordVargK]

I absolutely don't care about player housing in an MMO. Now, GUILD HOUSING; a place to develop as a community, that's something I would be into. And it would finally give guilds some needed meaning back. Last expansion guilds got love was Cata.

[Mirishka]

The only way I'd enjoy player housing is if they were race specific. And lets be honest, we all know there is zero chance of that happening.

[Claymore]

And its a HUGE WASTE OF DEVELOPMENT TIME FOR MANY GAMERS. All the other mmos you have mentioned have crashed and burned with the exception of FF. One could argue that they should have spent more time building a compelling and interesting game that functioned correctly, instead of spending countless hours allowing us to hang some pictures in a silly little building.

Garrisons were unpopular for many reasons, but one very common theme was it killed the open world mmo feeling, with people just spending all their time running around a silly little instanced area with no other players.

Clearly, Housing isn't going to save a failing MMO, that's absolutely true. But it's also very obviously that, when you see every MMO that does have Housing, suddenly devotes a ton of resources towards expanding it? It must be met with some measure of success.

It's not as though a Housing system is going to come in lieu of everything else. Resources are finite, but it's a bullshit argument to suggest "anything spent on something I don't like is wasted resources/development". In my experience, most players either only enjoy PvE, but that doesn't mean they need to cut PvP (although admittedly, I think "World PvP" just isn't going to take off).

Garrisons were terrible, but context is also hugely important; Garrisons provided you all of your gathering resources as well. Unlike proper Housing -- which is entirely optional -- Garrisons were MANDATORY. Hell, a lot of your GEAR came from them, too, because of the "Mission table".

They might also take the approach of "settlements", in which yours isn't the only house in view. Being able to look at other players' houses is a hugely social aspect, and even instanced housing like WildStar still promoted a social atmosphere. Maybe your Guild could mark one player's house as their "guild hall" you could recall to? Not necessarily the GM's specifically, so it's not quite so isolated an experience.

[Zoldor]

What is the purpose of player housing? I've always had a hard time figuring out why this was important. Just a cosmetic bank correct?

[Lightforged]

Because people believe it'd "take people away" from hubs, like the Garrison did... people were hanging out there instead of in Orgrimmar and Stormwind...

In SWTOR, players have instanced housing and instanced ships, yet the major hubs are all still full of people.

[Krimzin]

Unless housing can be done without instancing, its useless.
Guild Halls are a completely different story, those could be a huge addition and they will be in an upcoming expansion. It was already talked about in a Q&A a year or so ago.