Azeroth Beautiful: A Look at Housing Interior Design

[HansOlo]

I bet that goober can't, but I can.

Shadows of Argus (3 Zones, a badass raid, invasion points that bring you to entirely new worlds)
Eternity's End (Lots of content to do outside of the raid, especially with the addition of craftable pets and mounts, etc)
Siege of Orgrimmar (Timeless Isle led to a lot of open content for players to do. GoTD would be here otherwise).

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That's it, really lol. You can make an argument for Guardians of the Dream and Rise of Azshara, but outside of that? Nothin. Can't put 10.1 on the same level or anything like that.

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Housing has been a topic regarding WoW for a while now. Heck, it was discussed quite a bit with DF and whatnot. However, none of those expansions added it. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean this hasn't been planned for a bit now, as making new assets and setting this feature up takes quite a bit of time. Meaning, if we take development times to account, they were attempting to implement this feature as early as the ending of SL-the beginning of DF.

This would help your argument in that WoW needed players, but I think it's more than that. Eternity's End was the start of a new era for WoW, with the return of tier sets, lots of pretty cool things for casual players, etc, and DF doubled down on it with Dragonriding, an updated UI + constant upgrades to the UI, the continuation and evolution of the renown system, and other evergreen gameplay updates.

Housing being implemented just furthers the idea that, since Shadowlands, Blizzard have been attempting to modernize the game for current audiences, as clearly their prior stuff wasn't working + the game was very much outdated in terms of systems and whatnot.

Heck, 11.1.5 is giving us a foundation for weakaura replacements, and I imagine it'll only evolve from there (Since raid groups use weakauras that just can't be replaced atm, or at least not without Blizzard taking the time to add onto their new UI addition and manage those additions regularly).

They want new players, yes. But they also want to please players and keep them in the game for a long period of time. That's also why Chromie Time + the new starting experience exists, as they're ways of leveling through the story, without feeling it feeling a bit too disconnected from everything, as, in the lore, it's explained as time travel.

TBH - I have seen the Bard class more requested than housing. I find the Bard even less appealing and fitting than housing.

But housing has broader appeal than a class. Once again - this underlines what the intention is with housing.

Still - I see house could be a nice addition - IF it's just a transmog system. Adding another weekly preasure on top of mythic,raids, pvp, dailies, legacy content, open world content - really is a shortcut for burnout.

[Joshuaj]

Housing will be more than just an xmog system. It's meant to also be a thing for players to hangout and vibe.

Goldshire on MoonGuard will definitely be not as full, that's for certain.

[Xilurm]

Housing will be more than just an xmog system. It's meant to also be a thing for players to hangout and vibe.

Goldshire on MoonGuard will definitely be not as full, that's for certain.

The housing neighbourhoods on Argent Dawn and Moon Guard are not going to be neighbourhoods. They're going to be slums, or literally red districts.

[Daedius]

Ion was the guy who said that, and, if I recall, that was from a relatively recent interview. Their design priorities have changed since, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I don't think Blizzard's mentality about housing has always been that it'll cost raid tiers; more that WoW's strengths tend to be in the quality of its core pillar content... housing simply didn't fit into that equation.

Thing about this is it'll primarily be using assets already in the game, with the odd unique ones earned or crafted, or bought off the game store.

[Joshuaj]

Thing about this is it'll primarily be using assets already in the game, with the odd unique ones earned or crafted, or bought off the game store.

Considering a lot of what was shown was assets either made specifically for this ezpac, or things as early as DF, I'm gonna assume this is bullshit lol.

They probably remade a LOT of the Human and Orc assets in HD.

[Guyviroth]

Not gonna lie, I had super low expectations about this. When I first jumped in on this during the original teaser, my thoughts were: "Where is the house going to be?", "Can it be accessed by all characters?", "Can groups of players go into the same house?", "How do we collect/buy/unlock furnishings?", "Will we have different architecture/decor for the different races?", "Will this be grid-based placement like the Sims?", "How much of this is going to be monetized?", "How many hoops do I have to jump through just to get a Blood Elven double bed?". Most of my questions have been answered in what we have so far, and this update has gone above and beyond what I hoped for.

In all honesty, I do not understand the hate around this, as though this one feature is going to completely decimate the current WoW paradigm of gearing characters through raids, M+, and now delves, to make our characters stronger.

I distinctly remember people saying how Pet Battles was going to "bring all the Pokemon nerds" and ruin WoW.
I remember how Death Knights, Monks, Demon Hunters, and now Evokers were going to ruin the game.
I remember how Pandaria was "catering to the Chinese audience" and "Kung-Fu Panda" was going to destroy the lore.
I remember how Artifect/Azerite/Anima Power and mission tables were going to be the future grind that was here to stay.
I remember how M+ was going to destroy raiding because gearing in M+ was quicker and easier.

None of that played out. But now, suddenly, player housing is going to destroy the paradigm of WoW because it will just be filled with ESO/FFXIV/Sims players, as though it was somehow, at the exact same time, going to convert or even drive off the playerbase that plays the game for content progression. Raids and M+ will still be here. Those players will remain.

Player housing is just another side activity, no different from doing outdoor content, farming transmog, catching pets, or hunting mounts. It's something for the players to do—A highly requested feature, I might add—in their downtime.

[La]

Not gonna lie, I had super low expectations about this. When I first jumped in on this during the original teaser, my thoughts were: "Where is the house going to be?", "Can it be accessed by all characters?", "Can groups of players go into the same house?", "How do we collect/buy/unlock furnishings?", "Will we have different architecture/decor for the different races?", "Will this be grid-based placement like the Sims?", "How much of this is going to be monetized?", "How many hoops do I have to jump through just to get a Blood Elven double bed?". Most of my questions have been answered in what we have so far, and this update has gone above and beyond what I hoped for.

In all honesty, I do not understand the hate around this, as though this one feature is going to completely decimate the current WoW paradigm of gearing characters through raids, M+, and now delves, to make our characters stronger.

I distinctly remember people saying how Pet Battles was going to "bring all the Pokemon nerds" and ruin WoW.
I remember how Death Knights, Monks, Demon Hunters, and now Evokers were going to ruin the game.
I remember how Pandaria was "catering to the Chinese audience" and "Kung-Fu Panda" was going to destroy the lore.
I remember how Artifect/Azerite/Anima Power and mission tables were going to be the future grind that was here to stay.
I remember how M+ was going to destroy raiding because gearing in M+ was quicker and easier.

None of that played out. But now, suddenly, player housing is going to destroy the paradigm of WoW because it will just be filled with ESO/FFXIV/Sims players, as though it was somehow, at the exact same time, going to convert or even drive off the playerbase that plays the game for content progression. Raids and M+ will still be here. Those players will remain.

Player housing is just another side activity, no different from doing outdoor content, farming transmog, catching pets, or hunting mounts. It's something for the players to do—A highly requested feature, I might add—in their downtime.

It's no different than transmog runs or pet battles, and it's a feature that even incorporates those into it by having old raids drop specific items, and new ones. It's a great feature that's finally being added that you think is overwhelmingly not wanted because the places you go (here) or the people you talk to are, in all likelyhood, anything but casual, and the kinds of people that most people are the reason they quit playing the game. Something like this is how you get more players to actually return, especially if they don't have to interact with elitists who make the game unbearable.

[Illuminance]

In all honesty, I do not understand the hate around this

My impression is there are a couple of broad categories responsible for the hate:

1) "I can't possibly understand how this would be fun" / "How would this even work?" / "Look at how bad Garrisons are!" -- WoW has a large contingent of people who have never played another MMO, and in some cases, hardly play other games at all. It's a failure of imagination because they've never seen housing implemented before and can't possibly picture how it would enhance the game. The official WoW forums are full of people like this who will bend over backwards to argue against a proposed change because they have a metaphorical death grip on the current status quo.

2) "I know what housing is, but I don't have any interest in it" -- this is fair, as it applies equally to, e.g., raiding/PVP/pet battles/any other feature. The problem is when they take it too far: the crusade against the housing feature from these folks is based on the notion that "because I personally don't want it, nobody should have it" which obviously would be a terrible way to develop a video game.

It's plainly obvious to me that WoW would benefit from a proper housing system. It needs to be executed well, just like every other system in the game, but as someone who's played way too many MMOs, I consider housing to be a borderline mandatory feature for an MMO to feel "complete."

[Forsaken Shockadin]

I'm hopeful that we can get Forsaken, Night Elf, Blood Elf, Void Elf, Nightborne, Dwarf, Dark Iron, Worgen, Kul Tiran, Draenai and Lightforged inspired art assets as part of housing. The Human and Orc art style is not my bag.

Also, I'd really like a condominium in Undercity and Ironforge housing option. Chilling in Elwyn Forest or Durotar is not that exciting to me.

[Dacia Ultan]

Better than I was worried. Kind of reminds me of Palia.

[PenguinChan]

Remember this cost us a raid tier. Totally. Ignore how half the code is (most likely) ripped straight from their in engine editor lol.

[Altmer]

I'm actually surprised by this house system. It is all that I ever wanted for WoW, an idea taken from ElderScrolls Online housing design.
I still remember how many times I suggested to these forums for WoW Devs to implement a house system like the one ESO have and how fun it is to use it. Now, I see that all of those angry voices on this forum have been shut and the house system is something that will be introduced on the next expansion. You see everyone? WoW will now have a housing system, whatever you like it or not. It is and will always be the best desision ever taken by the WoW Dev team.

I hope that they will have nice exterior designs, because I want a Nightborne or Blood elf house. And maybe a Troll and Orc house for my horde characters. Dwarven too!
I'm so happy!. I can't wait to give it a try.

[LemonDemonGirl]

The housing neighbourhoods on Argent Dawn and Moon Guard are not going to be neighbourhoods. They're going to be slums, or literally red districts.

Even on Horde?