In ESO player housing is behind a paywall and it’s a long established practice with pretty steep prices. This is not the system Blizzard should be looking at though b/c ESO is a F2P game. Most of the story can be explored without a paying a sub. The balance is that things like housing are monetized.
Because we pay a monthly sub to even access WoW though I feel if they were to also monetizing housing despite that because games like ESO do it too…man, I feel that’s going to be a very bad look and it’s not going to be as well received as a result.
Please do not put housing behind a paywall. Everything provided should be achievable in game without requiring credit swipes.
Untrue.
Eso has some housing and some furnishings as cash shop only.
Most of everything is available in game for fake currency and as drops.
Partial cash shop does not equal a 100% paywall.
I would rather Blizzard not paywall anything. But being realistic, I could see them adding some kind of collection or bundles of decor on the shop while leaving the individual items available in the game.
I fully expect some stuff to be on the shop. But I expect it to be no different than how they handle shop cosmetics now - there’s some stuff there, but the vast majority is earnable in game, and even the shop stuff rotates onto the Trading Post occasionally.
I bet we’re going to see a looooot of housing cosmetics on the TP. Kinda tempted to stop buying anything and just save up for that.
Here’s the thing, we all know there will be shop items. There are shop mounts, shop mogs, shop pets, and shop toys. But, in the grand scheme of things a very small percentage of those categories are in the shop.
Logic tells us there will be housing items in the shop, but like anything else it will be optional and there will be various options in game to get. I honestly don’t think any of the land plots will be in the cash shop, I think it will be decor.
But it’s all speculation on both sides until we get the full unveiling of housing and what’s coming.
Has blizzard ever put a major content patch be only behind a paywall? No. It will be fine. Cosmetics and such will be in the shop and trading post and blizzard will make $$ off those special housing items. It is something they have stated that they will continue to provide content to for years to come with each expansion. So it is here to stay.
I don’t think we will have plots of land we buy in the world though. If we do that would be interesting. I could see people putting there house somewhere to use as another hearth location in those cases. “Oh I come here a lot looking for this one rare mount farm that spawns once every 3-5 days. I’ll put my house there.”
ESO housing is not behind a paywall. There are plenty of houses and furnishings available for in-game gold and it is not uncommon that they are given away as part of an annual event. Yes some are in the cash shop but so are other things like mounts, outfits, etc.
SOME houses in ESO are expensive…and there are lists of them that VERY cheap and easy to get.
I literally just kept my sub going and let my free crowns add up and bought like 13 houses with FREE crowns, including a couple HUGE mansions. lol.
ALL of my houses were purchased with FREE crowns we get every month.
WoW should do the exact same thing…small cheap houses up thru huge expensive mansions and everything in between.
A starter home should be easily accessible. Maybe like 10k or 20k gold. Everyone should be able to get a starter home. Some upgrades may cost more gold though, but everyone deserves to have a basic house.
Some furniture should be purchasable by gold, whether from a vendor or from a profession. Others should be farmable in world like toys, mounts, pets, mogs etc.
Some may be sold for specific currency. Some may be on the trading post and some may be holiday rewards.
Some may also be on the shop and that’s okay, because the vast majority of furniture should and will be available in game.
Do you even play ESO? There are houses on the shop but there are also a lot of houses (some very nice and large) available to buy in game with gold. I have around 20 houses in ESO of which only 1, the ship, was bought on the shop. There are even several that are rewards for completing major quest lines.
There is a lot of furniture on the shop, but there is also a lot of furniture crafted by other players, a lot from drops and a significant amount available from vendors for gold.
Agreed, it’s a brilliant addition to any mmorpg because the tie in content. would be great if they put some of the largest houses in major cities, like guild manors