Player Housing?

Wyrmrest Accord
21

Player housing is not something that Actiblizz should attempt. Ever. Stick to mediocre PVP, stealing fractal dungeons, and raiding. While Dragonflight so far has been a pretty positive experience, history shows that the developers at Blizzard are absolutely terrible at implementing a system on one expansion and being able to continue it for years to come. Just look at archaeology as an example. That one was pretty simple and it died off faster than any of Sean Bean’s characters.

Something like this would eat at the budget of the core game for something that wouldn’t really be utilized all that much when it comes down to PvE content; the one thing that this game has prioritized over everything else. It would last what? One expansion as a test to see if it’s something they’re capable of managing? That’s a lot of time, money, and man hours they’d have to continuously put into housing if they wanted to make it as lucrative as possible from a business perspective. They’re not going to suddenly throw a larger budget at this game on a gamble that they know they’re not willing to take. And I’m not talking about a few months. I’m talking about years and years to come, arguably going as far as this game is capable of existing. If they’re going to ever add it in, they’d have to view it as a long-term investment. Something that its shareholders and higher ups don’t really seem to care about.

I could go on and on about how if Blizzard does player housing it will never compare to Rift’s dimension system (Literally the best housing system I’ve ever seen in any MMO), Wildstar’s housing, or even housing in Star Wars Galaxies. So at the end of the day it will be held to very high expectations that the playerbase will put on Blizz much like it did with garrisons, and be sorely disappointed with the result.

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22

If player housing is to work, there needs to be incentive to regularly visit other peoples’ houses, including strangers.

I think the move would be to rip off Animal Crossing. Every now and then, the rare cabinet guy might come to your house. You might be one of the only people on the server with rare cabinet guy hanging around at their house. Now, you can make a listing to invite people to your house so they can get a rare cabinet, all while showing off what you’ve put together.

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23

While I agree with you, I think it’s a bit pessimistic. Blizz has an abyssmal track record for implementing things well. Dragonriding is one of their rare moments of brilliance, and even GW2 - where they got the idea from wholecloth, still did it better.
The main problem with Blizz’s gimmicks is that they are too heavily tied to the expansion and end up being useless afterwards. We shouldn’t compare housing to the massive flop that was Garrisons because they aren’t the same. Blizz tried to claim they were, but again, it’s just Blizz telling us what we want after polling maybe 5 people in their friend group. :roll_eyes:

Should blizz do housing considering their past failures? Probably not. Do I still want housing in this game despite all that? Yes, I doubt it would tank the game and make it worse. They wouldn’t even have to implement it all at once, lay the foundation and add on to it.

In the end, If Blizz ends up doing housing, I think they should do what they do best. “Borrow” ideas from other games and act like they came up with it on their own. :rofl:

24

You also have to remember not all of us are going to be interested in building some big mansion filled to the brim with things that keep us there all the time, thereby removing socializing from the game.

I want to be out in the world. I’d just like to build a little homestead that Norman can putter around in. Some place to hang all the hats I’ve collected. I wouldn’t want much.

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25

Oh yeah for sure. I’m just going by mostly the general censuses of what I hear people say, the amount of people I know who all struggle with walk ups and public areas. I pay a lot of attention to the players who are trying and/or just sitting there vs the people who are more outspoken and approachable. The big thing about those games, from what I know , they are far newer than WoW. And had more time to integrate housing from the start or add later but early enough for people to use. So people didnt have this long 16-18 years of playing a game where housing was never an option.

But it all depends on how its handled, where its located, and if they make the outside just as interesting. The Wyverns Tail for example on the Horde side is the top hub. But it’s also miserable. It’s a wooden circle, with no sense of that rustic coziness. It’s dated and small and lacks the feel of a good tavern. Orgrimmar is sparse, theres no places to feel really immersed that isnt in the way of an NPC. The Valley of Spirits is half polluted and taken over by an Embassy. Valley of Strength is like designated OOC zone. I crave for a better spot to RP with people. A lot people feel the same. The upside for the Alliance is that Stormwind has a vastly more inviting atmosphere to go back to, and I say that as someone who use to be there all the time.
I dunno, we’s just have to see. I feel like I can confidently say that it will be harder. People will feel pushed away by obnoxious behavior and spend more time there. It’s a lot like vulpera RPers, I notice a lot people who enjoy vulpera and really do enjoy the lore end up feeling pushed aside and lose interest due to the ones who are the loudest, so they leave and you never see them. (This is not a vulpera discussion and its only an example).
I just worry that the people who genuinely want to make stories will be holed up because people don’t know how to share a space with others. It already happens, but now its an actual space they dont have to leave.

In a way I think its good to have a space like this. But I really just want the world to be more interesting and less sparse where good empty areas have npcs, things that are covered in cob webs or only useable before or after a quest.

(I still want my dream of uninstanced BFA islands)

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26

Which is where I see the problem. If it gets added in slowly as you suggest, it would just become another project they’d forget about or just right out abandon since the larger picture would be viewed as too much of a risk. Gaming companies don’t like taking risks anymore, and Blizz is apart of that unfortunately.

I’d love to see player housing, don’t get me wrong. But if it ever gets added in, it needs to be done right. Which is where the whole player expectation thing comes into play. Aethun hit the bullseye with this one.

It’s a resource sink. And its success is going to fully be reliant on how well or how poorly Blizzard would do with something like this. You said it yourself, with the hilarious (but still fun) GW2 dragon riding “clone”, they had the chance to improve upon it like they attempt to do with all the things they steal from other games. But they just didn’t do that for whatever reason.

Edit: Look at New World’s housing system. It gets utilized from a gameplay perspective to act as a second home teleport travel location. it has trophies that you can add in that increases damage to certain mobs, increases gathering speed, or even gives you a chance at better loot rather it be from gear or gathering. But the problem with it is that every POH they have in the game is just a clone of a building that already exists in the world. And it’s painfully boring. it lacks that creative depth people want. It lacks the ability for you as the player to be immersed in the world. And that’s what my main issue is with Blizzard doing housing. They could allow you to have some creative freedom with it, sure. But it would most likely be disgustingly limited like its character creation.

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27

Phft. Forget open world city rp (because let’s face it, that’s about the only kind there is beyond planned events). I would pick instanced housing over that noise every time. There is zero appeal to loitering around a inn while Lichkillur Champion of the Frozen Wastes and Gladiator Luvsurmom duel and spam their toys while they wait for their queues to pop.

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28

I’ve never played New World, but their housing sounds like ESO’s. All their houses are places in the world itself. Instanced portals but you can see the house from out in the world (though not your decorations). You can put in trophies, crafting stations, and they also act as free teleportation to the zone they are in.

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I never got far into ESO so I wouldn’t really know what that’s like. I know I checked out its housing system, but for the life of me nothing really stood out as anything worth remembering.
New World - Everything You Need to Know About Housing - YouTube

30

think we’re raising the bar a bit too high for what housing should be

if its good, we’d probably stop there for maybe 10-15 minutes outside setting it up initially (unless we’re rping with someone)

i once again point to halfhill, where id collect my silly little rp tree props, and plant seeds so id get more the next day

New World had a good system. pretty much bag space and a hearthstone (you could also see other ppls houses (if ppl shared a spot you could select who’s house you wanted to see, but never if they were home)

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31

NW housing is about as bland and boring as any system could be and still call itself housing. It’s a step up from Garrisons, but a small one. The only useful features are the trophies, added storage to your city bank, and extra travel point. There’s zero reason to put anything else inside your house beyond chests for storage and the trophies for stat bonuses.

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32

Mix and matching styles is one of the biggest things that would hook me, especially if I can decide I don’t want my house theme to match the zone it’s in. Having a house not necessarily be a “house” structure is another. I don’t quite like the UI looking like character creation/barbershop though. And the AH bidding option is a bit odd to me, at least the gold aspect of it vs community votes.

That aside, I think it’s silly that people still believe in this day and age that player housing could disrupt city and world rp. Not everyone wants to rp in private, in instances, or even in phases of the carbonated variety if you get my drift. This is just giving an option, and a nice, customizable one that easily kicks griefers out of the equation.

“But blizzard will mess it up!”
Blizzard messes up about 80% of what gets put into this game, who cares at this point.
At least I’d have a house to go to whenever I want vs a laggy garrison that I can’t turn off the npcs in.

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33

well…its a house.

i dont want a house with features

i just wanna decorate and have a garden

(oh but imagine if professions could create gadgets and such for your house!!)

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34

Well you can decorate it. So like I said, step up from Garrisons, but no gardens though. You can have a training dummy. Oh, but its not attackable so still essentially useless.

35

I think that’s more than fine. People will have their own individual wants when it comes to their games. It pushes said company that makes a game with housing or literally any type of content in it to do better. If the playerbase isn’t going to get their voice in, the developers won’t know what people want. So when it gets added in and the players don’t like it, they’ll be less likely to not continue to play and pay for their game. Lysidius just wants this:

And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s what they’re fine with having. But other people will also expect more with featured upcoming content. People don’t want to settle for “It’s okay” or “It could be better”. They want better. They want it to be one of if not the greatest experiences they’ve had with that type of content. And that’s fine. That’s healthy to a point.

I bought a new mattress and it just came in, why would I want to lay on something I just invested a lot of my money on to just be “fine”? I want it to be the best mattress I’ve ever slept on. The same thing can be said about game development companies or any other product you consume or invest your time in.

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36

That’s not the real problem. We should have a high bar, otherwise we end up with Garrisons 2.0.

This is the real problem. We just expect too much from a company that undervalues their employees (amongst other things).

37

Blizzard suffers from chronic arrogance. They think they know what’s best and have sole authority on what players want. They also are just plain lazy. They want the biggest returns on the least amount of effort. I fully believe if they were ever to attempt housing again they would just screw it up and end up with Garrisons 2.0.

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38

Yeah, like the worst that happens is that they do player housing and it gets abandoned. But I don’t think there’s any worry for them to make garrison 2.0, tbh. That would mean putting almost every crumb of current progression into player housing, and it’s just not going to happen. I can’t even see them putting profession things (like garrisons did) in housing after the crafting updates this expac, no matter how monkey pawed it’s been.

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39

This line right here makes me think this - let’s use the past story points as a reason to rebuild:

Upcoming expac: There’s currently peace in Azeroth, so the world can start healing As part of the rebuild effort, there’s a massive clean up and residential restructure in certain places such as Teldrassil and Undercity, as well as resettlement to Gilneas, a boom in farm production in Westfall, Redridge, Tirisfal and Hillsbrad, the opening of new hunting lodges in Grizzly Hills, mountain chalets in Storm Peaks, and ghost hunters can try their hand at exploring haunted houses in Darkshire or Drustvar. Pirates and Privateers can make their homes in Booty Bay or along the shores. Dwarves can excavate into the mountainsides - diggy-diggy-hole.

Main cities like Stormwind, Orgrimmar and Dalaran are all open for the population boom from the lessening of the faction war, with new districts forming for guild halls or other open locations for different classes or professions.

But all this new growth either attracts something’s attention, or we dig too deep and something-something-soul of Azeroth-something-something-left the sword in too long. And then hey Champion, remember those WOONS? Well, now we have a problem.

So this would tie in the storyline to the player and guild housing somewhat. It would be a feature of the expac, but all the dungeons and raids would have to do with whatever conflict we stir up. We might have to band together in safe districts in the cities, or find ways to protect our land, or ways to attack the issues from within the homes and halls (togglable so we don’t have constant attacks). Players would have to revisit the zones and take part in new storylines in order to open up the features for an area. Features in the main cities would open in chunks as zone quests are completed.

The ability to look at other players’ housing would be something that players could turn on and off. That way, they can show off their ideas but can also have privacy for RP or when they don’t feel like having company. Guilds can set up entire taverns, halls, libraries, or whatever they like, and hold events there for guildies and friends with access granted. Everything from simple stuff like an “I Spy” to full on Dance Studio cough.

There are tons of assets that we could be granted access to. Everything from walls or wallpapers to building pieces, toys placed permanently, pets, followers from past mission tables, etc. Imagine being able to go through your mission table companions and pick out the ones you want, and place them in your house wherever you think they’d fit.

Non-RPers use transmog, so there’s no reason why they wouldn’t be interested in doing some building. In fact, in games like Minecraft, Conan Exiles and Ark, half the game is the build and people enjoy it. And if you wanted to get PvP involved, you can always have that turned on. I could see that working like a mini-game, where you turn on PvP, then you go collect up your assets to build defenses. Then someone can look at a map, attack your base, take a portion of your base’s value and leave you with repairs, more defenses and an enemy to attack back. Something like that could even play through the phone app.

Each following expac could offer new housing choices in different zones. It doesn’t have to be a large part of the expac after that, with maybe 1-2 choices as part of a mid-expac patch.

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40

This cracks me up everytime. Terrible Scottish is terrible, but funny because it is. :sweat_smile:

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