I think they’ve gotten aspects of it. We had the little farms in MoP, we had Garrisons, we had Order Halls, and I think those offer some spots of light.
If I could design it myself, I’d add houses like ESO, where there are different options in each zone based on that areas races, so like Elwyn Forest might have a little human style farm, maybe a stone tower, maybe a little castle or something, Darkshore would be NE themed, etc.
Each home, depending on size, would have interior space and outside space. We’d be able to set up some crafting areas and change what grows, so if I wanted to create a farm of Pandaria herbs I could. And like garrisons maybe we could place buildings like a stable to show off a couple mounts, maybe a workshop for the crafting, etc.
I also think it could add a TON of content for crafters. Imagine if they added expansion-themed crafting and you could get patterns/recipes by doing content in those expansions, maybe rare ones in Timewalking, things like that. And all crafting could have plenty to do. It could create a booming market for work orders to request crafters make Outland style tables or something. They could also maybe add woodcutting/woodworking as a new profession that can make bows, cross bows, staves and wands and shields, (and maybe a canoe mount!?) as well as tables and other wood furniture. I think the boom to crafting for years to come would be well worth a raid tier in one xpansion tbh.
Then we could also get ESO-like trophies for killing dungeon/raid bosses. Maybe bronze busts or statues for normal, silver for heroic, gold for mythic, etc.
I feel like they have all the technology there with instancing, phasing, scenarios, etc. And a lot of the models already in the game.
They could add crafting tables, and maybe somehow offer bankers/mailbox/auctioneers as well either as rare drops or as achievement rewards or something. But honestly, housing is a huge boon to games like ESO where some people only do dungeons/trials/etc to get furnishings for their homes. They do crafting just to make furniture. I think it could be a great influx of content and get more people to get out and do more content, making old zones and stuff relevant again in ways Timewalking hasn’t even done.