The garrison is great for a home base. i can use the AH without having to run back to a city. got my own hearthstone to my own private zen zone, lol
I really enjoyed the garrison. Was it perfect? Absolutely not, but I think they could have turned it into something awesome. It had a lot of great stuff in it, including Pepe! If you don’t have your own pepe, you should get yourself a garrison so you can because he’s adorable.
I think if they had made the garrison be something more like you own part of a main city that was phased to load in with you, it would have eliminated a lot of the drawbacks. It would have let you have player neighbors but would have kept the main city feeling alive.
That said, I personally don’t think the current dev team has the capacity to add another new system like player housing. For some strange reason the dev team is averse to adding expansion features that remain in the game and I’d rather them not reduce the quality or quantity of what we currently have in order to try and shoe horn some player housing system into the game.
There’s already a lot of bugginess in DF and so much room for general quality of life improvements in the game (like currency overhauls or shared banking etc) I would rather devs polish what they already have before they add new stuff to the game.
Maybe, but in any case it should be done cautiously.
X.X.5 and X.X.7 patches are perfect for that. No need to cut any other aspect of the game and no need to rush it either. Step by step, first just using the scripts of the garrison, modernizing that.
If it catches the interest of a big enough crowd then they can continue to extend it, if not then they can just say they were only doing some roundup on the old garrison system.
Cutting other parts of the game for something so volatile or setting it to be the main feature of a new expansion seems to be a very risky move.
Right now they have very serious matters to address first like:
- Story: something must be done here, its unbearably bad ever since the second half of SL
- Raids: unless they start to seriously consider overhauling things like the mythic diff, I cant see this game mode to prevail (also it could seriously use some innovation)
- M+: df m+ is an all time low, if they wont start to actually work instead of ctrl c ving old stuff in here, then idk how do they expect this to carry any more expansions. I expect at VERY least the BFA/SL quality from them, also removing the tw keystone system was a major failure
- Open world activites: it is not fine what happens in DF, the endless farming of rares is getting really old especially if they tune to so that even those who could use what drop there wont have a reason to do it. If community feast is really the best they can do, well thats quite tragic
- Torghast/Visions like solo pve activites: There must be something else, beyond m+ and raids, torghast for example was a great time killer. DF has nothing
- Talent trees: I wonder how long until druid talent tree actually becomes something of value, but unfortunately its not alone. Cutting the beta in half really did not do any favour to us, only to blizzard. Either way the task still awaits to be finished, its just that we suffer through a whole expansion now with subpar trees, just so that DF could release '22
- Systems like Tier: I would be fine with removing it again, but if not, then they better make a modern version of it that will not restrict our playstyles SO much and which will be available from every endgame content.
- Graphics: While we cant expect it to look like an UE 4 game, they should make some effort to make the game looks less outdated. So many tmogs and textures in this game which could use a high resolution remake.
And I am sure I am leaving out other important tasks, but provided the devs are actually willing to creepy word comes “work” on these, an additional task like player housing should only be added with lower prio than these, at very least until it is proven that there is a legit interest for this kind of thing in a game where it has already failed once.
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I’d say if they ever implemented the way people seem to want to have this in WoW (basically, Animal Crossing in Azeroth) , we would either see it flop hard because it was a much smaller group of people that were interested, or we’d have a huge influx of people playing the game in a very strange (to me) way.
I wouldn’t say it was of your own. Given the quotes unattributed and questions asked and answered by you alone in this writing, I’d say there’s a whole bunch of opinions each person in your head has. 
Excellent post.
Between you…
Rollo
Oumura
Departuros - Good examples btw. SWOTR housing was far above what I was expecting…
Virus
Shieldbaby
Jarvis
As a core system and requirement for Garrisons…it was not good. Poor implementation.
In Departuros examples the concept works fine in a lot of games as something optional to do.
A lot of these posts from these users also, whether realized or not to varying degrees, really show on the whole whats wrong with the game and company approach at this point in a lot of ways. Only 2 cities that get consistent support, 1 per faction. 2 year cycles and fixed visions which suffer from tunnel vision really. Hamstring approach. No doubt a lot has changed under the proverbial hood of this game compared to 15 years ago but Im guessing there are still a lot of limitations.
I think to have a SWOTR style flexible housing experience Blizzard would probably require some deep code reworks and such. Stated with no programmer knowledge, like 99% of us. I think though thats why in Garrisons you have fixed spots where you can place stuff and not much else. SWOTR maybe you have a spot you want to put something but the space is too large so an item cant go there for example. Just resize it…problem solved. You can literally place stuff on nearly every surface and really and truly make it your own in SWOTR.
You can own multiple housing locations as well, limited only by your in game currency wallet. Blizzards…engine or whatever verbage we want to use, I say in full ignorance but probably with high accuracy, can not do this by default and would take a rework beyond what Blizzard wants to do. Likely primarily due to cost verse assumed ROI.
If the add player housing it really does need to be free of Torghast or Garrison style game progression and something entirely optional and in that way it will succeed or at least not shoot itself in the foot while also being comparable to competitors.
I cant fathom how the decades of degrees at Blizzard wouldnt be aware of all of this and I am sure they are…
I bet on cost…
As long as its development doesnt hinder typical development then please Blizzard, try anything. A lot might be remembered poorly from Garrisons to Torghast and a lot of BfA features, but at least there was something new and interesting to experience. End of expansion Torghast wasnt bad tbh…just needed to refine it and remove it from progression of literally any kind.
Valid but i still want player housing i avoid the cities anyway unless i cant. So having my own home where me an friends can met up an chill. Socialize aounds great.
Exactly! When people say player housing would cost us a raid tier, they forget that Blizzard could just expand the development team and knock both systems out of the park, if they wanted to.
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And they just bought a whole new studio with 100 new devs in Boston 
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They implemented a lottery system for buying a plot a few patches ago. Now instead of trying to be the first one to click the board, you put your Gil in for a ticket and if you’re number is chosen you get the plot. If you didn’t get the plot, you’re refunded the Gil and can try again at another available plot.
Well, that’s better at least.
I wish I understood why they can’t just keep opening new wards, though?
Oh well.
According to Yoshi.P (the game director) it’s purely down to hardware. They’ve struggled to get the necessary hardware to increase server capacity and allow for more wards.
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Oh interesting! I knew they were having issues just due to the player numbers, didn’t know that extended to the housing too.
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Oh boy cracks knuckles lets get into it…
Before I begin, I just want to say thank you for the topic. Secondly, WoD was the expansion I started playing in earnest and I absolutely loved it, and thus, it has a special place in my heart.
HOWEVER!
Garrisons, while immensely fun for me for RPG reasons, were flawed in many ways. You point out some, and I agree. I would only add that Blizz gave up content creation in and around the Garrison half way through the expansion. As a result, it made the garrison as a half-baked expansion feature. Imagine M+ but without escalating rewards.
Now, to the reason why I wanted to reply. You mentioned a WoD 2.0 style player housing thing. Yes, Blizz is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. I would like to illustrate the two positions with examples.
Firstly, WoD 2.0 style: Blizz likes to take things that work and build or iterate on them. Timeless isles turned into the sandboxy zones we know now. Dungeon challenge modes(in MoP? WoD?) eventually coalesced into M+ as it was introduced in Legion and then perfected in recent expansions. If they did this with Player housing, they’d need to draw on the closest thing they attempted. Garrisons. And IF this were the route they’d take, ofc, the forums would explode and everyone would hate on it just because it IS so similar.
On the other hand, the RP route: I definitely can see this being an RP only thing. There’s maybe a questline, some NPCs you save or whatever, BOOM! You get your little town where people call you commander when you walk around, end of story. Except, it doesn’t end there. OP, I don’t agree with your opinion that they’d need to take away resources from the team to do this for RP reasons. Especially if it’s just going to be some place out in the world.
How? Easy. There are DOZENS of abandoned outposts in Azeroth that could be a potential little town for Housing. Pick any of them, rehash/rebuild the buildings, done. Keep in mind, yeah the buildings are probably prettier, race themed maybe, but that’s it. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The models for the houses are already there.
In my humble opinion? Both of these routes suck. They’re damned if they make it like WoD and they’re damned if they keep ignoring it or just do a half-assed job at it, so, I propose a THIRD route!
PLOT TWIST!!
Take what people loved about the Garrison: the memorable NPCs, the gradual visual progression, the ability to show off your “achievements” and stuff.
Then take out what people hated about it: forced end-game tie-in, WoW economy impact, isolated feel.
Then wrap it in what WoW does best: Story, Lore and rewarding Replayable gameplay loops.
Result: I think that if Player housing is to succeed, it has to be a mayor pillar of WoW gameplay, like Raiding, M+ and PVP, but also has to be optional like Professions are. It has to tow the line between useful and optional. It has to be the reason people log in or stay logged in. It also has to complement the other pillars in some way. It has to be relevant to the others, or the general WoW gameplay, but it can’t feel mandatory. It’s a tough balance. Here’s my suggestion.
I know this post is already long, but bear with me.
This new gameplay pillar, lets call it settlements, starts out as an optional questline you do to liberate some allied settlement that’s menaced but isn’t a critical importance like a GIGANTIC SWORD STUCK IN THE PLANET but whatever, I digress. There are countless reasons/excuses for us to go to this place, point is we’re sent to deal with it. We do the thing, we save the settlement and we’re given control over it’s defenses.
Then, once it’s unlocked, it turns into a glorified tower defense minigame. Your settlement is continually attacked by whatever expansion baddies we’re dealing with.
The gameplay loop is this: We gather resources from the various activities. Raiding, M+, PvP, whatever. You get this new form of supplies that you can gather from in-game activities, but also by sending NPCs on missions. Those supplies are then used to fortify your settlement. Similar to the garrison invasions, you and your friends can participate or you can opt out and let your townspeople to deal with it. Risks and rewards for assisting and ignoring, whatever. Now, the housing aspect. We need a hearthstone to this place. We also need to be able to customize this place to a certain degree. Racial-themed buildings and townfolk. Profession-themed defenses. Class-themed guards. The options are endless.
Will this take away from the budget? Most likely. Whatever form Player Housing takes in WoW, it has to be big and loud and in your face. It just has to. Player Housing is a HUGE deal for the WoW community. Will it end WoW if it goes wrong? Meh, I don’t think so. But if they screw it up and try it again, it’ll be to a more skeptical and apathetic audience.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Lol it is factually not player housing.
You can literally play ANY game with player housing and see the difference yourself.
Obtuse…
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Yep. More wards in the Residential Area requires more load on the servers which means they need to increase server capacity to do it. Part of the problem, again according to Yoshi.P, is that the brass at Square Enix keep a tight leash on the game’s funding since they have so many other departments developing games. Yoshi.P has said in a previous interview that he wishes he had the same budget as WOW did.
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A tad narrow view here I’d say. It can add replayability for a lot of older content. Just like the music sheets inside the garrison you can have items for player homes drop from old bosses, zones, and add in future rewards for quests/achievements/holiday events.
It would also provide another gold and time sink which I think blizzard would be rather happy to have.
Yes, Rp would be the biggest benefiters from this, but seeing as how even the most hardcore of hardcore players participate in a bit of virtual Barbie by doing Tmog I don’t see why other players wouldn’t at least spend a little time. Now we have cosmetic items as rewards it is clear that Blizzard sees the value in rewards that are not always directly benefiting the player.
Also, why can’t RPer’s get some things some times?
I always find this to be such an absolute ridiculous excuse. Items/buildings are already in the game and it would be a instance portal with in a city.
Will it though? It wouldn’t be the same as garrisons which I feel since you’re comparing it to that you’re assuming the same outcome. Maybe for a little bit, but I don’t think any increased speed to how quickly major cities die out now in retail.
With it not being mandatory and not able to have things like AH/Herbs/Fishing/quests/story elements/etc to keep a player occupied but just a place to decorate or hang out items I don’t think people would spend as much time.
I do as well, but having content that isn’t the big 3 Raiding/Pvp/M+ would do more to keep people around playing and increasing the chances of seeing people out and about in the cities just not when an expansion is new.
From my understanding the players who participate and complete mythic raiding is rather low as well but those keep getting made. Not every aspect of a mmo needs to be done by every person.
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It could mean more stuff to collect. Housing would open up a whole new dimension in what Blizzard could give as rewards for completed objectives.
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Playing housing is a terrible idea that has been horribly boring in every single game it has been implemented in.
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Now that’s an opinion. At least you can differentiate between player housing and garrisons.
If ppl don’t like PH that’s perfectly fine. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But purposefully misrepresenting a game feature (talking about the OP) is very shady.
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