Steve Troughton-SmithDec 3
World of Warcraft finally has player housing, and what amounts to an incredibly-powerful in-game interior and exterior map editing tool. It actually feels emotional to be putting down a permanent home in a beautiful zone with such uplifting music. For some players, designing and decorating their homes will become the entire game
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithDec 3
A little bit of exterior decoration later, and this feels like a very cosy plot!
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithDec 3
I can't wait for the timelapses of neighborhoods filling up, watching little gardens and outdoor scenes being built by other players. WoW is Minecraft now
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithDec 3
WoW's housing system, from a player retention standpoint, feels like a masterstroke. The key: house decor items are consumables, not unlockables. And they come from all kinds of sources, for all kinds of currencies, in every expansion. That means if you want a bunch of a super rare piece of furniture in your house, you're going to need to play that legacy content to get enough of it. It funnels players out into the world, re-populates empty instances, etc
Show threadSean HeberDec 3
@stroughtonsmith so do you see houses popping up all over the landscape now? Because that'd be kinda awesome. Or I assume they are restricted to certain areas? Or how does that part work? What if you want to build where someone else built, etc?
Show threadSteve Troughton-Smith
@bigzaphod there's a new zone, per faction, where all the player houses live. It's got a lot of variation, different biomes, little villages, forests, shores, farms, etc, and you pick your preferred spot. You can decorate your plot of land, and see others'. There's a system for transferring your house to another plot, and to another instance of the neighborhood, if your preferred spot is taken
Dec 3 at 9:51pmIvory for Mac
Show threadSean HeberDec 3
@stroughtonsmith would have been kind of amazing if you could just sort of... build one almost anywhere. Some desolate corner, etc. But I can see that being an issue and hard (maybe almost impossible) to deal with. I wonder what happens if you let your subscription lapse or something? Gonna end up with ghost towns? Can you go into other houses and see their stuff?
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithDec 3
@bigzaphod there's a permission structure, you can allow/disallow friends, guildies, everybody, etc, on either of inside or outside. I think they tried to capture that feeling by having so many varied biomes. I believe their solution to ghost towns is letting you transfer to new neighborhoods; they're not tied to your subscription, as I imagine most players lapse from time to time
Show threadSean HeberDec 3
@stroughtonsmith do the neighborhoods have a reason to visit them outside of your house? Like.. I dunno, shops and quest givers and stuff? Kinda imagining how awesome it'd be if you could kinda become a quest giver somehow.. or a profession trainer.. or auction house.. lol. Give people a reason to hang out in your hood.
Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithDec 3
@bigzaphod yeah I believe that's a big part of what they're planning. For now, I've seen decor vendors and treasure hunts. But they put in facilities for roleplayers too, like a stage and auditorium — no 'gameplay' associated with them, but that's up to players. And guilds can have their own private neighborhood