Introduction
Even if it’s been quite some time since the announcement, we’re still shocked (positively) that we’re getting such a great feature in our old World of Warcraft. Yet, we keep asking ourselves, what will this bring exactly new to the game? What can we expect from it? Will this be another game-changing thing, like some of the newer features we had in retail? From what we know, it will be a really interesting new addition. It’s pure speculation so far when it will be released. Would it be pre-Midnight? There have been some key points, such as that it might just be around 11.2.7 after we saw a house icon on the roadmap for this year regarding the Wow Retail. So, to narrow it down, it could potentially be around the Winter of 2025 (December).
Zones and Location of the Housing
Each house will be located in a specific zone that Blizzard will tailor for this system. Though at the launch there will be only two zones (two themes), we can expect more in the future.
One for the Alliance and one for the Horde. Each zone will take a look at already existing zones, be inspired by them and combine them to make a new, unique look. Alliance one will be themed with Elwynn Forest, Duskwood and Westfall, while the Horde’s side will take a look at Azshara and Durotar.
The Neighbourhoods
One of the things that did make us think, well, that’s unique and interesting, was what Blizzard called “The Neighbourhoods”. It’s a small “zone” filled with houses of different players, where you can interact with them and, similar to real life, have, well, neighbours. Even if it sounds strange, it’s a very unique way to approach something like this in an MMO because, after all, social interactions were one of the pillars of MMOS. This feature sounds great, and with lots of changes that people considered not very MMO-esque in recent years, this was a warm and happy surprise. They also mentioned that you can choose your neighbourhood, some of which can be public, while others will be more private and managed by guilds and players. So no one will be left behind, even if you are a solo player, and still want to experience this unique thing, you can freely join a Public neighbourhood despite not being in a guild. It sounds very interesting, but we still need to wait and see what exactly these unique zones bring. How will we be able to customise them? Will there be any special interactions or events involved in these zones, and how will we as a community inside “The Neighbourhoods” interact with them? These questions are still waiting to be answered, and hopefully, with upcoming news about Midnight this year, we might have them answered.
These houses will be completely free, as long as you have the subscription, but even when it expires, you don’t have to worry, your house will not go away! It’s yours permanently, and Blizzard won’t repossess it, as they have jokingly stated. You’ll also be able to visit your friends and even visit some cross-faction people! Even if you will not be able to purchase as a Night Elf, a house in the Horde Neighbourhood, if you have a toon that’s and Undead for example, and he gets the house in such a neighbourhood, you’ll still be able to visit it and use it as it was your own.
Layout of the House
It’s also been showcased that you will be able to freely move items around your house, meaning there will be barely any restrictions regarding the placement of your furniture. So far, we know there will be themes such as the typical Alliance Human fantasy furniture and the iconic Horde Orc one. The first look at the way it was placed looked similar to some of the ways devs place items. On top of everything, we will get to use some of the “trophies” that we got with our adventures through the great and big Azeroth and above. We can see Onyxia’s head or Bulwark of Azzinoth on the wall in one of the showcases, so assuming they will go this route, we might get to put some of our weapons also on the wall. As for the head of the once-known Alliance advisor, Katrana Prestor, players might be able to showcase their incredible achievements in the various dungeons and raids that they conquered throughout the years of great battles in the game. That does sound like an impeccable way to display some of our achievements, and we know that having cool titles and mounts is always great, so more of these things can never hurt!
The freedom that was showcased means that you will freely be able to make rooms and place items on any part of your room. Freely moving them with no restrictions as long as it is within the house. This means that we will get something that so far only devs had, even when we do have some customisation, it was always fairly limited. This time we will be able to go all out and display anything we want, it seems like no house will look the same, as it is in real life!
Even though it’s a subject to change, it’s worth noting what we have so far in the editor mode and its interface. Here’s what we know so far:
- Basic Mode - As its name states, the basic mode, only used to place items at the locations you want them to be placed in.
- Advanced Mode - This adds to the first one; you can tune in and set up the furniture and the items exactly how you want, fine-tuning them and rotating them all around.
- Customise Mode - This mode is used to change colors and perhaps even some textures of certain items.
- Cleanup Mode - As expected, used to remove the items from your house. (Not permanently, of course!)
Decorations
As mentioned previously, we will have some kind of trophies to display, but also some of the items we have gotten. We might get a chance to even showcase some of the rare and unique mounts and pets we got. Perhaps it might not be on the launch, but it is a likely feature that we can expect. Besides, it seems that they’re going for an approach of freedom in these houses, and displaying something we already earned was seen on some of the items that were placed as trophies on the wall that we previously mentioned. Therefore, I think it’s a guess worth noting that our lovely, hard-earned mounts might find a place in our cozy houses!
Final Thoughts
Though there is still a very limited amount of information regarding the housing system, we can certainly speculate on some things and see how things might turn out. We can think of some ways to get the cosmetics for our brand-new houses. Most likely, some rare drops could have them or even some World Bosses located inside the Neighbourhoods that have low drop chances or maybe even rare appearances inside them. We could also potentially have some unique scenarios in the said Neighbourhoods and see if they might implement a way for the community to interact and explore together, to banish evil mobs from the fields of warm houses…