I’m not sure I would call it separate from WoW - certainly not in the way Plunderstorm is. I must admit I haven’t read that much about it until the current update as I didn’t think it was my sort of thing at all … but I’m guessing items for the house can be earned from ingame activities and maybe created by professions (which would be a bonus as many people aren’t using their professions at all at the moment).
I could be proved completely wrong, but I hope not.
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Sure, and I said that before as well, that there’s definitely a desire for this amongst some players, even if I don’t see the appeal.
But the design construct of it, why is it this way?
Why not just make it a seperate game if for all intents and purposes that’s what it is? Like I said, it’s the same head scratching I have with Plunderstorm.
I know Fortnite has evolved to be this umbrella of games, and you can play many very different games within Fortnite besides Battle Royale. And that works because it’s Fortnite and it can easily encompass being more than just a Battle Royale. But WoW is an MMORPG and it kind of feels weird if it isn’t a holistic experience where everything in the game belongs and feels integral to the play experience. The umbrella design seems a bit weird in the context of an MMORPG, in my opinion.
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Because building and using a house is an integral part of MMOs these days.
Literallye very MMO has it, and the usage/demand for it by players is huge.
I’m more baffled that Blizzard never attempted this earlier, especially if you see what ESO, GW2, FFXIV have, what Wildstar had, what SWG had.
Many great implementations exist(ed) out there, and they drew huge crowds of people engaging with it.
It’s a fun activity that promotes creativity, and allows people to truly show their creative side and let imaginations run wild without having to care about other people and or be bogged down by the world’s limitations.
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I can earn a mount in WoW by playing Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, but that doesn’t turn those games into WoW experiences, does it?
Likewise, I can earn a mount in Plunderstorm, but does that make Plunderstorm a WoW experience? I am inclined to say no.
And with Housing you’ll likely be able to earn a new sofa by defeating a raid boss, but in what way does that relate raiding to Housing besides offering a desired reward like Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Plunderstorm does?
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I would buy that idea if Housing was part of the actual world…of Warcraft.
But it’s not.
It’s designated to its own isolated and instanced zone, with no attachment to the actual game world that we play WoW in.
So it’s a separate mini game. It’s not integrated into the MMO world.
If I could build a house in Westfall next to the beach with the murlocs running around and players questing nearby, then you would have a point. But I cant, so I don’t think you do.
It’s the fantasy, for sure, but I don’t feel it’s what Blizzard are presenting. They’re presenting a WoW editor tool you can play around with in an isolated instance.
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You want to put something that would be finite by design (space in the world) in this community?
yeah,…no thanks.
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No, I don’t want Housing at all.
I’m just saying that the Housing Blizzard are presenting is not the fantasy of MMO housing that you suggest it is.
Yeah I’ve seen your posts throughout this thread, and I simply don’t agree.
You don’t like it, we get it.
We still want it.
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I wasn’t looking for agreement or disagreement, or support or opposition.
I was inquiring about the game philosophy and design direction behind the Housing feature as it is being presented, because it strikes me as perplexing.
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Please fix bugs first, amount of bugs is ridicilous
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What you suggest is simply that: Impossible. And that counts for EVERY MMO.
You can only create instanced housing, there is no other way.
Throwing housing into the real world would limit it to a VERY small amount of players: Basically the handfull amount of houses that physically fit into that open world area.
Housing forcibly requires to be instanced, just like dungeons and raids. There simply is no other option.
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Sure, but that’s not entirely my issue. It’s a bit broader than that.
Blizzard introduces Housing to WoW.
To WoW.
If Housing is in WoW it must be because it has relevance to WoW in a complimentary or supportive way.
But looking at Housing as Blizzard have presented it, there doesn’t seem to be any relevance to WoW.
In fact, the design Blizzard have presented bends over backwards to ensure that Housing is as remote, optional, isolated, and meaningless a feature with regards to being relevant to WoW.
It’s like Plunderstorm in that regard. It’s there. It’s in WoW. But it ain’t WoW. Because it has nothing to do with playing WoW.
WoW is playing your character, killing monsters, getting gear, completing quests, leveling up, doing dungeons and raids to kill bigger monsters and get better gear and greater treasures.
That’s the gameplay focus.
Housing has nothing to do with any of that.
And why not?
It would be easy to make it relevant. Blizzard did that in various ways with The Garrison.
Why is it a design goal with Housing to make it as pointless as possible within the context of playing WoW?
I don’t really understand Blizzard’s line of thinking here. It feels as if they want to make Housing as pointless as possible, because then it’s also entirely optional. But that kind of thinking reveals a lack of confidence in the feature. Why not make Housing meaningful and worthwhile for everyone to engage in, and then be confident in your ability to make it a cool feature that appeals to everyone?
It strikes me as perplexing, if not disappointing. That is all.
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Being able to insert pets is a must, and having those mannequins [like those by the TP] to decor with mogs would be great.
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If you’re reporting the bugs ingame, the devs who fix them will investigate. This is an entirely different team to the people designing the housing. Creating the housing is not affecting the fixing of bugs.
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Okay, you simply fail to understand what housing in MMO generally means and put Blizzard at fault for your misunderstanding.
Housing is plainly an RPG element, plainly. Nothing more nor less.
That’s the focus of MMORPGs, correct, and housing doesn’t change anything about that. It just adds RPG elements.
“RPG” is not solely leveling, gearing, skill points, especially in MMORPGs. “RPG” has been negelcted for far too long.
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I fail to understand what Housing in WoW means.
And I scratch my head in bewilderment as Blizzard forges ahead with a major feature that holds zero appeal to people playing WoW for the WoW gameplay.
So that kind of “RPG” which leans very close to actual roleplaying (if it isn’t exactly that), is really not a major draw for people playing WoW. Yes there are people who roleplay in WoW and who specifically play WoW to roleplay. But the vast majority of people who play WoW do not play the game in order to roleplay – and they never have.
Blizzard showing up after 20 years and deciding that now everyone should get excited about roleplaying is a bit tone-deaf I think. That’s not going to happen.
This is a feature that will appeal to everyone on Argent Dawn and a couple of other folks.
To me that seems ridiculous.
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Those sofas are more goblin like so even if the exterior is more human/orc like you can work on the forniture to give a different feel.
Interesting that the windows are light points
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I fear that in the end we finish up with a premade building that you fill with stuff. Are there any plans to give design tools to create your own style and look of building. I’m less interested in what is inside and more about the shape of the housing plot, the surroundings and design tools in respect of creating a specific look. At the moment it looks like a Garrison building but with the ability to move a chair.
I see you can place a window but does that move the window outide. Better to have an open window that you can climb out etc. I mean can we change the shape of the rooms, add doors, create walls, stairs, openings etc.
What are the very basic tools to this thing in respect of building options, styles, construction tools, and also can we model the ground and create external spaces. It really isn’t housing if you can’t model your own designed house. There are plenty of online games with adavnced building options and I’ve yet to see any in these articles other than moving furniture. Dunno maybe that is coming.
Also what facilities will we have for crafting our own furniture so we can create a style of our own. Useful having workstations and printing presses. In Archeage I was able to craft internal partitions and decorate walls with my own artwork and even create t shirts to mimic art symbols to shields, armor and flags etc.
Housing has to be about being able to create unique and personal spaces that you have full control over. So you start with a blank canvass and work up from that. Terrain editor, walling and roofing editor, interior design , windows, doors etc and then fill what you create with stuff. Simply filling a stock premade house with objects and furniture will get dull real quick.
WoW has an opportunity to extend and expand on the boundaries of other games housing systems. If all it does is have a half hearted attempt at the thing it’ll fall flat on its face.
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If you write that and use the garrison as a good example of this, I’m gonna stop listening to you right there.
Well, on a serious note. I get what you mean, but I don’t see how this description is NOT having the housing involved with the world, but perhaps I have more on an RP brain where I attach it to the world through my own ways(imagination, as it’s a house, in a world… or something). I don’t see the detatchement as you describe.
Also. I cannot stand the garrison. I never could. I did not appreciate that design at all.
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There are plenty of content that doesn’t fill the role the game has for different players. In my case, PvP and pet battles don’t exist, because I don’t have any interest in them. I also know players who never do dungeons or raids. To them, that aspect don’t exist. If housing doesn’t work for you, just treat it that way - don’t use it(it doesn’t exist).
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