So I have a couple of thoughts on some ways to make housing more thematic through the game, some will disagree but this is the forums so… when does that not happen.
Profession crafting.
Now I would assume this is already in some form going to be implemented, but hear me out.
Make professions incredibly relevant to housing by the following:
Blacksmith: Nails, Plates, Hangers, general materials required for ways to craft furnishings.
Engineering: Screws, framings, more complex materials and structures, tying to blacksmithing thematically. Maybe even some recipes for *Bonus point.
Alchemy: Fabric dyes for colour variations as optional reagents in crafts, glues etc
Inscription: Pigments for said dyes, particular artworks and recipes etc
Enchanting: bit more random but things like auras and glows, what colour your lanterns glow, etchings on crafts maybe?
Jewelcrafting: Similar to enchanting, Adornments and inlays etc
Leatherworking: Hides for rugs, certain seating, beds etc
Tailoring: Similar to leatherworking, fabrics of any kind, curtains, bedding, beanbags, we all love a beanbag, you get the gist.
Fishing: *Bonus point. to display rare fish you’ve caught and maybe even driftwood to craft.
*Bonus point
Add Carpentry and some form of Logging/Woodcutting - even if it’s a specialized part of herbalism as a minimum(less thematic that way)
Carpentry: process rough timber gained from woodcutting, Craft wooden materials and use them in part with a whole range of other crafting proffs, a lot of house items could be added to this with complexity added for gaining recipes etc.
This could be the bread and butter of housing items.
Woodcutting: so this one could be interesting, we’ve done a very minimal seed system a couple of times, why not do saplings also, have a few spots around zones (all zones, not just current) that you can plant saplings etc, action nodes added to certain trees to harvest, rewarding said saplings, have different types of timber from different regions for colour variations (this part can also work with bringing back the majority of old crafting items eg copper nails + ashenvale timber for that dark wood with copper toned fixings)
Also, apply this to herbalism(seeding) across the world.
In general I think doing more of these types of craft system would make player housing more social and engaging, it wouldn’t be just the kill things and loot x chair - just don’t use the mettle system, it sucks.
(I see the mettle system as a way to force you to have one gathering and one crafting profession as you get very little mettle without a gathering prof and the work orders suck, gaining one skill point, 5 mettle and 57g for 15,000g worth of materials on a patron work order is not ideal, when you have 2 more that require one 200g item, reward scale balance is way off.)
Expansion after expansion new materials are introduced, making older materials irrelevant, have this as a tie in to help use the world more.
I would hazard a guess we’re going to get some* world revamps slightly in the future which is likely going to implement new housing areas.
Any other suggestions?