Player housing is coming to World of Warcraft this year. You’ll soon have a place to kick up your feet and relax after a long day of grinding materials or hunting legendary loot, and the system for designing your home is simple enough that anyone can use it, even if they have no prior experience with 3D modeling.
At first, there will only be two housing zones: one for Alliance players, and one for Horde players. The Alliance zone will take its inspiration from Stormwind-adjacent Elwynn Forest, while the Horde zone is based around the autumn-clad Azshara. While there will be more options in the future, Blizzard wants to keep the areas more closely connected at first to encourage the social aspect of the game.
The game promises tons of customization options that can be unlocked through gameplay, given as quest rewards, and much more, but there are likely to be several items that are only available by spending real-world money.
An unexpected by hilarious surprise was the shot Blizzard took at Final Fantasy XIV’s housing system. “As a part of our focus on wide adoption, we wanted to ensure that Housing is available to everyone. If you want a house, you can have a house. No exorbitant requirements or high purchase costs, no lotteries, and no onerous upkeep (and if your subscription lapses, don’t worry, your house doesn’t get repossessed!)”
The stringent requirements and associated costs of buying a home in FF14 are well-known, and it seems Blizzard wants to make it clear that its system will be far more player-friendly.
In addition to buying homes, players can also choose to live in Neighborhoods. Each Neighborhood consists of around 50 homes, and everyone that lives in a neighborhood can earn community rewards. Public Neighborhoods are accessible to everyone, but private Neighborhoods can be restricted to specific guilds or groups of friends.
Blizzard ends its message to players with a note that a lot of work remains to be done before the feature is ready, but it could launch by the end of 2025.
