Blizzard previously announced that player housing would arrive with World of Warcraft: Midnight, and we've now gotten a few details on how it'll all work. Notably, the devs are tackling the issues that have made Final Fantasy 14's player housing such a nightmare head-on.
"As a part of our focus on wide adoption, we wanted to ensure that Housing is available to everyone," Blizzard says in a new blog post. "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!)"
While the devs don't call out FF14 by name here, this statement pretty directly addresses all the major complaints that have been levied against the MMORPG's housing system. FF14 offers only a limited number of housing plots which are distributed through lottery, and you've still got to pay a high cost for a plot of land if you do happen to win. Plus, if you don't visit your home regularly - requiring you to keep up your monthly subscription - you will lose it.
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WoW's housing will be divided into two zones - one for Alliance and one for Horde - at launch, with players divided into neighborhoods. Each of those neighborhoods will be divided into "roughly" fifty plots, "letting players live next to each other, work together, and share in the rewards of being part of the Neighborhood." You'll be able to get into either a public neighborhood or a private neighborhood designed for a guild or group of friends to hang out together.
Blizzard's still staying vague on a lot of what we can expect on WoW's housing, but this blog addresses the big fears about the system - and yes, the studio says housing "is designed to be primarily player-first and not revenue-first." That means many decorations will be available as in-game rewards, though there will of course be a few items in the cash shop too. "This is comparable to how transmogs and pets are currently handled in game versus the shop," Blizzard says.
We'll see how it all works in more detail as more info on Midnight rolls out in the coming year.
World of Warcraft got a $90 dupe of a mount worth $475 around 6 years ago for the MMO's 20th anniversary, and fans reckon Blizzard made at least $15 million off it.
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