After 20 years, World of Warcraft is finally adding player housing. During its Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct last year, Blizzard delighted players with the surprise announcement that the feature — a long-time staple in other MMOs — was on the way. Now the studio has revealed a bit more information with a new blog explaining how it’s all supposed to work.
In the past, WoW has obliquely flirted with the concept of player housing with the garrison feature from the Warlords of Draenor expansion in 2014. Players had their own home base or “garrisons” that they could customize from a pool of buildings, but they couldn’t invite others in to see them or have any say over decor. Player housing, on the other hand, is meant to give players greater control over everything.
According to Blizzard there are three principles driving the development of player housing in Azeroth: self-expression, sociability, and longevity. The team wants players to be able easily customize their houses and socialize with their friends and guildmates within a feature that’s meant to last for expansions to come.
Initially, Blizzard plans on implementing only two housing areas, one for each faction. These houses will be arranged into neighborhoods that are either public with everyone free to come and go as they please, or private neighborhoods established and maintained by friend groups or guilds. Decor for these homes will be obtained either by questing or purchasing and are meant to reflect all the different aesthetics of the game’s numerous races, cultures, and locations that make up WoW’s ever expanding world.
Interestingly, WoW has also said it wants to make player housing available for everyone which included a very pointed shot across the bow at one of WoW’s biggest competitors — Final Fantasy XIV — which has had player housing for several years. As a player of the “critically acclaimed MMORPG,” I can tell you the requirements for obtaining housing (and the hoops you have to go through to actually get and keep one) are so onerous that it’s never been worth pursuing. It’s good that Blizzard is differentiating its housing initiative from others by making it clear what players can expect in that regard.
“If you want a house, you can have a house,” Blizzard’s post read. “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!).”
Blizzard hasn’t given a timeline on when housing will be implemented. The company released its latest expansion War Within, last year as the first part of its three-expansion long continuous story dubbed “The Worldsoul Saga.” Housing could come as soon as a War Within patch or when the next expansion, Midnight, releases likely sometime in 2026.
