WoW Taunts FFXIV with Game-Changing Home Designs

World of Warcraft's upcoming housing system: A different approach to player homes.

Blizzard has offered a sneak peek at the player housing feature coming to World of Warcraft in the World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion, subtly contrasting its approach with that of Final Fantasy XIV. The WoW team emphasized accessibility as a core design principle.

The developer stated its goal is to make housing available to all players, regardless of in-game achievements or financial standing. Unlike some other MMOs, WoW's housing system will avoid lotteries, exorbitant costs, and harsh penalties for lapsed subscriptions. Your home won't be repossessed simply because your subscription expires.

Player housing in WoW will function as expected: players can purchase and personalize homes, inviting others to visit. This contrasts with Final Fantasy XIV's system, which, while inspiring player creativity (leading to in-game creations like theaters and nightclubs), is also notorious for its limited plots, expensive Gil costs, lotteries, and the risk of demolition for inactivity.

WoW aims to circumvent these issues. Housing is shared within a player's Warband, allowing characters of different factions and races to access the same home (though a Human character, for example, couldn't purchase a house in a Horde zone, a Troll character in their Warband could, and the Human character could then utilize it).

While WoW will initially feature only two housing zones, each divided into "Neighborhoods" of approximately 50 plots, these will be instanced, offering both public and private options. Public areas are dynamically generated by the servers, suggesting a scalable system with no immediate limit to the number of available plots.

Blizzard envisions player housing as a long-term feature, promising ongoing development and updates across future patches and expansions. This commitment, coupled with the subtle comparison to Final Fantasy XIV's system, suggests Blizzard is aware of potential pitfalls and aims to provide a more accessible and sustainable housing experience. Further details are expected during the summer reveal of World of Warcraft: Midnight.