It's as much a surprise as it is a sensation: World of Warcraft is actually getting a housing system with the "Midnight" expansion. Fans of the MMORPG are literally over the moon.
Blizzard's livestream celebrating the Warcraft franchise's birthday turned out to be a pretty big deal. This was mainly due to an announcement that was little more than a clear hint: World of Warcraft will finally get a housing feature in its 21st year. Fans of the game have been asking for this for years and have been doing so to this day. The developers now seem to be fulfilling one of the community's biggest wishes. The details, however, remain unclear.
trophies on the wall
The Lord of the Rings Online has it, Star Wars Galaxies had it in a real premium version and Star Wars – The Old Republic, the MMO for Final Fantasy and The Elder Scrolls Online have long been focusing on house building, and recently Guild Wars 2 jumped on the bandwagon. And now Blizzard is finally following suit, answering the fans' big wish and bringing a housing system into the game.
"It's finally happening," writes a fan in the official German World of Warcraft forum. The three words express what many fans are currently thinking: After the fairly clear hint in a short video snippet during the livestream, there is great excitement about the feature that has been requested for decades.
Some commented that they hadn't expected that housing would actually come. In fact, such demands kept coming up, but they never came to fruition and the belief that it would be implemented dwindled. Blizzard caught fans off guard this time with the surprise. And knowing the passionate developers, something big could come out of it.
The trailer at least gives us an idea of what it might look like: at least one conclusion is obvious. The decorations in the trailer suggest that fans will be able to decorate their homes with all sorts of trinkets related to their achievements, stick rare items on the walls or hang trophies from defeated raid bosses in the rooms. How exactly Blizzard will ultimately implement housing is unclear. It may be possible to buy houses in an instanced area, then you would also have neighbors. A system like the one used in Star Wars – The Old Republic is also conceivable: there you simply teleport to your house, which exists alone as an instance. An open system like the one back then Star Wars Galaxies is rather unlikely.
One thing is clear: Housing will appear in World of Warcraft with the next expansion, which will be revealed in summer 2025. It is unclear whether the feature will be available right from the start. Fans will have to be patient here. Blizzard will surely release more information as the release of the next part of the Worldsoul saga approaches.
"Blizzard has hyped me up. My heroes are finally getting a home," commented one user in the WoW forum. Others take a more sober view and want to wait and see how Blizzard ultimately implements the feature. At the moment, joy prevails - and the developers have obviously managed to create a real surprise. That in itself is a rare moment.
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