As for Scythe, it would remove half of the fun of player's housing. First, what would be fun, would be having an actual neighborhood, which you can visit - and they can show off what they accomplished (by, say, having Onyxia's head mounted above the fireplace), as well as you can make the same for your house - like placing crossed swords and Rend's head above them. If it would be a personal instance, which only you can see, that's not that much fun to show this off only for yourself. As well, having actual neighbourhood would only add to this life-ness put into the game.

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Uhm, he said that other players could visit your house.

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You are become Vengeance, ravager of cunts.

So what makes it personal?

And it is still not solving the fact of having an omni-present, yet invisible house. That's just illogical. I would prefer actual housing districts, instanced in major cities - like Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, Shattrath or Dalaran. And if you are THAAAT rich, you would be then able to build two houses, one in ORG, next in Dalaran. Or, sell the one in Orgrimmar to someone else or the NPC and buy a new one in Dalaran. That would actually give it a much more life-like feeling.

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As Scythe also said, the fact that you can put your things there, decorate it to your liking and all that.

While Scythe's idea is good and would certainly work, the prospect of a player housing neighbourhood would be even better if they could pull it off decently.

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You are become Vengeance, ravager of cunts.

Here's my idea. You go into the instance portal in stormwind. A list comes up. "Neighborhood 1", "2", "3", etc. Each neighborhood can hold, let's say, 40 houses. It's instanced off. When 40 houses are placed in neighborhood 1, neighborhood 2 is opened up. You can visit any, and go into any house you have been invited to.


I think this solves the problem?

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Imagine an NPC, lets say... <Ground Vendor>. When you ask him, he offers to sell you a ground in the instanced housing district. He offers lots of places, with each one labeled with certain localization on the grid, like... AH24. If you want a certain place, you need to go there, read the poster with its name and remember it, and then choose the appriopriate one when talking to the vendor.

When that's ready, you might ask or player with the Woodcrafting profession or - if that's too big for a player - a special NPC (<Architect>?) to build a house there. Then, the building place pops out on location and needs some time to complete. After it, you might enter and place in several things you want to customize the house with - like chairs, tables or coolers. Or quest items.

And imagine, several city guards walking through the alleys and smacking you in the head if you try to use an item in someone else's house... warning you that the next time, he's going to be less subtle.

Wouldn't it be awesome? I would just get back my account if that would be in.

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And it would almost never be used, because it would be inconvenient.

Why do you think almost no one goes to Silvermoon or Exodar? Because they are large and out of the way from what you need. If you need to visit the bank, why would you go to a portal, enter portal, walk around looking for house, find house, open door to house, go inside, check bank, walk out of
house, walk around looking for the exit, then walk to the flightmaster that was already right next to the NORMAL bank?

You have to realize, you may like it, but the average WoW player would consider it a static frivolous perk, one that they will only use on the rarest occasion when they are bored and don't mind making the extra "run", and thus not worth the resources Blizzard would have to put into the system.

My system makes if better then a bank, because the portal will be near the bank, entering it will give you a location free of city lag, and your friends can visit you in the house from ANY location around the world. You can still put Onyxia's head above the fireplace, or show off your cool design, but there will not be an "outside" for you, which frankly, is not needed in the least, since the outsides even if the system is added will probably be pre-generated generics.

Here is my issue with the neighborhood idea. One, houses will most likely be generics. No one is going to see how OMG AWESOME your house is compared to the guy two house farther with the same house. Two, when you only allow 40 houses that means only 40 people are going to be wandering in them at the most. Imagine if most of those people are not even logged on, or wandering around questing outside the neighborhood, during that time of day? All the immersion you were wanting is worthless when people don't even cross eachother while walking around the neighborhood. It would basically be you, and you alone, the majority of the time anyways.

So now you have a bunch of generic house, 99% of them locked off to you, in a big area, with the only reason to even visit the house to be because you can put stuff INSIDE IT where no one can even SEE IT. WoW does not even have WINDOWS.

You understand it a bit different than me. Houses would be most likely open, just if you enter one's house and try to use his item, you can't and the guard comes in, smacking you on the head. Furthermore, portal to the housing district could be also near the flightmaster, giving you an instanced district - free of the city lag too, but - honestly - with more than 40 houses. Like... 200. Or more.

Houses, at start, would look generic, but you could always find ways to customize it. Like, when building a house, having an option to how many floors it is supposed to have. Then, you could place some customization on the exterior too - like special styled windows or something else. Then, you could always add another floor, by talking to architect, and being able to put another style of it too have - like - four floors, 0 level - type B, 1 level - type A, 2 level - type X, 3 level - type D. That would add a necessary number of combinations to not make it generic. And this is still not that great of a job for an expansion thingie.

And BTW, if the windows are not yet, who says they can't be added later?

EDIT: Forgot to mention kind of a teleporter, placed just next to district's exit, that could easily teleport you to your house and out of it.

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My issue is you are not thinking like a player, or a developer, you are thinking like a roleplayer. You are not thinking of resources, convenience, and playability, just what you think would be "cool" to show off.

Like this "Guard" idea for instance. How would the guards appear? Would they teleport in? What if 50 people don't like a guy and rather then touch anything, they just clog up his house since they can walk in freely anytime they want? What if someone wants to just be by himself? Can he lock a door? If he can, why would he even leave it open at all? Why would someone walk in just to look at all my crap when they don't even know me?

Blizzard won't even make unique Druid forms based on the player, and you expect them to make special customizable buildings via "The Sims" with multiple stories? How would you customize the exterior? Can you throw stuff on it? What would stop you from throwing things on other peoples houses?

Blizzard won't even go back and alter the world geometry to add the ability for flying mounts, do you really think they would go alter the geometry of every building in the game just so we can look outside or in? Can we jump out these windows? I don't think WarCraft has much in the way of "glass" to put up.

And yes, the "Player Housing" models that were added in the MPG a year ago where generics, just like those houses you see out in Elwynn. If they start out, that is most likely what we will get.

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Why even have the district then if everyone just bypasses it anyways to go directly to their house in question? Again, this is a resource thing, Blizzard needs to be able to make the most engaging system with the least among of coding and resources possible. That involves removing "bloat" or the unnecessary parts of a system that add nothing to the intention of the system. This is why we don't have armor dyes or the ability to craft gear with unique looks, the resources involved would be greater then the playable gain.

Having the exterior of a house appear in some giant plot of land is frivolous to the living space itself, thus it would be better to cut the fat and allow people to go to what they want. All a player will care about is a space he can utilize for his needs, without lag, and with as little traveling as possible. Blizzard can then decide to either make it 10 times more complicated with districts, custom houses, teleporters, exterior decoration, guard coding, etc... or they can make a little swirl that takes you into an instance, that you can customize, go to from any city in the game, and invite people to join you inside and see all your epic loots. Which do you think they would pick?

I think he can lock the door, but he don't need to. And okay, this guard is not necessary, just you can't use someone's items. Why would they walk in to look at your crap? I don't know. Why people watch reality shows, like Big Brother? I have no bloody idea, but they do it.

By interacting with your house. Like you right-click on some thingie and then you are able to choose a place to hang out it. The thingie would not respond to you if it's not yours.

Oh well, add windows to new buildings, leaving old ones alone the crap they were.

They can do it, but they don't have to. If you're bored, you might decide to walk through the district. If a friend invited you, you might go with him, and the teleporter won't teleport you to his house. I think the presence of all the customization would make people like going through the whole district, even lose some seconds, just to have more life-like experience. Of course, gold farmers and all that kind of people just want to have phat lewtz, so why to even bother with anything? Just make Yogg-Saron appear at Ulduar's entrance and make him plain loot vendor. The sheer way through the whole district, with pretty much every house looking different - with all kinds of Orcs, Trolls and Blood Elves placing their houses there, each with his own architectural styles - would make walking through it enjoyable.

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Lol details please! Anyhow i doubt Housing would come anyday soon because lets see:

1) Blizzard would need to invest more onto servers
2) They don't do that for PvP already so why bother for some people with loads of gold or whatnot?

Also Xarthat like Scythe said you need to think more gameplay wise. :p

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Actual arguments, please. So far I'm waiting for Scythe's response to my last response.

It's one of few discussions (no beaver discussions ) which I enjoy, because of all the brainstorming. Together we might actually reach a compromise of something that would be both playable and fun.

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Did you really just compare reality shows with an MMO? You see, the reason people watch reality shows because they like seeing the drama between "people". The few shows that involve showing off peoples houses are because we don't actually have to walk through them, but instead a camera does it for us. Even then, it is already been shown through studies that most people don't even pay attention to the way you look or even the armor you wear 80% of the time while playing, and that is when they are walking around with you.

First, that requires coding a whole new system. Like how would you choose what to hang, would you use a menu? Can you place these items anywhere or only in pre-determined spots? Second, how would you even get the stuff to hang? I have a system that would work for this, but in order for it to happen the "house" needs to be it's own zone.

Trust me, if they are going to add player housing in any form like you want, they are going to use the generic models they already made. The ones without windows. It fits with the style they have done and allows them to save some resources since while indoors all the stuff outside can "unload" untill you go back outside. Considering you are saying these distracts would have 200 houses (that is more buildings then Stormwind), you are going to need that system.

That is actually why buildings didn't get windows in the first place, to save on system and server resources since less would need to be loaded.

People don't play WoW for a life-like experience, if you want that you can go get the Sims. WoW is an RPG based around strong gameplay, a decent storyline, and the ability to get items that make you stronger. They do not make stuff with the intention that you would only walk around it "when you are bored". As for your friend being unable to teleport to your house with you? That does not make it better, it makes it even more of a annoyance, and now none of your friends will even want to see your house since they have to navigate a damn maze of other houses just to reach it, and for what? So he can yawn at your front lawn?

Gameplay Encounters =/= Cosmetic Perks. One actually is fun because you are going for rewards with friends, the other is just basically a static building that few people will even take the time to look at while they run/teleport to their own house. Also, I think having an "Orgrimmar" city area with a bunch of Blood Elf and Undead houses around would be even less immersive, it would look silly seeing them next to eachother. I think that kind of fights your idea of a "life-like" experience, since all it does it makes some quasi-empty horde/alliance suburbia.

Well the problem with this whole discussion really is that almost noone gives a reason for Housing except its "cool". This game isn't made for people making houses around Banners or whatnot, and it would be weird t see how an Alliance could most likely make an house in Durotar in a PvE realm, unless the houses will be restricted to own faction players, but then you need to take in hold does the spot you want the house have:

- Important mobs
- veins and whatnot.

I mean the new Zeppelin tower in Durator is holding beneat itself a couple of Copper veins simply because Blizzard guys didn't know about it when placing it there. :p

If there would be any kind of housing i'd support a guild house thats instanced, but that would require more servers from Blizzard. And for what purposes? guild meetings, vendors and so forth. Have BG queue portals there and whatnot, when people just wanna get their shizzle there straight ahead.

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He wanted you to join the scourge Durrr

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People just like to butt their noses into someone else's life, that includes looking around their houses and commenting of all the bad and good stuff they've got. Just like when some gankers look at your lvl 10 gear, they just begin to laugh off you and shout at you of "noobs". Just like all the lowbies look with admiration at the 80 lvl's gear.

Everything requires coding something new. Going by that logic, we shall not do anything, just because it requires coding.

Okay, scrap the windows.

So why bother with RP servers at all? Just make everything giving out phat lewtz and we're fine! Walking next to all those buildings would be actually quite neat, not boring. Why do you go through Orgrimmar? Only because you need to go the vendor? You have absolutely no enjoyment in looking at all the buildings? Or through Barrens, you do not admire the landscapes they made?

About the different styles of architecture, it would be actually needed to test out. If Blood Elven house next to an Orcish one would look crap, they should be limited to city's own style. Like, all houses are Orcish in Orgrimmar and all are Dalarani-styled in Dalaran.

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So, why this can't be the reason for this stuff?

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za dame

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Was that in response to closing his thread which featured months old news?

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Indeed.

First, no ganker would laugh at a the level 10 he is ganking having level 10 gear, as that is the expected conclusion. Gankers laugh because they like being assholes.

Second, low level characters only "admire" the first person they see with level 80 gear. After that, such gear becomes expected for most other level 80s, and thus they become another "cog in the machine" or another" face in the crowd". This will happen with housing too, once the novelty wears off, all you have left is the utility, and your design has no utility.


You are the one showing terrible logic.

What is an OS, it is the shell that allows us to be productive. They do this by trying to make everything less complicated, and thus more productive. (AKA My Idea). Imagine if Windows added a function that lets you open directories and files by running down a virtual road as a little paperclip man, going into another building in order to find your programs and word processor. Coding is good only when the coding serves function, adding stuff that is not required for a full package experience, or something that reduces productivity/ease of use, even in a game, is considered a "bad thing" in the development world.

Because some people do like to RP, but here is the thing, Blizzard did not design this game for RP. You know those RP servers? They are regular servers with a shiny little RP next to them so that people with a similar mindset can go there to enjoy what they do in peace. You still can't talk to the other faction, you still can't automatically become part of something just because you say you are part of it, you get nothing different then what those guys on the PVE server are getting. Blizzard is not going to make something just for the roleplayer since all servers will get the same base mechanics, and most players on the majority of servers don't care about RP. (Other then PVP, obviously, which is just a flag change and not a lot of extra coding)

As for the other question. Do you go to work everyday and admire the billboards that you pass everyday? Do you run through the city on the same path, seeing the same trees, and the same buildings all the time, and still stand around in "awe" at it? Do you pull up in your driveway, your eyes sparkling as you look at that house sitting in front of you and the bush outside blowing in the winds?

Things can only be of interest so many time in a repetition before they become ordinary, and when they become ordinary, they don't bring wonder. I have seen Blackrock Spire 208954774 times, I am not going to ride up and just look in awe at it when I am trying to get to Blackrock Depths, instead making sure I can get in and out as fast as possible to move on to my next objective. There is a time, like a said, when novelty takes the side to utility.

So now if I want to have an orc house I have to travel to Orgrimmar? You are not getting anything of what I am talking about. Houses locked to certain cities will never be used like you think they will, and are not worth the investment to add if they will not be used.

But I'm not playing WoW each morning and evening out of feeling responsible to do it. I do it for fun, randomly. Therefore, each time I can see something unusual, fantastic, as in fantasy, I think of it as great. Your point suggests that we're doing all this crap for you to just run past it without mentioning. That's not the philosophy for which we've done all of this.

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No, he's saying, and very correctly, that after you've seen those unusual and fantastic things a dozen times, they stop being that unusual or fantastic. You get used to them and don't pay that much attention to them anymore.

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You are become Vengeance, ravager of cunts.