MeinMMO demon Cortyn was finally able to say goodbye to WildStar. Because World of Warcraft has now filled this void.
Those who know me or my articles know that I have a special fondness for collections and customization in MMORPGs. While some may not care about toys or transmogs, for me, it’s a great allure in MMORPGs.
Especially the possibility of having my own house in a game, that is, housing, is something I find particularly fascinating. Whether in MMORPGs like SWTOR or small games like Stardew Valley – if I can, I spend many hours setting things up. I simply have this urge to have a house that fits my character being played.
It is exactly for this reason that I haven’t been truly happy with World of Warcraft for almost 10 years. Yes, I continued to play and enjoyed it a lot. I also like where many things are headed. But the garrison has always been a very poor joke as a housing substitute, which is why I found my happiness in another game: 2014 was WildStar.
WildStar was the savior of housing
WildStar was the MMORPG that made me feel a “second love”. No MMORPG has ever come close to my first time with WoW, but WildStar was very close behind. In some aspects, the sci-fi MMORPG from Carbine even had the edge: the housing.
WildStar housing was everything I could ever wish for from a housing system. It offered nearly infinite freedom and maximum creativity and allowed for much more than the housing system in SWTOR, where you could only place specific objects in fixed locations.
The housing in WildStar opened up so many possibilities for great role-playing, personal expression of my character, or simply interesting buildings full of jumping puzzles or other highlights.
When WildStar switched to a free-to-play model just a year later, its demise was already sealed. Hardly anyone played the game anymore, and apart from the great housing, the rest unfortunately wasn’t as convincing as it was in the beginning. It was clear: WildStar would die and ultimately did.
But it is not surprising that the housing from WildStar served as inspiration for WoW.
World of Warcraft fills the gap left by WildStar
I have mourned this for a long time. Far too long. When WoW received a new patch, I looked at NPC houses and gnashed my teeth. There were so many great items, so much creativity and great details, like recently in Lorenhall. I wanted that.
When Blizzard finally announced housing, my joy was already great – but so was my concern. Could Blizzard create a truly good housing system? What if it just becomes a Garrison 2.0?
I spent the last few days (and far too many nights) looking at friends’ houses and carefully planning how I want to build my characters’ house. I spent an entire evening just creating the outdoor area until everything finally looked as I envisioned it – or at least nearly, because a few dozen more decoration slots would be helpful.
So far, I haven’t built a single item in my actual house and I am already, in the best possible sense, addicted to it. I visit all sorts of vendors, collect colors for decorations, farm old resources, and build up my large collection before I eventually lose myself in it completely for a week or two.
The housing system in WoW is actually superior to that of WildStar in some aspects. The neighborhoods as a dedicated, really nice area for guilds, friend circles, or complete strangers, I find really cool. You can discover so much or simply visit neighbors and ask how they built special things. It encourages you to engage with other players.
Of course, there are still a few problems:
- The decoration limit of 200 for the outdoor area is very restrictive.
- Also, the fact that you can hardly place any lighting in the outdoor area because it could crash the server during the beta is annoying.
But the housing is still in early access and therefore incomplete. Yet even this incomplete version is so much more than I would have ever credited WoW with. I basically knew this since the beta, but being able to finally play it in the live version makes it clear to me:
With housing, the biggest point of criticism I had about World of Warcraft has disappeared. I don’t know how you feel, but I will probably spend all my free time until Christmas just setting up my house. And then I will look at your houses – and woe to you if they spoil the surroundings! So please heed these 3 building tips!
