WoW demon Cortyn has sneaked through the neighborhood. One house has become particularly impressive – and it stood open.
Like so many others, I have spent the last days and weeks in World of Warcraft, focusing primarily on Housing. Luckily, I live in a neighborhood with many other players who have put way too many hours into this feature; many have their doors open and proudly showcase what they have built.
Today, I want to show you one of these houses because it combines many interesting ideas and is, for me, the most impressive house I have seen so far.
So let me show you the house of Ticks from my neighborhood!
6 secret rooms right at the entrance
From the outside, the house seems relatively inconspicuous, but it impresses with its dark appearance and the fact that the entire property is fenced. You get the impression that perhaps someone lives here who values their privacy (but since the door was open, I simply ignored that and intruded).
The entrance area seems simple at first glance – a long corridor leading to the main room. But that is deceiving. Each of the bookshelves is a secret door, behind which lies its own chamber with playful, interesting details:
Behind the first door awaits a warning – a large, creepy scarecrow designed to chase away curious troublemakers.
Another door leads to a miniature room – apparently a dollhouse. Who knows if a child truly plays here or if a crazy wizard is shrinking his victims and keeping them trapped. Eh, I digress.
But my personal favorite is the “Pen & Paper” room. Here, a table is hidden, on which a tabletop game appears to be currently underway – the Game Master has concealed his area behind a book, the figures are positioned on the game board, and of course, everyone has junk food with them.
The creepy library
After the entrance area, you enter the large main hall, evidently a library with a giant magical relic in the center.
All bookshelves on the lower level have been hand-stocked and display different relics. From a small guillotine to miniaturized demon altars or alchemical potions, there is much variety. Just the countless small objects must have consumed several hundred thousand gold or meant many hours of farming work.
It becomes truly impressive when you look up. You can see that the library goes up several floors and seems to reach for infinity. Several objects float in the air and appear to be attracted by a void portal on the ceiling. This reminded me a bit of Karazhan or the inscriptionist shop in Dalaran – but so far, I have not seen it implemented so coherently anywhere else.
More rooms with playful details and great windows
In one more room, there seems to be a workspace. Several desks, alchemical devices, and a large chimney. But what I find particularly interesting here is the artificially created window. Ticks has built a part of his garden in miniature behind a glass pane so that it looks like you could actually look outside and see the garden at night. An extremely creative and visually impressive solution!
The sleeping area is somewhat less outlandish than the rest of the house (if you ignore the poison barrels on the side), but it also has some highlights. The bed has been made significantly more impressive with rugs and cushions and looks quite elegant.
Again, the view through the window is impressive. A beautiful moon and small stars are visible – it was built following a similar principle as the window in the workspace. Here, the overwhelming carpet was also used.
In another corner, there is a strange construct made of Draenei devices that apparently holds a bottle of wine in a state of stasis. It must be a particularly fine drop being preserved for eternity – or at least until I passed by and treated myself to a sip.
I haven’t shown all areas of the house here. Partly because the article would then significantly exceed the planned length and also because you can still notice in a few corners that the decoration limit sets some smaller boundaries on creativity. And maybe also because I don’t want to know in detail what the room with the giant Xal’atath portrait and the small cloths on the floor is for.
Housing is just at the beginning – already surpasses everything
What fascinates me most about the whole house is probably how many details and what scope is already possible if one puts in the right effort. Because so far, housing is only available in Early Access and has quite significant limitations. Especially the limits for decorations and rooms or the selection of decorations will significantly increase after the release of Midnight – I am curious to see how this house will further develop.
Maybe you have gotten some inspiration through the pictures to understand what is possible with Housing. For my part, I know for sure that I will spend many more hours on my little mage tower to ensure my elf has a proper roof over her head for Christmas …
Blizzard has already announced what else is to come for Housing – and that only makes it better.
