Flying houses in World of Warcraft should be brought down from the sky. Now we know: No, they just look too cool.
When housing went live in World of Warcraft a week ago, some players quickly discovered a trick: Their own house could be lifted off the ground and take flight. That was not intended by Blizzard, and the decision was made quickly: The houses must be brought back to the ground. But then the developers looked at your masterpieces and changed their minds.
What was the problem with housing? Actually, flying houses should not exist at all. The normal interface only allows moving the house above ground – not into the air. But using hotkeys or clicking an “invisible arrow,” one could lift the house into the sky. This immediately sparked a lot of creativity. Some built flying houses on floating islands, while others created artificial mountains and placed their house on top.
How did it go down at Blizzard? When Blizzard realized that the house could also fly, an internal chat channel was opened to discuss how to fix this bug. After all, the houses have no texture from below, and conveying to the players that their flying house ideas are now “no longer possible” was a difficult task.
However, in this chat channel, Blizzard employees showed each other some masterpieces from the community that we have also shown you. Or, as Kyle Hartline, one of the lead game producers of WoW, explains on X:
No joke, we had a channel about how we should roll out the patch that fixes flying [houses], but people just showed 5 of the best houses and we all kind of agreed right away that it’s just too cool to change.
Bug becomes a feature, decoration limit even increases
What was done instead? Instead of fixing the “bug,” it has now become a permanent feature. The house can now be lifted more easily and moved into the air. This also comes with a second change: Anyone who already has their house at level 3 will find that the decoration limit for the exterior has been raised from 200 to 250. Thus, everyone now has 25% more space available to beautify their front yard and add a few more details. This was one of the biggest points of criticism concerning housing.
Cortyn says: The team behind housing is quickly becoming one of my favorites at Blizzard, as they are currently racking up one “win” after another. Whether looking at the future of housing with new light effects or the quick reactions to current feedback – they are doing everything right at the moment. If this is the freedom and love with which housing is treated, we have a feature here that will still be played in over a decade.
That my flying house can now officially stay makes me especially happy, as I must admit, I was a bit worried that it would be brought back down to reality.
If you need some tips and tricks for housing, check it out here.
