Possible Vendor for Dungeon Drops - WoW Player Housing Interview with Preach and Dratnos

Posted 2025/05/15 at 12:49 PM by Squishei

Dratnos Preach

Toby Ragaini - Lead Designer on WoW and Design Lead on Housing: Neighborhoods

Jay Hwang - Principal Artist and Design Lead on Housing: Decorations.

full videoFeature List

They created their feature list by writing down everything that could be useful ever since the beginning of the system.

The feature list is also based on other games such as Wildstar, FFXIV, and other player housing games where they have this, but try to figure out if they can make it better.

Expanding the Feature

It's an evergreen feature that will continue to be built on.

They wanted to start with the core fantasies: Human Paladin, Gnome Warlock. They want there to be a little of everything at least to make your house.

With every new patch, they want to expand the player housing feature. e.g. If ethereals are coming out, give players some ethereal stuff.

Neighborhoods

They're not revealing a lot of the specifics behind neighborhoods, but they are a big investment.

They are zone size spaces that don't conform to the normal expectations of WoW.

There are not tons of quests or monsters and are mostly existing to be a social space.

There will be cool tech to allow neighborhoods themselves to be unique.

They do not want you to have to be in a guild to be in a neighborhoods -- they will detail the difference between public and private neighborhoods later.

Social

Garrisons were an isolating experience but they are determined to not recreate that. A big reason why Neighborhoods exist is to bring people back together.

One things they'll be revealing over time is the core loop coming to the neighborhood, then leaving, then coming back.

It would be a disaster if a player comes in, decorates their house and then has no reason to come back to it. They want to avoid this at all costs.

They don't want to treat player housing like a standalone feature in the game. It needs to synergize with the rest of the game.

They've put a lot of time and thought into how to help players find neighborhoods that are what they are looking for.

Decorations

They're actively still figuring out and exploring how decorations will drop.

One of the things they're considering is that if you've already done the dungeon, there will be a vendor outside that will just sell you the item since your player had already done that.

They want to avoid the chance of people doing things they already did.

Player Housing Tools

The influence of designing the player housing tools could possibly expand into other avenues of the game (like Super Mario Maker), but it's not something they want to delve deep into.

If they allowed players to PvP in housing, then players would be able to design their own arenas.

There is brand new technology that is operating in the client. The engine and the editor itself is completely different. They showed off their version of the tool to the dev team and they said they said they want that tool.

Rooms and Import/Export

They will have the option of pre-fab rooms so that you don't have to start with a completion blank slate.

There's a long roadmap for Player Housing.

Comment by addictedtopixelsNo matter what happens with player housing I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointedComment by WokanrfSad that Preach is included in these new content reviews with wow, everyone knows it will be biased, beware.Comment by MomoiNo matter what happens with player housing I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointedComment by selkiesidheEthereals confirmed! XD

Anyways, I want the ability to lock or unlock my house so people can wonder in and take a look around. Or keep people out (for those who don't want judgment for the interior decorating acumen). Zone wide sounds like the neighborhoods will be HUGE. But I am not going to be just wondering the streets, if I afk its going to be in a major city--- so what will the point be here, I wonder? And how many neighbors are we talkin?Comment by glassleoSeems we can only have 2 houses per account (1 alliance 1 horde) and this completely kills my hype for what otherwise seems amazing feature.

My characters are extremely different and I can't see them all sharing the same house. It also kills all the cool RP stuff with neighbourhoods. Now I'm gonna have to choose between sharing a neighbourhood with my secret RP friends, my best friend or my raiding guild which frankly sucks ass. I was really hoping housing would be character specific and not account based. I really hope they change their minds but it's not looking good.

I'm so sad about this. :(Comment by MettahThe influence of designing the player housing tools could possibly expand into other avenues of the game (like Super Mario Maker), but it's not something they want to delve deep into.Comment by KadlynnNo matter what happens with player housing I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointedComment by ShmilbickTaking sooo long to release this feature, Bliz is a shame with this...

Oh and don't forget they'll add a shop's section so they will make us spend real money on this, or make it overpriced to push gold sales.Comment by TSmarine@Blizzard PLEASE let us make loadouts for the house. I'd love to make seasonal themes and change throughout the year and update it. Spooky theme for halloween. Pool party for summer. Cold xmas vibes.Comment by BravejohnI laugh with all these "social" thing and "bring back people together"... its not 2004 lol.
Plus I bet blizzard definition of "bring people together" will be a neighborhood event like theater of troupe with weekly or daily rewards..Comment by MyFingerIsOnCDDo they say if we will be able to ignore housing if it isn't our thing, or will it be tied to power progression of some kind?Comment by EggSamDo they say if we will be able to ignore housing if it isn't our thing, or will it be tied to power progression of some kind?Nothing you get from Housing will help you optimize your character or progress in the game.Comment by EggSamTaking sooo long to release this feature, Bliz is a shame with this...

Oh and don't forget they'll add a shop's section so they will make us spend real money on this, or make it overpriced to push gold sales.Comment by SaruyaNo matter what happens with player housing I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointedComment by ancineniNo matter what happens with player housing I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointedComment by cdixon1810I really want to know if we are gonna be able to go into a friends house and move something around or tip a picture so its no longer center. I love the idea of player housing just would love to be able to mess with my friends and guild mates just a little.Comment by AneskaI hope they add in a way for at least a few of your alts to be seen roaming around the house when you're in it, kinda like how the garrison was with your followers.Comment by ZamfixIt would be a disaster if a player comes in, decorates their house and then has no reason to come back to it. They want to avoid this at all costs.Comment by RmewzSide note;
why do people still wearing ''game shirts'' like Dratnos lol.
Its smelly af.Comment by OoftNickKinda amusing that all they can get content creators to talk about is player housing because the actual gameplay is repeated boring things that somehow got worse, don't know about visions yet but its still repeated content