Night Elf Houses in Horde Neighborhoods - Taliesin & Evitel Interview with Blizzard

Posted 2025/08/26 at 9:57 PM by Anshlun

their videoInterview HighlightsExterior Design

The exteriors of the houses will be completely customizable.

At launch, there will be four exterior "kits, Human, Orc, Night Elf, and Blood Elf.

On top of the kits, you will be able to use decor for your yard.

Besides customizing the outside, you will also be able to pick different-shaped buildings. For instance, we saw a house shaped like a lighthouse in the demo.

In Horde neighborhoods, you will be able to have alliance-themed houses and vice versa.
At most, some of the locals may comment "hey, we don't see a lot of night elves in these parts," but there won't be any aggressiveness when building a night elf house in a horde neighborhood, for instance

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods are zone-sized spaces with many different biomes and areas.

Neighborhoods evoke a lot of classic themes of Warcraft.

There will be a new UI HUD for neighborhoods that allows you to see what is going on in your neighborhoods and see the available plots, similar to realtor sites.

You reach your neighborhood through a portal; they are instanced.

Within the WoW fiction, neighborhoods exist and have a story behind them.

Over time, there will be story elements that develop in neighborhoods.

Blizzard wants neighborhoods to be expressions of a group and not something premade from the game.

While main conflicts won't happen in neighborhoods, there might be world events that have elements happening in neighborhoods.

Neighborhoods are sanctuaries, safe environments. "No Stitches wrecking havoc in neighborhoods".

Some plots are isolated, while others are packed closely together to give players more room for expression.

There will be a UI element that will teleport you to your home. The current plan is to have it port you to the front of your plot.

There will be portals back and forth from your neighborhood to capital cities.

Endeavors

Endeavors will allow neighborhoods to invite cultures of Azeroth to their space. You may choose to complete tasks for mechagnomes, which will cause them to appear more frequently and build gizmos in public areas.

Private or Guild neighborhoods can designate a "Neighborhood manager," and these individuals will decide which endeavor to pick each month.

Decor

"Decor will be available from any way that you can acquire loot in the game". This includes the Trading Post.

Midnight will launch with over 1000 different pieces of decor.

Transmog

The transmog UI is getting a full overhaul with Midnight, with more settings and more spacious than the current one designed in Cataclysm

Some outfit slots will be given for free, and players can buy more with gold

Future Development for Player Housing and Neighborhoods

Blizzard is eager to hear all the feedback for features that players have for housing. Their priority for Midnight was to establish a solid foundation that they could build upon.

Every major patch/expansion will feature new Housing updates and content.

Will there be ways to show off our mounts and/or pets? "Stay tuned"

There isn't a "undo" button right now for decorating, but that's the #1 priority for the next dev feature cycle.

There may be a system that moves inactive houses out of public neighborhoods.
There will be a minimum number of players to set up a charter neighborhood, but Blizzard hasn't decided yet on the number.

- However, nothing is lost. When inactive players come back, their house will be exactly as they left, just maybe in a new neighborhood

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Comment by Nightlighter86If there is indeed a bit of Ashenvale in the Horde neighborhood like in some footage (which is ironic and kinda tasteless towards Night Elves) I will be making my most wanted Night Elf house there to represent the reclamation of kaldorei lands to the rightful owners!Comment by DessemThis all sounds great! Good to hear that letting others decorate your house is on their radar. I can definitely see myself having some fun with friends by leaving things in their house for them to find the next time they log in.Comment by VolcanpowerSo this is confirming there working on other racial themed houses?Comment by awoody17Please don't gentrify muh Orgrimmar.Comment by SpinosaurusWill I be able to join a friend's public neighbourhood and take a lot next to them?Comment by GuercoRegarding transmog: I hope there's also an option to hide your weapon(s) without having to remove them, so your characters can safely sit unarmed in their homes (besides, let's face it: a character hitting with their bare hands is barely more absurd than stabbing with a loaf of bread, hitting with a fish smaller than their hand, or managing to cut with a dull wooden sword).

Regarding houses: they'd be way cooler if you could create one house per character instead of per faction, with each character having a customized house based on what you think they're like.Comment by CorpselanceIf my house can't have Trilliax as a butler, I don't want a house.Comment by WolfaelanRegarding transmog: I hope there's also an option to hide your weapon(s) without having to remove them, so your characters can safely sit unarmed in their homes (besides, let's face it: a character hitting with their bare hands is barely more absurd than stabbing with a loaf of bread, hitting with a fish smaller than their hand, or managing to cut with a dull wooden sword).

Regarding houses: they'd be way cooler if you could create one house per character instead of per faction, with each character having a customized house based on what you think they're like.Comment by EuAmoPinguinstransmogs being developed and evokers being left out, how depressing.Comment by SolstraszaWill I be able to make a blue tower? Like a Moomin house? Also, wtf, how can u kick people out of neighborhoods... if ur gonna be like that, I'd rather not be part of one..Comment by snappersapperHas anything been said about whether a house will cost gold or not? Do you just get to choose a plot and star building or will there be an initial cost?Comment by IkkleI do not enjoy the sound of neighbors commenting, I sincerely hope that we can toggle NPCs off, I do not want them wandering about like we had with the Warlords of Draenor Garrison it was annoying.Comment by PrimalcruxMy poor Undead and Trolls.Comment by ZeroEdgeirRegarding houses: they'd be way cooler if you could create one house per character instead of per faction, with each character having a customized house based on what you think they're like.Comment by AlustrielRegarding transmog: I hope there's also an option to hide your weapon(s) without having to remove them, so your characters can safely sit unarmed in their homes (besides, let's face it: a character hitting with their bare hands is barely more absurd than stabbing with a loaf of bread, hitting with a fish smaller than their hand, or managing to cut with a dull wooden sword).

Regarding houses: they'd be way cooler if you could create one house per character instead of per faction, with each character having a customized house based on what you think they're like.Comment by trogYeah, !@#$ the HoA.Comment by GuercoRegarding houses: they'd be way cooler if you could create one house per character instead of per faction, with each character having a customized house based on what you think they're like.Comment by Khwocant wait for nightborne stuff!Comment by DaggersEdgeI echo the sentiments of wanting 1 house per character, even if they put a limit on it (such as 5 or 12 characters).

If there is indeed a bit of Ashenvale in the Horde neighborhood like in some footage (which is ironic and kinda tasteless towards Night Elves) I will be making my most wanted Night Elf house there to represent the reclamation of kaldorei lands to the rightful owners!If my house can't have Trilliax as a butler, I don't want a house.Comment by ptasznik@Wowhead Could you add a tag for the "Housing" category to filter these posts? Many people are unfamiliar with this feature and there are simply too many of them.

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