In-game items we hope to see in World of Warcraft Player Housing

World of Warcraft players have been fantasizing about having a place of their own for over twenty years, and we are finally getting Player Housing as soon as this winter. Since the announcement in November, we’ve had plenty of time to look at the world of Azeroth through our Spectacles of Indoor Decorating and make wish lists for items that we absolutely must have in our homes.

The good news is that Blizzard seems to be going all-in on giving us the ability to personalize the stuffing out of our houses. We’ve been promised hundreds and hundreds of decorations and customizations, and the most recent blog post detailing the level of control we’ll have over positioning and color is the latest evidence that the decades we spent pining for our own place will have been worth it. Here are a few categories of things any self-respecting hero might like to come home to after a long day of questing, and some of the things at the top of my wish list.

When shopping for decor, be yourself

One of the most difficult decisions we’ll have to make is who is living in our house. We get one home per Warband — is it a community-style apartment for a dozen characters, or does your main allow your alts to crash in their house there from time to time? Both options are tempting, but I think I’m leaning towards customizing it with my longest-serving character in mind. As a Blood Elf Mage, I am going to want some arcane-themed artifacts as well as things in my dwelling that remind me of my shining hometown, Silvermoon.

On my quest to find a good piece of furniture to keep my spellbooks, I found a nice hover-rotate model on Quel’Danas. However, the menacing arcane golem standing nearby caught my eye even more. If my house is a place where I am keeping my most prized possessions, my powerful magical weapons and armor, and (gasp!) my transmog wardrobe, I’m going to need a security system. A magically-powered construct seems like the perfect addition to the decor, and it can also fetch me snacks.

Accessories for entertaining

Given the focus on creating a Player Housing system that is “Deeply Social,” it makes sense that we’ll be able to visit each other’s houses as we stroll around our neighborhoods. We’ll need a cozy corner, or maybe even a whole room, dedicated to hosting company. This is where we’ll need some of our largest and coziest furniture, a place to lay out refreshments, and something fun to do together. There are a myriad of in-universe games like Light’s Gambit as well as a bucketload of toys that would make for great party fun, but I think that I’m going to be hosting Hearthstone tournaments at my place.

I’ve always loved the backstory of Hearthstone existing as a trading card game within World of Warcraft. We’ve seen references to it many times, and even an entire event celebrating the spin-off’s 10th anniversary. I’m definitely going to need a table dedicated to a Hearthstone game board in my rumpus room, and I’m hoping that we’ll get a few different customization options for it in the vein of the huge number of boards in the actual game.

Sure I’m a legendary hero… but I have hobbies, too

After a long day of work, we like to relax and unwind by slaying monsters in World of Warcraft. After a long day of slaying monsters, our World of Warcraft characters like to relax and unwind by… doing what? It’s something that you may not have thought about, because up to this point our characters simply stood outside the Auction House for days on end until we logged back in. What kind of things would your Warband like to get up to in their downtime, and what in-game items would you add to your house that reflect their hobbies?

I like to think that my Mage has a lot of days where he is just sick of the arcane and wants to blow off some steam doing something creative, difficult, and non-magical. While the craft beer market of Azeroth may already be oversaturated, the idea of home-brewing a batch of Draygonia’s Pineapple Porter does spark joy. There is a very large variety of brewing equipment in Stormstout Brewery that I would enjoy placing in a backroom or basement of my house. Throw in some sacks of hops, a few Goblin-made fridges, and a customized bar, and he might need a few extra strongly-worded floating Khadgar heads to be convinced to leave home for the next world-saving quest.

Is there a fuzziness limit in my house?

Whether the Garrison from Warlords of Draenor was an exploratory stab at player housing or not, it ultimately didn’t live up to our desires to have a place of our own to decorate and customize on Azeroth. With that being said, seeing my pets walk around the place was so cool and if that isn’t an option in the upcoming Player Housing then I will be devastated. I am going to need some items with which to create a cozy nook for my menagerie (most of whom refuse to sleep on the questionably-comfortable Leather Pet Bed).

There are quite a few places around Azeroth where the locals have created a homely habitat for their furball companions. My favorite is the Little Scales Daycare in Valdrakken, not least because I spent so much time completing quests to customize each little whelp’s area with just the right items for their comfort. I would spend anything on a few of those snuggly-looking pillow-beds and some stuffed raptors and murlocs for my picky pets. At the end of a particularly grueling Delve I can come home, activate my Duck Disguiser, and join the pig pile.

A trophy room for the ages

Every time I’ve had the chance to customize a home in a video game, from Skyrim to Webkinz, my Trophy Room has always been the centerpiece. After all those hours of questing and adventuring, the reward of a shiny new sword or epic flying mount is great, but to be able to place the object of my pursuit on a pedestal in my home is epic. The teaser trailer included Quel’Delar and the head of Onyxia — what items or equipment would you mount on your wall?

I went to one of my favorite old raids, Icecrown Citadel, to poke around for something I’d like to take home. I didn’t even get into the instance before I found the trophy I want: the battering ram that stove in the saronite door. I love everything about it — the polygonal wheels, the Argent Crusade logos, the head of an animal I can’t quite identify (probably a lion, but maybe a bulldog?). I want a little version to put in a trophy case, and I want a full-size version to sit front-and-center in my entryway.

Housing decor items could even be an avenue to encouraging the player base to revisit old content. Sure, you can run through Blackwing Lair in your sleep at this point. But what if you were rewarded Nefarian’s throne if you could do it without taking any damage? Would you attempt to clear Siege of Orgrimmar in less than 30 minutes if you could hang the Heart of Y’Shaarj from your living room ceiling? [Ed’s note: this sounds like a terrible idea for several reasons.]

In the end, there are almost certainly going to be more options for decorating our Azerothian homes than we’ll know what to do with. Even watching the short demo videos Blizzard has posted, I can see a dozen items I want for my own house.

And that’s just the beginning. What items have you come across in the last few months that you absolutely have to have for your Player Housing?