WoW patch 12.1 will add many new Player Housing features — here are the ones we know about so far

With the announcement of World of Warcraft patch 12.1. Curse of Ula’tek, we have a glimpse into the next evolution of Player Housing. A number of the features teased when Midnight launched are finally coming to the game, neatly laid out in the 12.1 PTR patch notes, even though housing isn’t yet available on the PTR so we can’t test them.

Here’s what we know about Player Housing features being added in WoW patch 12.1.

Blueprints for importing and exporting designs

No, we’re not talking about the fabulous puzzle game, we’re talking about the much-requested ability to save, export, and import housing builds. Players will be able to save up to 50 Blueprints, with an additional 10 hidden slots to autosave your current build to allow you to revert to your previous build if you’ve made a mistake or import a build you don’t like.

You can save any of the following options as a Blueprint:

• Full layout
• Exterior only
• Interior only
• Current room

Unlike talent builds, the information to recreate the build won’t be contained within the code text: instead it will reference a server-side saved build file. Our current understanding is if the original builder has deleted the saved Blueprint before you use the code, it will no longer work. You’ll be able to share Blueprints cross region, excluding China. So if you see a fabulous build from an EU player, you can import it on an NA server and vice versa

Homes will also have new permission options to allow visitors to export a Blueprint of your current build, set to denied by default. Unless you choose to share your build or allow sharing, other people won’t be able to copy it.

When you apply an imported or saved Blueprint, the game will show you a list of the required room types and decor items, allowing you to filter for missing items if you want to acquire them before proceeding. If the build has dyed items, Blueprints will use a decor item for your catalog which is already dyed the same color, or apply a dye to an undyed item to match. Any decor items you have that have already been dyed will retain their existing color scheme. Any items you don’t have simply won’t be placed.

There’s also a new option that will let you reset your entire house back to its starting state with a single action. Anyone who’s wanted to start from a clean slate knows how frustrating it can be to find every single object in your home or on your plot, so this is a welcome addition.

New Neighborhood Endeavors

By the time 12.1 goes live, we will have had eight or more Endeavor cycles, and most neighborhoods will have had multiple repeat visits from the same Endeavor visitors, with the opportunity to unlock and purchase items from all of the vendors. Patch 12.1 will add four new Endeavors:

• Knock-off Amani is the featured Endeavor we’ll see when patch 12.1 launches. Griftah and his traveling troupe of traders would like to visit the neighborhood to trade their “traditional Amani goods.” Knowing Griftah, it’s fairly obvious that these are not original Amani items, but decor is decor. Much like the Artistic This endeavor’s activities are heavily entwined with the patch 12.1 story and the new Coiled Isle zone.
• Every Bakar Has Its Day
: Residents of the neighborhood love their pets, but they could use some help training them. The centaurs of the Ohn’ahran Plains have very strong bonds with their bakar and they may be willing to pass on some training tips.
 This Endeavor will take you back to Dragonflight and the Ohn’ahran Plains, so I hope you enjoyed the Nokhud Offensive activities. You’ll also get to wash dirty bakar pups for Endeavor completion.
• Candle Culture:
 Strange wax deposits have started to appear in the neighborhood. Who better to find a use than the Kobolds of the Ringing Deeps? Seek their counsel on illumination.
 This endeavor will have you completing activities in The Ringing Deeps as well and many activities involving wax. It also encourages to have a rest in the Gundargaz bath for a bit.
• Vacation Season:
 The Tortollans are a worldly folk. So worldly, in fact, that they need no introduction to your neighborhood – they’ve been vacationing here long before you put down your roots! Share in their recreational wisdom. (And the Coiled Isle zone will reintroduce Tortollans to anyone who wasn’t playing during Battle for Azeroth.) While many of the activities will take you back to Zandalar or Kul’Tiras, this seafaring race can be found in many zones, and you’ll be able to complete activities at most of them, including an underwater bar crawl to visit hidden Tortollan bars.

We’ll also start seeing persistent changes to our Neighborhoods over time based on the completion of Endeavors. We’ve only seen glimpses of these changes in the announcement videos, but these seem similar to the previously discussed Community Hall feature. Hopefully we’ll learn more over the duration of the PTR test period.

Add pets to your home

Finally! In patch 12.1 we’ll be able to invite some of our cuddly critters into our homes. While the Battle Pet system has largely been stripped from the game in Midnight, your collection of creatures feathered, furred, or scaled will be able to come out to play in your houses and yards.

You can have up to 10 pets inside and another five pets outside your house, which will be anchored to decor items specifically flagged as pet beds. The WowDB Housing Hub has a list of items that are tagged as pet beds so far, which mostly seem to be available from vendors within neighborhoods, and come in a range of styles to suit different types of pets,. So far multiple cages, a bird’s nest, a lily pad, and a Silvermoon-style plinth have been datamined. There were also several pet beds in the recent Roofus charity shop bundle, which can be dyed.

After placing a pet bed, you can assign a pet from your collection to the bed. For pet beds placed inside your house you will be able to tell the pet to stay in the bed or to wander around your house. We don’t yet know if they will stay within a single room or roam freely, but they apparently have limited navigation capabilities to move around your placed decor. Pets on exterior pet beds will only have the option to stay in the bed.

If you want to place a pet but don’t have an anchor object that fits the theme you want to use, you will be able to embed them in other decor object in much the same way people sink stools into items to create custom seats.

While hardcore pet collectors will have thousands of pets to choose from, there is a list of about 70 pets that will not be eligible for placement. Typically these are pets that have specific interactions with the world around them, like pets that attack other pets or blow things up. Also blocked are pets that are functional (like Lil’Ragnaros) and pets that are children or player races.

More House levels to earn

When Midnight launched, your house could reach a maximum of level 9, and some housing enthusiasts quickly unlocked this and we have been accruing house XP ever since.  In patch 12.1, the maximum level will be raised to 12, bringing increased room and placement budgets and other new features:

• Level 10

  15,900 house XP required
  Room placement budget increased to 104
  Interior placement budget increased to 4,675
  Unlocks the feature Treasure from Distant Lands: the Last Architect in your neighborhood will have a weekly quest to acquire a new random decor item from their collection.
• Level 11

  19,400 house XP required
  Room placement budget increased to 124
  Interior placement budget increased to 5,545
• Level 12

  23,500 house XP required
  Room placement budget increased to 134
  Interior placement budget increased to 5,975
  Large-Size House Exteriors unlocked. I don’t know how they will fit on our plots — but if a medium-sized house isn’t big enough, this will allow you to go even bigger.

And for those dreaming of a basement, in patch 12.1 you’ll be able to move the entry room within your Blueprint to any other connection point where it fits. This includes moving it to a higher floor rather than having it on the ground floor, allowing you to build levels below.

A simplified dye system

The ability to dye decor has led to so many amazing Player Housing designs with a perfect color palette, allowing both for simple color-matching and novel Frankensteined custom objects. But the sheer number of inventory slots required to store dyes and pigments has been problematic.

After listening to the player feedback, the dye system is getting a major overhaul. Instead of milling herbs into dye pigments and then turning those pigments into specific dyes, you will instead be able to apply your chosen dye based on the pigments you have in your inventory — so instead of needing to have the right blue dye already made, you will be able to apply any of the blue dyes from the blue pigment. This reduces the total number of inventory slots to have access to a full range of coolers down from around 70 to nine, significantly easing inventory requirements.

If you already have an extensive collection of dyes, don’t worry. When the patch goes live, any dyes you have in your bags or bank storage will be converted back to the matching pigment and mailed to you. You will receive one mail message per dye or pigment you had in storage converting them to the new inventory item.

Pigments will still be made by alchemists or scribes at the dye station in your local neighborhood, and will still be able to be traded or sold on the Auction House.

Blizzard is also adding 15 colors to the dye palette, including a number of highly requested pinks, a darker obsidian and mahogany, and several greens and oranges.

For more details, read Blizzard’s blog post specifically on the changes to the dye system.

New decor items

With a new zone, new factions, new quests, and new endeavors, there are new decor items to collect. Initial datamining also suggests new shop bundles are on the horizon around launch time.

Blizzard has also added two new decor sub-categories:

• Vines and Hanging Plants can be found in the Nature category.
• Pet Beds can be found in the Functional category.

Looking through the decor catalog on PTR, one item that jumped out at me was a functional Pepe that is collected within your neighborhood; at best guess, it will be an item you have to find and loot, much like the original Pepe temporary cosmetics. While it would be amazing if Pepe could be available with any alternate appearances you’ve unlocked for your Pepe companion toy, we’re unlikely to have it in the decor version. But we can hope…

This patch also adds a series of building objects, including some floor and wall tiles, square and round pillars, and a highly requested spiral and wide pre-made staircase objects for you to place in your builds.

Tell us in the comments which of these new housing features you’re most excited for in patch 12.1! What else are you hoping Blizzard will add soon?

Remember that these are unreleased changes, things may still evolve based on player feedback or new builds on PTR. Jesse and the team are still working towards delivering more of the features discussed in the earlier developer interviews. Player Housing is intended to be an evergreen feature and still has plenty of room to grow, so we’ll see how things develop on the PTR before patch 12.1 goes live.