While Cataclysm promises to shake up World of Warcraft forever when it goes live, Blizzard has turned down a unique opportunity to add a whole new element of gameplay to the mix; player housing. With the almost complete reinvention of the game world, implementing this system would not have been a problem at all. One thing that this juggernaut developer does not lack is resources.
In order to put things into perspective, let’s start off by looking at an often-praised housing system that exists in another MMO – Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. In Vanguard, should a player wish to build a house, it has to be crafted. There are a number of different types of houses available, which can be furnished to a player’s choosing. What sets this system apart, however, is that when a player builds themself a new home it occupies actual space in the game world. It is not simply an instance. Essentially this allows players to reshape their characters’ world as time passes by and ensures that the world is constantly evolving. After all, that is what an MMO is all about – interaction and consequential gameplay that a single player does not have complete control over. MMO’s are designed to be unpredictable.
When looking at Vanguard, opportunities for new features for World of Warcraft immediately come to mind. For starters; it would finally provide Blizzard with an “excuse” to implement the Woodworking profession that players have been requesting for quite some time now. New items would become available for players to collect and trade, offering yet another dimension to the game economy. Teleportation spells to one’s hearth, possible wear-and-tear over time or due to weather patterns, neighbourhood events – there are so many possibilities for innovation.
Unfortunately, however, World of Warcraft was not designed with such a system in mind from the start – something that Vanguard’s developers did get right. Azeroth in its current form would simply not work. It would take far too much work on Blizzard’s part to ensure that there is enough space available for thousands and thousands of players to build their houses, that they wouldn’t be placed in areas that would impact questing or allow for exploiting to occur, and much more. Why, then, didn’t Blizzard bite the bullet this time around and decide to make things easier for themselves by re-designing Azeroth with a player housing system?
For one, it would do wonders to shut those up who are complaining about Blizzard’s apparent laziness by reusing old content instead of developing new content. It would also satisfy good portion of the community – most likely the hardcore and role-players – as it would give them yet more to strive for between patches and expansions.
We can’t predict what the future could hold for World of Warcraft. Perhaps Blizzard has designed the new Azeroth with a player housing system in mind, but plan to surprise us with it at a later date. Who knows? Should this be the case, it will certainly make many players very happy indeed.
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