Blizzard has published a full breakdown of how Player Housing will work in World of Warcraft: Midnight, going beyond decoration and into the systems that will affect how neighborhoods and homes function. If you have not looked into housing all that much yet, Blizzard’s blog post basically serves as a mini-guide.
Housing in Midnight is designed as a long-term, evergreen feature. You can choose between public and private neighborhoods, with plots that can be shared across your Warband. That means your characters will all have access to the same home, rather than managing separate houses per character.
If you prefer a more practical overview, our Housing guide breaks everything down in a clear, easy-to-follow format.
Customization is a major focus. Both interiors and exteriors can be decorated, and Blizzard emphasizes flexibility in layout and design. Housing is not meant to be a one-time project, but something players can build on over time.
More Than Just Decorating
The blog post also highlights Endeavors, which are neighborhood-based activities that encourage interaction beyond just decorating. These are intended to give housing a social layer instead of turning it into a purely solo system.
Overall, the housing guide post shared by Blizzard once again reiterates that Housing is not just a cosmetic side feature. It is meant to become a persistent space tied to your Warband, your creativity, and your community.
You can read the full official blog post from Blizzard below.
Come Home to Azeroth with Housing in Midnight
A House for Everyone
Housing is for everyone in Midnight. If you want a house, you can have a house. No exorbitant requirements or high purchase costs, no lotteries, and no onerous upkeep. Your houses are also shared amongst your Warband with your different characters being able to come and go as you see fit (so your Orc character can hang out in your Alliance house without a problem). Housing rewards are also shared across your Warband allowing you to use your décor collection no matter which character earns it. If you have an Alliance character and a Horde character, both will be able to own one house in either the Horde or Alliance Neighborhood zones as well.
Alliance Neighborhood Zone: Founder’s Point
Horde Neighborhood Zone: Razorwind Shores
It’s not just Warbands that cross factional lines but friendships as well, so you’ll be able to live in or visit your friends’ or guildmates’ houses and their neighborhoods with minimal restrictions regarding faction.
Embracing Boundless Self-Expression
To help you create the perfect living space, the Housing feature offers a variety of tools for customization with the option to design in either Basic or Advanced Modes. You’ll also be able to collect a variety of home décor, dye select items, resize them, and place them anywhere in your home.
You’ll be able to create a home that reflects your unique style and achievements in Azeroth. Whether you’re looking to make the cover of the Gadgetzan Times or design a space that strikes fear into the hearts of your visitors, the Housing feature offers endless possibilities for customization.
The exterior of your home will be customizable as well, using a similar functionality to the in-game barber shop, with four different themed kits initially available: Blood Elf, Night Elf, Orc, and Human theming. Choose different towers, windows, facades, and more. It’s important to note that while your Horde characters can live in your Alliance house and your Alliance characters can live in your Horde house, you won’t be able to use opposite faction exteriors in that neighborhood. This means that an Alliance neighborhood will always feature Alliance architecture, and a Horde neighborhood will always feature Horde architecture. Neutral architecture can appear in either neighborhood type.
Welcome to the Neighborhood
Homes in World of Warcraft are separated into two Neighborhood zones, Founder’s Point (for the Alliance), and Razorwind Shores (for the Horde). Each Neighborhood is made up of roughly 50 plots of the same size, all of which contain a house.
We want players with different preferences for locations to find a plot that’s perfect for them, be they vibe-based or looking for something for a specific character. Some plots are placed far away from everything for the hermits among us, while others are grouped together in small cul-de-sacs of two to three houses perfect for a small group of friends. Other houses are in larger groupings for folks looking for more hustle and bustle.
Similarly, there’s a variety of biomes in each zone, ranging from Founder’s Point’s spooky forests and autumnal farmland to the lush oases and windswept bluffs in Razorwind Shores. In both Neighborhoods, you’ll find a dynamic central hub area full of both NPC activity and Endeavors.
There are two types of Neighborhoods:
- Public Neighborhoods – These are created as needed by the game servers and anyone can buy a house in them. As they fill up, new instances are created, so players looking for a house shouldn’t see a message about all the neighborhoods being full. Public Neighborhoods are run by the game as well, including naming it (with a semi-procedurally generated name), organizing, and keeping the neighborhood running however is needed.
- Private Neighborhoods – These are created and owned by players, either by Guilds as Guild Neighborhoods, or by arbitrary groups of players as Charter Neighborhoods.
Undertaking Endeavors
Endeavors are a Neighborhood-wide activity open to anyone who lives in the Neighborhood. Endeavors occur approximately once a month and when a new Endeavor becomes available the Neighborhood is provided with the opportunity to learn from various cultures and factions of Azeroth by completing different tasks. Players in Private Neighborhoods can choose from a selection of Endeavors, though occasionally a set Endeavor appears to highlight things happening in the world. In Public Neighborhoods, the game servers are responsible for choosing which Endeavors are active.
Each Endeavor has a group of tasks that are collectively completed by the Neighborhood. As tasks are completed, more NPCs from that area show up, making various themed decorations available to the neighborhood inhabitants (or even tovisiting players from other Neighborhoods), and the Neighborhood changes visually to be decorated in that faction’s fashion. The number of tasks required scales with Neighborhood size, so a 50-player Neighborhood will have to complete more tasks than a 10-player Neighborhood. Similarly, if a Neighborhood is less active, future Endeavors for that Neighborhood will also scale their requirements down to accommodate.
Complete themed Endeavors in your Neighborhoods, adding a unique touch to your home.
A Very Rewarding Experience
Players can earn rewards through a variety of sources, whether you’re buying from someone on the Auction House, you’ve completed achievements such as defeating Onyxia in her lair, making something using a profession, or just through adventuring; you’ll have plenty of ways to add to your collection.
Decor should come from everywhere and everything! We want you to find decor rewards in all sorts of gameplay, not just a single avenue. For example, while a specific jade-inlaid bookshelf might come from a particular quest in Pandaria, other bookshelves could come from vendors, professions, or other varied forms of content.
Open House: Take the Housing Tour
Take a 3D Tour of Housing and see the evolving customization options that await you!
Housing 101: Getting Started
Join Jay Hwang, Design Lead for Housing decoration, as he guides you through the Housing system in World of Warcraft. You’ll learn about picking a neighborhood, purchasing a home, decorating, collecting, and he’ll even answer some common community questions.
Go Deeper into the design in our previously published development articles:
- Building in Azeroth: A First Look at Housing
- Azeroth Beautiful: A look at Housing Interior Design
- Azeroth Living: A Look at Housing Rewards
- WoW Housing: It’s Only Neighborly
We’ll put out the “Welcome” mat for you!
For more updates on Midnight and beyond, head back to our main WoW news hub.
