WoW's Player Housing Will Include A Level-Up System And Neighborhood-Wide Events

World of Warcraft's housing system will see players level-up their homes by completing neighborhood-wide events called Endeavors, ones that will visually change neighborhoods and offer special decorations for a limited-time.

Blizzard revealed those new details about the MMORPG's highly anticipated housing system and more in a recent blog post. While Blizzard already announced players would be buying homes as part of either public or private neighborhoods, now we know more about how exactly it will all work.


One key part of WoW's neighborhoods will be Endeavors. These neighborhood-wide events occur about once a month and visually transform the neighborhood to represent different cultures or factions found in Azeroth. Each Endeavor will introduce tasks that can be completed by those living in the neighborhood, ranging from competing quests to crafting certain items or finishing dungeons. Once enough tasks are completed collectively, the whole neighborhood is rewarded.

Completing an Endeavor's tasks come with two main rewards: a special currency used to purchase themed decorations from visiting Endeavor NPCs and Neighborhood Favor. It's the latter reward that looks to serve as housing XP of sorts, leveling up what looks to be a housing version of the game's Renown track system. Each new housing level grants new decoration items and sometimes will even increase housing limitations, like how many decorations a player can have in their house.

Blizzard said the goal of Endeavors is to give neighborhoods common goals to strive for, add choices for how a neighborhood looks, and also introduce asymmetry between different neighborhoods, as not all neighborhoods will be working on the same Endeavor. While players in public neighborhoods will have their Endeavors essentially chosen for them, those in private neighborhoods will be able to choose from a selection of possible Endeavors. This allows for players to visit different neighborhoods and purchase Endeavor decoration rewards that might not be available in their own neighborhood.

A look at WoW's housing level system.
Along with announcing Endeavors, Blizzard additionally answered some common questions it has heard from players, like how to move homes if a player doesn't like living in a place or next to a particular person, or how much control players will have over who can visit their home.

If a player doesn't like where they are living, they can just pick up their house and move. Blizzard said it's made changing home locations "frictionless and straightforward." Giving up a home will save its state, after which players can then "unpack" that home at a new location without having to redecorate or rebuild the home's interior. Homes in WoW are essentially magic boxes that can be as big or small as a player wants, so not having to redo previous work sounds like a smart move.

Blizzard emphasized that neighborhoods are quite large in size, with 50 housing plots spread across different biomes within the zone. Some homes will be more isolated for those who want to live the hermit lifestyle without neighbors, while others will be part of small or large cul-de-sacs that encourage more social interaction.

As for home permissions, Blizzard is giving players ultimate control over who can visit, with options for allowing (or denying) friends, guildmates, neighbors, or the general public. There will also be an option for allowing people to visit the outside plot of a home, but not come inside.

Details about Endeavors and neighborhoods are just the latest information Blizzard has shared about player housing, having previously shared its insights on how WoW's houses will be available for everyone who wants one, how the housing system will reward past achievements, and all the nitty-gritty decoration options players will have.

In May, GameSpot was among the first to go hands-on with WoW's housing decoration tools, and we came away impressed at the possibilities it offered, even in an early, unfinished state.

WoW's housing system was announced to be coming as part of the MMO's next expansion, Midnight, but is now expected to arrive ahead of it, perhaps as part of the expansion's pre-patch update. Blizzard will be sharing more information about Midnight (and probably player housing) during Gamescom.

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