World of Warcraft Finally Adds Player Housing
For nearly two decades, fans of World of Warcraft have asked for one feature that remained just out of reach, but other games willingly applied: player housing. After years of requests and speculation, Blizzard has finally made it happen. In Blizzard’s Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct, they laid out 2025’s The War Within Roadmap that included player housing. The upcoming expansion, Midnight, which is part of the "Worldsoul Saga," will introduce a fully-fledged player housing system that offers customization, progression, and social interaction.
This new addition signals a major change for a game that’s been around since 2004. While WoW has evolved through many expansions, the housing feature is something players often look to other games for. Now, with Midnight, Blizzard enters the arena of player housing systems already established in games like Final Fantasy XIV, Elder Scrolls Online, and New World.
World of Warcraft The War Within 2025 Roadmap
Credit: Blizzard
From Garrisons to True Player Housing
Back in Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard tested the waters with Garrisons. These personal strongholds gave players a place to collect followers, send them on missions, and manage certain professions. But the system felt more like an instanced command center than a home. Customization was limited, and the isolated nature of Garrisons left many players feeling cut off from the world.
The upcoming housing system in Midnight fixes many of those missteps. Homes will be located within shared neighborhoods, allowing for social activity and real-time visits with friends. The design goes beyond just placing furniture. Players can craft decorations, display trophies, and host events. It’s a system built to keep players connected, not separated.
What’s Included in WoW’s New Player Housing?
Blizzard has shared several key features that set Midnight’s housing apart:
Custom Locations: Choose where your home is situated within a shared neighborhood.
Interior Design: Decorate your space using earned or crafted items, trophies, and seasonal decor.
Progress-Based Unlocks: Gain new furnishings and options through achievements, crafting, quests, and participation in seasonal events.
Shared Housing for Warbands: All characters on your account share access to the same house, allowing for personalization across classes and roles.
Neighborhood Events: Join player-hosted gatherings and take part in community-driven housing activities.
This approach signals a commitment to making housing an integrated part of the game, rather than an isolated side feature.
How It Stacks Up Against Other Games with Player Housing
Many MMORPG fans have long turned to games like WoW to find robust housing systems. Let’s compare Midnight's features to some of the best games with player housing.
Final Fantasy XIV: Exclusive and Competitive
FFXIV features one of the most desired housing systems, but also one of the most competitive. Plots are limited, and players must enter a housing lottery to secure a home. Once obtained, players can decorate their houses extensively—both inside and out. Housing also integrates with Free Company (guild) systems and includes functional workshops.
Blizzard’s system doesn’t require players to compete for plots. Instead, neighborhoods appear to function on a semi-instanced basis, ensuring more players can enjoy ownership without a lottery system.
Elder Scrolls Online: High Freedom, Low Stakes
ESO’s Homestead update gave players the ability to purchase from over 100 homes across Tamriel. You can craft furniture, decorate rooms, and place items wherever you want. However, housing in ESO doesn’t connect to core gameplay. It remains cosmetic, with no buffs or significant interaction beyond design and social gatherings.
WoW aims to be more involved. With progression built into housing decor and account-wide customization, Blizzard is giving players more reasons to engage with the system over time.
New World: Housing with Territory Buffs
In New World, players can buy houses in towns, and each house offers fast travel and passive buffs depending on the region. Like WoW’s plan, New World also allows furniture crafting and decor placement. But players can only view their version of a house in shared plots, which limits community interaction. In contrast, Midnight’s shared neighborhoods will allow real-time social visits and events.
Why Now?
After so many World of Warcraft expansions, some may wonder why Blizzard waited until 2025 to finally build this system. The answer seems to lie in timing and technology. Rather than releasing a basic version and patching it over time, Blizzard chose to wait and introduce something robust from the start.
The developers have emphasized social features, progressive rewards, and cross-character accessibility as priorities. With so many modern MMOs offering housing, Blizzard had to bring more than just base functionality. It had to be worthwhile, especially for long-time players who’ve stuck with the game through each major content cycle.
When Will It Arrive?
Player housing is set to launch alongside patch 11.2.7, currently scheduled for winter 2025. Blizzard hasn’t released an exact date, but based on their expansion roadmap, players can expect to start customizing their homes shortly before the full Midnight expansion drops.
The timeline gives players plenty of time to prepare. Gathering resources, completing quests, and planning decorations will likely become a new layer of endgame content, appealing to collectors and creatives alike.
Housing as a Social Hub
The inclusion of social neighborhoods is what may set WoW’s housing apart the most. Blizzard wants player homes to function like mini hubs. They are poised to be places where communities grow. Unlike the solitude of Garrison life, these neighborhoods are meant to be lively, with players hosting parties, showing off rare items, or building themed layouts based on raids or lore.
This focus on shared experiences brings WoW’s housing system closer to what MMOs like FFXIV have been praised for, without the hurdles that make those systems inaccessible to most casual players.
What This Means for the Future of WoW
The arrival of player housing doesn’t just add a new feature, but it signals a shift in how World of Warcraft builds community. It also shows that Blizzard is willing to listen to long-standing player requests and implement them in a meaningful way. Combined with new systems like Warbands, Midnight represents more than just another expansion. It’s a turning point.
As games like WoW continue to adapt to an aging player base and new competition, features like housing help retain engagement beyond raids and dungeons. Customization, creativity, and social gameplay are all becoming just as important as progression and gear.
By finally bringing player housing to Azeroth, Blizzard shows it’s not afraid to change course when it matters. This new system could become a central feature of the game, drawing in players who want more than combat and loot. And for fans of games like WoW that have long embraced housing, it's a welcome step forward.
Would you design a humble hut or a majestic manor? The choice will soon be yours.
