Why Housing?

Before I dive into trying to explain how to use the housing in WildStar, I figured I’d take a moment to tell you why I care so much about it. I’ve played other MMOs that have some form of player housing (Rift, LOTRO), but never got very excited about it before WildStar. What made the difference? Well let me tell you a story about that…

During one of the recent beta weekends, I found myself in front of the Protostar Housing building in one of the capital cities (Thayd). The videos were entertaining. The displays were intriguing. I had some random “decor” in my bags that I didn’t know what to do with. But I wasn’t quite high enough level yet, the quest to claim my own home stubbornly refused to activate for me.

So I went back out into the world. I quested and did challenges, and even got some more decor filling up my inventory. The instant I dinged 14 I raced back to the city and claimed my house. I was blown away by the deceptive simplicity of the system. With a few clicks I had a beautiful house and some pre-built plugs on my property that made it look occupied. Playing with the decor was fun and I could see some possibilities opening up.

Home is where the booze is

The point at which the magic happened, however, was when the hails went out in chat. “Hey I got this house who wants to be my neighbor?” Over the course of a couple weekends, my guildies and I visited each other’s houses. We did challenges on the various plots different folks had activated. We got inspired by each other, and built cooler and cooler additions to our homes. We were getting game rewards for visiting friends, and we were getting more motivated to play with the housing system every time we saw new ideas in action. This was something special, something that never quite happened in other games for me. Plus all of it is integrated into a game that already compelling and fun outside of the housing. And that is why I am so very excited to share this game and this player housing system with you.