Housing 101 – First Steps

So you’d like to become a homeowner, huh? Well lucky for you it is truly simple on Nexus, as long as you don’t mind that your home will be floating far above the ground! This guide will get you up and running as quick as can be.

Where and When?

This tram looks like a tardigrade

Housing unlocks as soon as you reach level 14. Just haul your carcass toward your major city quick as can be. Once you’re there, you’ll find a Protostar housing specialist who will point you in the right direction. If you don’t find your way to the housing display on your own, you can even snag a tram ride straight there! A short quest later and you’ll be standing on your new front lawn.

Looks a little lonely…

Now What?

You’ll have to come up with a name for your property. Don’t stress too much, you can rename it later if you choose (Protostar_voice: *for money*). You’ll also get to choose between 2 decor packs with some basic furnishings. By the time you’re 14 you may have already found some housing decor or FABkits from questing or challenges. Right-clicking on decor in your inventory will transfer it to your crate. The crate is where all of your “stuff” gets stored until you place it in or around your home. We’ll get to that soon, but first let’s build a house!

Tools of the trade

When you are at your housing plot, you’ll get an extra action bar with 6 icons on it. The first is “Landscape”. This interface lets you add pre-formed kits to your land. More importantly, the big blue square in the middle lets you choose your house. There’s only a couple options to begin with, depending on your faction. I will say that for the exiles, the Cozy Aurin House has an extra little room in it compared to the other two choices.

The second icon on the housing action bar is “Remodel.” From this panel you can change the look of your house, both interior and exterior. This includes things like floors, roof, wallpaper, and even your sky. The interface changes slightly depending on if you are inside or outside of the house.

The third icon is “Crate.” This is where all of your decor items are stored when they’re not out making your house look awesome. Selecting an item from the list allows you to see a preview, and once you are in edit mode, you can right click in the world to place your item.

The fourth icon is “Vendor.” This one is dangerous! Here you can directly purchase a wide variety of decor items for your home. Costs can be either in gold or in renown. Gold is obtained in the usual way via questing, killing stuff, selling goods, etc., while renown is gain from doing group activities or as rewards from things like completing challenges.

The fifth icon, “Toggle Edit Mode,”  is quite important. You need to toggle this on before you can start placing or moving decor on your property. Not knowing this has been a source of frustration to a lot of new homeowners, so don’t forget about it!

The final icon, “Escape,” returns you to the entrance pad to your property. This is handy if you get stuck anywhere at your home.

Much more cozy

Well, this covers the very basics! I’ll be back again soon with some more details about placing decor, some tips and tricks, and information about the advanced tools! Until then, let me know what you think if you get a chance to check out the housing in WildStar’s open beta, now until May 18, 2014.