World of Warcraft’s Ion Hazzikostas discusses theoretical player housing in new interview

"It's a big project, a big undertaking"

    
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SO YA START NOW, COME ON!

Player housing in World of Warcraft is a topic that’s come up pretty ceaselessly since the game launched, and it’s even more present in people’s minds with the upcoming Dragonflight expansion. Obviously it’s not included as one of the major expansion features, since that would have been front-and-center during the reveal stream in the first place if that had been the case. Game director Ion Hazzikostas discussed the topic in an interview with Hazel of HazelNuttyGames, which can be found in transcribed and summarized form on Wowhead, and he explains that it’s a truly massive undertaking:

Player housing is topic that comes up a ton around the team. Tons of support for it across the community and within the team, it’s something many of us would love ourselves. Putting together any of the package of features for an expansion, it’s a mix of what thematically suits the expansion, what’s going to appeal to different types of players, but also what would be required to deliver that feature at the level that players expect and deserve, and what would we have to give up to make that happen… and player housing is a big one. It’s a big project, a big undertaking, and I would argue that if we were to do it, it would probably have to span multiple expansions – it’s a large enough feature just from the art.

Hazzikostas also discusses other features of the expansion, such as how Dracthyr will not be riding drakes in their draconic form (because it would just look weird) and how the introduction of the new talent system is meant to replace systems like Shadowlands Legendary items with more customization. He also notes how Archaeology is a system the developers need to majorly revamp, explaining why it’s sitting out a second expansion when it would be quite relevant. Check out the full interview for more tidbits.

Source: Wowhead
Activision-Blizzard is considered a controversial gaming company owing to a long string of scandals over the last few years, including the Blitzchung boycott, mass layoffs, labor disputes, and executive pay fiasco. In 2021, the company was sued by California for fostering a work environment rife with sexual harassment and discrimination, the disastrous corporate response to which compounded Blizzard’s ongoing pipeline issues and the widespread perception that its online games are in decline. Multiple state and federal agencies are investigating the company as employees strike and call for Bobby Kotick’s resignation. As of 2022, the company is being acquired by no less than Microsoft.
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