Xiao O has made a brief summary of the content of this interview, and I will share it with you today.
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House size and rules
1. Holding limit: Each account can only have one house in each faction, and the maximum number of accounts is two (one for each Alliance/Tribe). The interior and exterior of the house are designed independently, and the interior space can be greatly expanded.
2. Item limit: The current limit of decoration items for a single house is 10,000 (only about 2,000 pieces are used in the most complex cases), and a limit on the number of rooms will be added in the future. The revamped history feature may be added after the official launch.
3. Growth system: Blizzard mentioned that residential buildings will introduce a hierarchical growth system, but the specific mechanism has not yet been announced.
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Decoration and customization
1. Item acquisition: Decorations need to be obtained through the actual in-game (such as dungeon drops, professional production), and cannot be copied indefinitely. Some decorations require specific achievements to unlock.
2. Transformation function: support 20%-200% proportional scaling
Different parts of the item can be changed in color/material (e.g. wooden table top with metal legs)
3. Stylistic Variety: Provide pre-made templates to support a mix of decorations from classic old-world to the latest expansion (e.g. the Ironforge Merchant sells Dwarven Furniture Packs). New decorations will continue to be added in future editions.
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Community planning
1. Community size: A single community accommodates about 50 residences and supports themed clusters (such as all-elf style communities). Relocating communities requires rebuilding houses.
2. Social stickiness: In order to avoid repeating the problem of “fortress isolation”, the community will design a core gameplay loop to promote long-term player interaction. The community is an independent map, and new technologies are used to enhance uniqueness.
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Functional design
1. Non-combat power bonus: The residence does not provide character strength buffs, but it is deeply bound to the professional skill system (the specific content is to be announced).
2. Easy access: It is planned to add decoration merchants near the entrance of the dungeon to avoid forced farming of old dungeons.
According to Blizzard’s premise, the player housing system is not a deprecation like King of Draenor’s Stronghold system, which only lasts for one expansion, but will continue throughout the life of World of Warcraft in the future.
It can be said that Blizzard has high hopes for player housing, and hopes that it will become a player collection system like the transmog system in the future.