Anyone who’s a long time reader of this blog will know that I love a decent housing system in a game. It’s not the reason I play MMOs but it’s something that I very much enjoy doing when I’m not dungeoning. You can read the official article here and one by MMORPG.com here. I’ve also embedded the short video with a first look at the new houses (it doesn’t show all racial styles). I am very glad that they are going the EQ2 route and having instanced housing and also the ability to own multiple homes.
so… preparation, from what we know so far
Although the first house will be free (part of a quest to introduce the new system), subsequent houses will cost gold (and yes, just like other MMOs, there are crown shortcuts and I’m sure there will be crown exclusives later on too). So, I’m trying to hoard gold… it’s not easy but I’m selling through my trade guilds as much as possible (and thieving, natch..)
I already have a character who is level 50 (with necessary skill points) in all crafting disciplines as some items will require multiple professions to make.
I’ve also been working through my achievements. It’s a little difficult at this stage to know which achievements will have house decorations / benefits so I’ve been working on as many as possible… I have most of the crafting, questing, exploration, character, guild, normal dungeon achievements and I’m working on the ones I have left (I’m looking at you, harvesting 10,000 items!). I’m hoping my regular group will start working on the veteran dungeon achievements soon too. It’s a complete guess at the moment, we’ll have to wait until it’s tested to know specifics…
I have, however, finally finished Shalidor’s Library (I had two I hadn’t bothered to pick up in Cyrodiil). Each sub collection completed will entitle you to buy the relevant set to place in your house from the Mage’s Guild. If you prefer, there is an addon for PC which shows locations of lorebooks on the map.
To be honest, this housing system is everything I hoped for. OK, with one exception, no additional storage. That is a bit annoying but I believe it’s possible it may come in a future update.
