Hi all,
I know everyone is excited about the upcoming housing feature to be implemented early in December. There are a lot of questions about how housing will work, and I am sure that Blizzard’s interpretation of it will evolve over time. For now, we have the opportunity to create guild housing neighborhoods. These consist of a number of plots that can be purchased exclusively by guild members in an instanced environment. Once we are close to capacity for the instance, a second instance of the neighborhood is created. The neighborhood system will have activities that you can do throughout Azeroth that will help improve the neighborhood as a whole. No matter which instance you’re in, any contribution you make will be good for the neighborhood (and Guild!). You are not required to maintain a home in the guild neighborhood, but you are certainly welcome to!
We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to best go about housing on the Horde side of the guild. My philosophy is to follow the tenets of OTG as a whole—Laid Back, not too serious, no drama, and all about the fun.
Keeping that in mind, and in order to have a neighborhood that serves us all with our various playstyles and gaming schedules, I wanted to keep the ruleset for guild housing on the OTG-Horde side as simple as possible:
Currently, the only rule to maintain your characters in the guild is to log in at least once every 12 months. We routinely remove player characters from the guild after 12 months of inactivity. Getting removed from the guild in this way does not delete your house, but puts it into storage so that when you resume play, ask an officer for an invitation back to the guild, and you can place your house back down again as if you’d never left. The only downside to this is that the original plot you were on may no longer be available. If it becomes clear that this isn’t a viable option for neighborhoods, we will shorten this period.
When it comes time to choose your plot, housing will be first-come, first-served. I hope we all get the exact plot we want (I’ve certainly got my eyes on a few), but please know that it may not work out that way. Once someone purchases a plot, it’s theirs.
I plan to activate the guild neighborhood at 6:00 PM server time on the patch day (December 2nd as of right now). The first instance will be open to anyone (again, first come first served). After that instance fills and the second becomes available, players—especially those who want to be next-door neighbors—are welcome to move their plot to the second instance. Once someone has chosen a plot, it’s theirs provided they do not move or relinquish it, and they maintain activity by logging in at least once every 12 months.
If you wish to form your own charter neighborhood outside of the guild, you are more than welcome to. You will always be welcome to come create a plot in the guild section.