This wasn't a feature I thought I'd be super into. WoW doesn't have it and I'd never thought about it being necessary. But then I tried a few other things that did and...I really like housing. In my head all of my characters have a home anyhow, a place they go to rest after a long day's journey, to lick their wounds and sleep. I never realized how excited I could get about having something like that in game. Then I tried Rift.
They give you a free dimension pretty early on. It's not much, just a shrine on a hill, but it's mine. Daethrys has picked up a few things in his journeys beyond what he was given to fill it and they've all found a home there. A few more things I bought for it because I wanted him to have a home that looked like one. It isn't much, someday I want to make an alt and try the Dreamweaving profession and maybe make something bigger. But for now:
The whole thing pretty much. It's really not big or impressive. You can't see the gravestone he added off to one side, or the weird makeshift hammock bed under the tree that he got from some quest mobs, but it's an overview.
Standing in the doorway. It's cozy enough for a hunter who just wants a place to keep the rain off for a while.
A closer view of the interior. It's amazing to me what you can actually do in terms of customizing. I haven't done a whole lot here, but everything can be moved and rotated and scaled and left where you like it. The two planks in the past of goodies he got with the dimension became shelving. I bought a bed, some flowers, an inkwell, a journal and scaled down a vase to fit on the shelves and suddenly it looks like somebody lives there. It's not spectacular, but it could be.
Lord of the Rings Online has housing too, though it's a bit more annoying needing to pay an upkeep on it. You don't get to really own it, just rent. Still as soon as Sadrondir had the coin he had to have one in the Elven neighborhoods.
It's lovely on the outside, especially at night with all the windows lit. And rather small on the inside. The customization isn't nearly as impressive or freeform as Rift. There are set slots and certain types of things that can fit in them, and you can rotated them, but other than that, they are as they are. Still his house has music... and a story. When I had first got it I didn't have much gold so I was sparing with it. He bought the music and a piece or two of furniture. I had picked up a wall coloring somewhere and there was a painting in his leveling box.
Furnished mostly with quest things and with a changed floor it looked a bit like this downstairs.
And this upstairs. Cozy enough but not really very attractive. Still it was a work in progress. Well then one evening at the Prancing Pony I met an elf looking for a Kinship. Mine was kind enough to invite him but while they were busy in an instance I ran around with him. He bought a house... and then we ended up traipsing all over so he could buy lots of furniture and then spent an hour furnishing the place. He asked for my opinion a lot. Joking comments were almost made about everybody assuming Minstrels were good interior decorators, but I bit my tongue.
And then he gave me -all- of his leftover and extra furniture along with some pieces he'd picked up deliberately for me.
The downstairs now looks like this from one angle, much cozier and more attractive.
The upstairs has a bed and pictures now. It looks like a place he can get some rest after a long day in the Barrow Downs.
From the bed, the door leading downstairs. I've since used up every last interior slot. Nothing more can be placed in his house and though things could be changed some... it's done. And I wish there was a bit more I could do with it. Still it's got pretty green walls and a nice tile floor and down stairs there's a bookcase.
What more could a simple Minstrel really want when he can't afford a bigger house? I did change the music and add a bit more in the yard. But it's done. And though it might not be Rift's Dimensions... it's a whole lot better than nothing. I'm anxiously waiting on time to get Tirasiel his last two or three necessary levels so I can see what housing is like in Aion.
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