Player housing and personalisation seems all the rage at the moment. Along with WildStar offering in-depth custom homesteads and The Old Republic joining the property rush, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor will add its own take on the concept in the form of Garrisons.
Garrisons will be "your own personal fortress", a base of operations that your online avatar can build, upgrade and recruit for. Blizzard revealed them back at Blizzcon 2013, but the new update gives us a closer look.
"The story you weave in Draenor is one of personal heroism," reads the post, "but your actions have a wider impact—part of your mission is to raise an army capable of toppling the Iron Horde, and the Garrison is integral to that experience. In terms of gameplay, that means you’ll be creating and strengthening your Garrison as you journey to level 100."
"While questing through Draenor, you’ll encounter opportunities to choose between different types of buildings to add to your Garrison. Each choice will have an impact on your leveling experience, influencing the quests you’ll have available and the zone-specific benefits you’ll unlock upon completion of your chosen structure."
You could, for example, choose between building a lumber mill of a sparring arena when you first visit the new Gorgrond zone. The choice you make will affect the quests and experiences you receive in that new area. Pretty cool. You can even summon in NPC troops from your holdings to help you out. "To give you more of a feeling for the ideas we have for zone benefits, imagine summoning a brutish ogre bodyguard from your Sparring Arena when in Gorgrond, or calling down artillery strikes from your Armory while in Talador. Our goal is for each zone to offer equally compelling alternatives from which to choose, and to provide you with plenty of powerful creatures to vanquish with your newfound powers."
Not only that, but your Garrison also serves as a hub for various NPC followers, who'll provide you with various services. You can send them on missions to improve their stats and skills, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is that you can get them to join you in a conga line and dance around town. "Want to have your subjects join you in a conga line around town? Thanks to improved AI and a new player emote, you can . . . and they will!"
There's plenty more information on the new Garrisons in the full blog post, and it's well worth checking out if you're interested in Warlords of Draenor, due out later this year.
