gaming

WoW housing tips from Blizzard art lead: use references, blueprints and break spaces up

Blizzard principal artist and lead designer Jay Huang, who now oversees World of Warcraft's player housing systems, offered concrete tips for new creators after patch 12.1 expanded housing decor and tools. Patch 12.1 (The Curse of Ula'tek) added many new decor items and a blueprints feature that lets players save and copy entire rooms. The guidance aims to make player housing less intimidating by recommending reference images, copying blueprints to learn, and breaking large rooms into smaller decorated areas.

• Patch 12.1 (The Curse of Ula'tek) introduced a large set of new housing decor items and a blueprints feature that saves and replicates whole interiors or exteriors.
• Jay Huang previously created in-game props and now designs the systems that enable player-created housing in World of Warcraft.
• Begin building by finding a reference image to identify which decor pieces to use and to define the look you want to recreate.
• Avoid comparing yourself to advanced creators: copy blueprints from others to learn techniques, add your own flair, and break up large rooms into smaller sections when decorating.