I guess it's time to pay attention to Garrisons

When Blizz announced the Garrisons feature for Warlords of Draenor, I wasn't particularly excited.  It reminded me of Heroesof Might and Magic, where I would have to keep upgrading my keep to get better defences, produce gold and build armies.  I listened with half an ear when they talked about how your "followers" in the garrison could go and do your professions for you - that reminded me of your companion in SWTOR - and I know I did perk up a bit and pay attention for a few minutes when they said you could breed your pets there.

Then people said that you could build it in certain zones - and I was thinking of how Luxy used to describe her secret hideaway base/home she'd build in DayZ and wonder if I would have to defend it, or would it be like the farm and be out of phase for everyone.  I thought it might be something I would do but it wouldn't be a big thing to me, like PvP or pet battling is - and I certainly didn't think it would be a necessity (like Golden Lotus rep

Garrison Building - 3 tiers of upgrades

But, after reading WowInsider and also reading Alternative Chat (and she's even written a whole GUIDE to garrison building), it seems that Garrisons are going to be a major feature and an important cornerstone in Warlords of Draenor.  It seems to be a place where you could spend a lot of time in WoW, like how pet battles were, making a game within a game, with it's own little quests, things you can only craft in a garrison, and a way to boost your collections of other resources.

And it's not going to be phased just to you - your friends can come and see you too (admittedly, I had heard that somewhere).  And you can show off the cool buildings and trophies (from achievements), your mounts (apparently the stable can display 5 of your favourite mounts).  The followers feature where they go and do dungeons and get you STUFFS.  Sending them off to get stuffs is pretty neat, but it's going to be a little bit like dailies, I imagine, or doing your daily profession cooldown - more reasons for Blizz to make you login everyday to play!

Godmother concerned me because she said that you will HAVE to have a Garrison because you'll keep having to go back to it when you're levelling.  That it's possible you can't max your tradeskills without one.  Cymre was very excited about Garrisons, but she, like Ancient, is really big on solo or small group stuff, and Garrisons are right up her alley.  I guess Garrisons will be something I can do while I'm at work in down time whilst in WoW - and just when I thought Hearthstone was going to fill that niche for me since I get a bit tired of pet battling during those spare moments.  However, though initially I was chafing at it (because it sounded a bit like the Golden Lotus gate to opening up Shado-Pan and August Celestials), when you're levelling, there are so many things you have to do anyway.  I'm sure that there is only a bare minimum of things you have to do in Garrison to reach the goals you want - the rest of it is frills and pride and the feeling of something in the game that is yours and customizable.  Everyone loves to customize stuff, from their UI to their appearance, so I think the people who like those things are going to love playing with their Garrison.  In fact, after thinking about it I am kind of excited about it now - after being a bit apathetic before.

I mean this is all very cool - there is going to be so much more solo stuff I can do in WoW now (as opposed to archaeology, pet battles).  But you know what I really wish?  I would really like my Garrison to have a WARDROBE and an ARMOURY.  Somewhere to store all my items for transmog!