World of Warcraft's housing has finally arrived, but thanks to a new teaser I've now got my eye on marriage

I've been with my partner for almost four years now, and one of the games we initially bonded over was Final Fantasy 14. She was a pugilist, he was… also a pugilist: can it get anymore obvious? While we've spent hours meandering through Eorzea, taking in the sights and punching beasties on the nose, we've never quite cemented our in-game relationship by getting married. It's a system that's dear to the hearts of many, and one that few other MMOs replicate. But eagle-eyed World of Warcraft players have spotted that we can take our smooching to the next level as part of Midnight's housing update.

World of Warcraft's highly anticipated housing update hit the beta last night, accessible to those have pre-purchased Midnight. Spooky, witchy cottages and ornate, almost tavern-esque cabins have already begun to dominate my timeline, and generally people seem to like Blizzard's version of the system. But it's the housing early access trailer that's caught people's attention, as it appears to show off, well, marriage.

At 0:51 in the video above, we see a collection of guests gathered on a tranquil beach, the sun setting, the waves lapping at the shores. A wooden archway covered in ivy takes center stage, where it appears that a Tauren priest is officiating a wedding ceremony between two elves. The pair exchange a very large ring, the crowd cheers, and fireworks shoot into the air, creating sparkly pink love hearts. It's adorable.

Now, you can already give another player character the Ring of Binding (added in The War Within), which grants you and your partner shared combat bonuses, but the ceremony itself seems to be new. This is probably because you can now build out venues for weddings to take place in using the new housing system. So while it's not an official marriage system in the style of FF14 (which even has its own dedicated Ceremony of Eternal Bonding website), it'll likely spark some creativity among Azeroth's hopeless romantics.

The ideal endgame would be a system akin to FF14's, which offers a special quest, venue reservation systems, invites, and unique items, but that's not quite what we've got. Yet.

Marriage aside, Blizzard's iteration of housing is certainly one of the most thorough that I've seen in a videogame, and while its more cartoon-esque aesthetic will never quite rival the absolutely gorgeous homesteads I've seen in FF14, it's got a sense of homeliness I haven't felt in Eorzea. Perhaps that's because WoW was my main MMO during my childhood, or maybe its that dated feel that makes it seem inherently cozy. What I do know is I'm going to sink far too much time into making my house as pretty as possible, while simultaneously convincing my partner to marry me - both in-game and IRL.