I love the new housing. I think it's great that new players have a starter house. However, the introduction of the new housing has removed something that may have been important -- a significant goal that:
1. can be achieved with reasonable effort
2. is not tied to specific skills
3. is readily visible to other players once achieved
4. provides benefits for gameplay once achieved
5. includes choices with personality or narrative potential
Thinking back, I remember the happiness and sense of accomplishment I had when my young character purchased her first house, a tree house in Aranna. Then came the elation of moving my more mature character to sweet cottage in Groddle Meadow.
I'm not nostalgic for the old housing. What I'm nostalgic for is this: Both houses were goals I worked towards over time. Having these longer-term goals made my immediate actions more meaningful -- the harvests I collected, the chickens I squeezed, and the currants I earned were all steps towards a goal that had lasting visibility and significance. Unlike a one-time level-up screen, the house was something I saw each time I came into the game. It told me and it told others I'd reached a significant milestone in the game. It also involved a range of choices that were easy to understand and simple to explain (i.e. "she's a bog dweller" "he has a tree house near rook country"), and these choices could be used to help convey the personality or backstory of a character. This is what I miss.
It's probably not a good idea to take away something that players already have, such as houses and butlers. While towers might fill a role similar to that of the former houses, at present they are too generic on the outside and too variable on the inside to replicate the former effects of choosing a geographical region and style of house. Also, tower ownership does not have the same kind of quick visibility to other players (i.e. prominence on profile page) as did former home ownership.
There are ways towers could be changed, and there are ways new game elements (e.g. craftybots) could be designed to re-create the kind of significant goal that buying a house used to be. As usual, god is in the details.