Why I like Eq2 - Part 1 Crafting & Housing

Well, since I was planning on playing EQ2 right now, and the server appears down, I figured I'd lay out a few reasons why I like everquest better than I did WoW or LOTRO.

Crafting
In terms of crafting, World of Warcraft is clearly on the bottom.  Essentially one does the whole long drag of crafting essentially to get to the end, and get the top-end bonus for raiding, and maxing out DPS/health etc...  Essentially most crafted items were useless before you could make them, and the entire crafting system seemed to be more or less a time suck.

In LOTRO, the crafting was much better than it was in WoW.  Items were generally useful when you could make them, at least if you worked at your crafting.  However, the random number generator (RNG) plays far to large a roll in whether you can create a reasonable item or not, and given this it becomes somewhat painful, and frankly not all that enjoyable or worthwhile to craft the top-end things as it is too time-consuming to even get to the point of making them successfully.

Everquest 2 has the best crafting system I have seen to date.  In fact, the best items at least low and mid-level pretty much all seem to be crafted.   Also, the spell system and the food is best crafted.  The crafting requires a bit of a mini-game in order to craft anything - so it isn't quite as silly as the AFK crafting that seems to permeate the other games is not possible (which may be a negative for some people, but it gives much more of a feel of accomplishment than in other games).  In fact, in large part because of the crafting system, the broker (i.e. Auction House) seems to thrive - even at early and mid levels.

Ranking:

1. Everquest
2. LOTRO
3. WoW

Housing
The housing system in EQ2 is also fantastic.  There are many different houses you can buy, and each of them has some interesting unique features.  The number of things one can buy are astounding, and the number of things one can make is even larger.  This is the main reason why my wife likes the game, and my daughter, though too young to really play, really wants her own virtual house.  For examples of what people do with houses, check out  this forum thread.

LOTRO does an ok job, but the houses have a few downsides:  They are typically not as close to town as you really want them and they are not as interesting.  Add that to the fact that there are not nearly as many things you can make or buy for the house and it just does not quite do the trick.

WoW, of course,  does not have any player housing or guild housing at all.  Boo!!!!

Ranking:

1. Everquest   
2. LOTRO 
3. WoW