Best Crafting System?

What game do you think had the best crafting system, and why?

My vote goes to Star Wars Galaxies, with the caveat that Hero's Journey has not been released yet and can't therefore be included in the comparison. SWG allowed for not only a tremendous amount of detail involved in the system but also tight integration of crafters into the rest of the game. Crafting is largely an afterthought or a separate system in most other games; not so in SWG. Other players rely on crafters for items.

I never really played Star Wars but for me the crafting system in EQ2 was a lot of fun. I don't play it much anymore and haven't in a long time but when I did I liked the system there.

I have not done much crafting in any other game besides the fletching I did in EQ and there really wasnt much to that system. I have not tried the Vanguard system much yet...maybe soon.

EQ2 had a decent system. I liked how it was a bit of a minigame with problems cropping up that needed the right skill to be triggered.

Vanguard...I didn't like. Far too few recipes and far too inaccessible for my tastes.

I didn't like EQ2. I don't feel that I should be punished for missing a keystroke or something. Failures are one thing, but actually getting smacked is just not my cup of tea!

And yes, VSoH is a bit tough. I'll give you that one. I liked more of the original EQ style, but there are still things there I would have changed a bit. I'm not a die-hard crafter, but it could be fun at times when other things just didn't seem to be "it" but I wanted something to do!

I've never played SWG but I liked the VG system before they started emssing with it so I can't do the basic stuff without some seriously tripped out gear...

but then i made th choice to play on test where the gear level is dramatically lower - it's what I get I guess.

I'm going to reinstall Everquest II now... I IIRC, I LIKED their system and I enjoyed RP'ing a pally who fed the poor.... (yes, she was actually a cook )

I've yet to find the *best* system yet... wonder what CoH is doing....

SWG had the best crafting system imo. I spent weeks tweaking and perfecting the armor I crafted to create the ultimate set. I loved having factories that could handle the repetative aspects of crafting and I loved going out to harvest materials to get just the right material stats. The system was deep and complicated and quite enjoyable for me.

Any game that emulated it would be a winner to me.

No contest for me either.

SWG was great and would be my choice as well. Crafting in the game was awesome, but not without it's failings. It did have great depth, and the fact that you could specialize in being a merchant made crafting that much more rewarding as you could also set up shop and sell out of your own store.

On the down side, keeping up with all my harvesters, factories, resource changes, and rents consumed 2 pages of spreadsheets and several hours a day. It was all just a little too much. If you could make a game with similar mechanics and not as much detail I think a lot of crafters would beat a path to your door. It's important for crafting to be engaging, but it shouldn't be a full-time job.

Still with the failings it did have, I enjoyed it much more than any other game I've tried.

I used to spend hours on one of the SWG crafting sites updating resource maps. I agree it got to be pretty time consuming but I think part of that was due to how often resources would shift and the need to travel at first to each of your harvesters to restock their energy/credits. After I left, they added droids who could do that if Im not mistaken.

Hehe I was a Mod on SWGCraft.com, and I loved that site. I used to update it all the time too.

Yep thats the one. Havent been there in years now so I forgot the URL even. Almost makes me want to dust off my character. Almost.