Which MMO have the best housing systems

Brume

I wont lie, i didnt play any MMO for the last 2 years. I always come back to the forum to keep update on the new game going out, but i been forever since my last immersion. For some reasons crafting and housing have always been a game design that i appreciate a lot in gaming. The only MMO that that i played that have a solid housing systems is UO (i know). I had a peak of LOTRO, it look pretty cool but i didnt play enough of it to enjoy the content. Didnt really came across any game that have the same feeling. Which MMO had the best housing system and why?? You can name a few non-MMO too. 

BarelyEinstein

Everquest 2 has a *great* housing system.

shetlandslarsen

EQ2 and Rift both has very good housing systems . But imo EQ2 has better more immersive crafting.

Luiden

EQ2 had the best, hands down.  Too bad the devs destroyed that game.

WBadger

I'd say UO or SWG for open world housing and then Wildstar for instanced housing.  Wildstar had its issues, but the freedom you had in customizing your little island was fairly on point.

TheScavenger

I didn't like EQ2 housing. No one can see your house unless they actually visit.

I think Ultima Online is still the best of all these years. The only downside is unlike Black Desert Online (and EQ2), while no one sees your house in those...at least the latter two you can have a house in a city. 

But even with that, UO still hands down the best. Can customize the very look of your house from the ground up, and people can visit your house any time and check it out.

2nd would be Tibia...its kinda UO in a sense, but no customization at all besides decoration. Also houses are pre-placed. But all houses are open, and has the benefit that you can have a house inside a city (or outside it if you want). So anyone can see your house, or if you want to be left alone, can have a hidden away house.

Whats the point of a house if no one sees it or can visit it (and no a drop down menu of everyones houses isn't likely someone will ever visit that house). makes having a house a huge waste of time.

Even LOTRO is better than EQ2...at least there are housing areas and people can come by and visit if they visit the instance its in. But not as good as Tibia/UO since its still kinda instanced...just not as bad as EQ2

TheScavenger

Literally no point in decorating or having a house if its so instanced that no one will ever see that house except some friends. Waste of time, money and resources.

Do it like UO or Tibia, or even LOTRO if want to go the instanced route...much better.

ReaperUk

Without doubt, SWG had the best housing system of any game I've played, At least in the beginning. I was mayor of a metropolis with 150 citizens and was able to design a really nice city. Unfortunately, the housing system changed along with everything else with the CU and NGE. Houses stopped disappearing when players no longer logged in for a certain amount of time as had been the original design, which meant the whole countryside became littered with abandoned properties and cities became ghost towns.

The next mmorpg I played after that was LotRO, which conversely had probably the worst housing system of any game I've played. The housing was instanced, in the middle of nowhere and with no real reason to ever go there. I gave mine up during the closed beta and never bothered again even when the game when live.

I've played many games since with instanced housing but none of them ever provided the sense of community we had in SWG. Probably my favourite instanced housing in a game was in BDO. At least you have a wide choice of properties to choose from, can decorate them internally and set them up as crafting hubs. They are also mainly in town centres so are convenient for banking, crafting supplies and quest givers.

In the past couple of years I've mainly switched to playing survival games such as Conan Exiles, The Forest and ARK. They all have great building systems that allow you to design your own housing. I think my ideal mmorpg housing system would be something like that, where people can design and build their own housing on a plot but within an organised city structure containing all the necessary local amenities such as transport links, shops/vendors, quest hubs, banks and meeting places.

Maybe such a game already exists? I don't know, I haven't played them all but I haven't come across anything like that.

Blueliner

EQ2 hands down had the best housing system, yes people saw your houses, if you wanted them seen. If someone wanted to see your house they will go see your house. just because you have a house in open world doesn't mean people will give it a second glance. Just like in EQ2 and the system there was the best bar none.

Akulas

Believe it or not Ultima Online. Take a look if you don't believe me.

Also another unlikely contender is Maple Story 2 if you ignore the cash shop.

No other non sandbox games you can have a forest of penises in your house if you want to.

centkin

Istaria Laircrafting for Dragons.

Po_gg

I spend the most times with LotRO's housing, and with the housing updates it became really good over the years. But if I should pick the best one, I would probably go with Rift or Wildstar (after the community housing update it is pretty unique).

Cryomatrix

SWG.

Utinni

Hands down SWG.  Every item in the game has a 3d model, even the junk loot. Complete freedom to place them where and how you want to with yaw/pitch/roll.

Utinni

ReaperUk said:

Unfortunately, the housing system changed along with everything else with the CU and NGE. Houses stopped disappearing when players no longer logged in for a certain amount of time as had been the original design, which meant the whole countryside became littered with abandoned properties and cities became ghost towns.

Structures in NGE become abandoned after 90 days of no play, even inside other folks cities.

Amathe

In its day; SWG

Nowadays: EQ2

Scorchien

UO and SWG ... its not even a conversation imo .. and as SWG is dead , that leaves UO

kitarad

People had a reason to go to a house in EQ2 .You can sell things cheaper in the house and many people will go through the house if they enjoy visiting which I often did in EQ2. I would go and visit houses to see how they decorated it.

The reason EQ2 was the best is because you could move items in any axis you wished and that enabled you to create effects and arrange many pieces to resemble something else. It allowed for fascinating feats of imagination. You could create lofts and aquariums or anything basically. I was often astonished by other player's creativity.

Jemcrystal

Elder Scrolls Online, Wildstar, Ylands, Ark Survival Evolved, and FFXIV (not tried Final Fantasy's i left right before the housing update but heard it's good).

Maurgrim

There are only two MMOs that have best housing and BEST freedom how much you can do with housing features.

RIFT

Wildstar

Pomy

SWG

Tokken

UO

Panther2103

Archeage or Wildstar.

Some of the things you could do in Wildstar with your housing was crazy.

Wizardry

TheScavenger said:

Literally no point in decorating or having a house if its so instanced that no one will ever see that house except some friends. Waste of time, money and resources.

Do it like UO or Tibia, or even LOTRO if want to go the instanced route...much better.

MANY people see houses in EQ2,example in a guild many people often allow access and become friends with everyone else.MOST people sell items from their home,it saves the buyer currency so again many people see your home.
It also looks better in EQ2.

Yes there was still lots of room for improvement but somehow there was soem serious mismanagement by Smedley.

On day 1 of both EQ2 and Wow,very close together,i felt hands down Wow was not even close to as good as EQ2,yet Wow continued to gather steam while Smedley ruined every elite game he had.Introducing a cash shop was phase one of GREED by Smedley.
Remember that kids game they had,that game had a LOT of players,he was even bragging about it but of course he ruined that as wel.

Remeber the SOE TCG,imo the b est TCG ever,real life figurines instead of CHEAP looking cards,even used a mini map,great potential but yet again Smedley ruined it.\

So bottom line is this,was Smedley EVER good at anything or was the EQ series just an easy sell being it was pretty much the first real marketed mmorpg with almost no competition?SOE's teram had a LOT of great ideas,they could have cornered the market with ALL their games,VERY bad management.

Still none the less,the EQ2 housing system remains even after Semdley mishandling,it is more in depth with some really nice items.Some people made their houses "not me,i suck lol"look so amazing,my jaw would drop.

Mikeha

I loved Aion's housing system. 

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