How is the crafting? Is it like WoW, or FF11?

and how goes housing?

thanks for the info

Crafting is its own unique monster in EQ2.

In only the broadest terms, its like WoW.  You have harvesting nodes of different tiers spread out amongst the world.  You harvest them, and then when you have the right materials in the right quantity,  you can craft a specific item.

However, beyond the broad scheme there's a big difference.  Crafting in EQ2 is a mini-game.  So you can't simply start creating 50 swords and go afk.  You have to craft each one.  The mini game is mind-numbingly simple, and doesn't require much skill.  But, it is something you have to participate in.

Housing, 

There is a wide variety of housing available, and each one looks different.  Furniture has a purpose in some houses (it reduces the status point upkeep cost).  

Some rooms are upgradable (different textured floors, walls, cielings) others are not.

The guy above me is a master of understatement. The housing system is the best in any MMO I've ever seen. There is a huge variety of items. There are thousands if not hundred of thousands items for your house. You can also place an item whereever you want unlike some other games where you have to place your items on a hook lol (am looking at you LOTRO). You can also become a carpenter so you can craft all sorts of furniture.

If you want great housing, this is the game. 

About the crafting I don't know. It's similar to what the guy above me described. You can't craft 50 swords at the same time you have to craft every single one of them. I don't think this is such a good idea as the minigame is super simple and you just end up pressing 1,2,3. On the plus side, crafting in this game feels very rewarding because you can craft a lot of useful things and there are a lot of professions. You actually have an crafting level (similar to your normal level), so you level up your character in the same way you do your normal levels if that even makes sense...

Other highlights of the game include 25 classes, 19 races, a world as big as WoW's, a fairly sophisticated alternate leveling system, mentoring system, deleveling system, achievement system, a dungeon maker, appearance system (both for your equipment and mount) and fluff. This game has tons of fluff.

Crafting is OK but you only do one thing at a time the gear mudflation have limited the sales possibilities of armorers and weaponsmiths, but many people still like the crafting and you get separate crafting quests and even some items, and you level crafing separately. It is possible to have a 25 something adventurer 90 crafter.

Housing is the best in the market, no other game comes close, look up everseek.com and eq2decorators.com for some ideas. And the ftp agrees well with you if you are into crafting and housing and get silver membership. The housing leaderboards are also awesome and you can spend a lot of time just looking at peoples houses.

I found the gathering process to be tidious and mindnumbimgly boring though. 

the nods appear random anywhere on the map and produce random materials, so for example when all I was missing for an item was one piece of malachite, it took me hours upon hours of trial and error to finally get it.

somehow, I prefer the simpler version of "go to this nod and gather this piece" instead

on top of that, you need like a trillion bags to carry all the possible materials and it's just impossible on the F2P account. you need a silver at least and you'll need to invest on a 44-slot bag if you want to try your hand at crafting

other than that. it's different from WoW, but somehow not really more fun for me.

I found crafting in Ryzom a lot more enjoyable and interesting even though the gathering principle is the same. but just the fact that I could customize my craftables, made it a whole a lot more interesting

Originally posted by lalartu

the nods appear random anywhere on the map and produce random materials, so for example when all I was missing for an item was one piece of malachite, it took me hours upon hours of trial and error to finally get it.

somehow, I prefer the simpler version of "go to this nod and gather this piece" instead

Well, random within limits. Ore: loam and hard metal. Stone: gem and soft metal. Plant: assorted fruits and veggies. Animal den: leather and meats. Etc. And I feel for you: hitting level 40 as an Armorer was a royal pain, with tons of loam and hardly any feyiron (when I could even find any ore to mine!).

Originally posted by lalartu

I found the gathering process to be tidious and mindnumbimgly boring though. 

the nods appear random anywhere on the map and produce random materials, so for example when all I was missing for an item was one piece of malachite, it took me hours upon hours of trial and error to finally get it.

somehow, I prefer the simpler version of "go to this nod and gather this piece" instead

on top of that, you need like a trillion bags to carry all the possible materials and it's just impossible on the F2P account. you need a silver at least and you'll need to invest on a 44-slot bag if you want to try your hand at crafting

other than that. it's different from WoW, but somehow not really more fun for me.

I found crafting in Ryzom a lot more enjoyable and interesting even though the gathering principle is the same. but just the fact that I could customize my craftables, made it a whole a lot more interesting

Lol. I remember the first time I ran out of a mat. I told Hubs, "I need more ash and lvl 20 roots." and waited expectantly for him to just trade them. "The gravy train has stopped, lazy girl. Go gather your own." he chuckled, "After all, I gave you 400 ash and 200 roots.". "But, but, I need room dividers." I whined, "And I'm a priest! I can't solo things my own lvl.". "Then lvl up!". was his reply. 

I dutifully arrived in Butcherblock and plowed through the knolls, taking enormous damage and nearly dying every other mob. But there was no ash where he had promised there would be. And no roots, either.  Frustrated, I logged on with my dirge, who was several lvls ahead of the priest (my, but those scouts lvl fast, don't they?).

Suddenly, the respawns of the mining and food nodes had morphed into roots and wood. I gathered 600 in no time and lvled my dirge 8 times in the process. 

"Do you still need ash?" Hubs asked solicitously.

"Hummmph. I need to get rid of the ash and roots I gathered. It's tying up my bag slots." I answered and made half a zillion room dividers to wallpaper my newest inn room.