The prominence of random loot and the overwhelming amount of it that you get in D:OS really detract from the exploration aspect. You know you are just going to find Generic Sword of Mediocrity wherever you are and in whatever chest you look. I definitely prefer hand placed gear, though you could have a mix. Unique items you get from exploration and bosses, and random loot from the mobs throughout the game. Uniques should also have special properties you can't get anywhere else, Obsidian did a really bad job with this in PoE like transfat said. Since it's not really feasible to expect unique items for every slot for every conceivable build, crafting can fill the hole, so to speak. Crafting shouldn't be able to replace the loot you gain from exploration entirely though. It's a pretty delicate job of balancing crafting to be useful but not so it eclipses everything else.
Pretty much what I intended when a talked about complementary systems.
Baudolino05, That's cool. As long as it's not like gems or some crap. Every game, except perhaps Diablo 3 that had like socketable games/relics into their weapons always sucked so bad that you'd almost wish that the socket was replaced with something more useful. They are always significantly underpowered.
Actually Relics are the most interesting part of my system. I mean, a relic is what makes unique a named gear. They always give peculiar abilities, which more often than not have a condition: things like a substantial health regen when you hit a critic, or an automatic teleportation in a safe area when your health is really low. Relics are meant to performe "miracles", after all
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