3. Provide Clear, Comprehensive Stat Comparisons
While we're on the subject of loot, here is a very simple one that a surprisingly large number of RPG's don't get right. When you find a new piece of equipment and are considering swapping it in to replace your current equipment, a clear and comprehensive statistical comparison of the two items should never be more than a single button press/mouse click away. This is something I notice is a much bigger problem in RPG's of the Western variety as opposed to those of the Japanese, which seem to get this right much more often. If you are equipped with multiple weapons, and/or have other similar weapons in your inventory to the new one that you find, the game should be able to logically recognize what weapon(s) the player would like to see this new equipment compared to. All relevant information should be able to be quickly accessed, and not buried beneath layers of menus.