THen there's how long leveling takes... Honestly leveling should be replaced with some other balancing mechanism for crafting. And yeah, those recipes are silly as HECK. Seriously, Ore refining to SAND refining to a NUGGET refining to an INGOT?
It should branch out rather than stay linear: For instance Iron Ore should refine to Iron Ingots, which can be made into Pure Iron Ore for other Armorcrafting, Blacksmithing, and Carpentry, OR Iron Sand, for Alchemy and possibly Cooking (Although that's a bit silly), same thing with wood, becoming Lumber, then branching out into Shafts, "Lengths," and Blocks for various Armor/Weaponcrafting/Carpentry recipes, or as fuel for cooking (Another suggestion
). Also... Flame Dust Sand? Sounds a bit strange to me
Then there's the whole issue of the gear being worse or the same as gear obtained otherwise...
Crafting needs a COMPLETE and TOTAL overhaul. For one, let us combine certain mineral Ingots to make special metals, two, CHANGE CXP, three, REMOVE THE RIDICULOUSNESS, four, add at least one new Craft that almost solely revolves around runes and magical stuff like Essences of elements or whatever, five, give an ACTUAL advantage to crafting clothes/weapons/whatever else instead of just wearing rewards and drops. As of now, only Alchemy/Herbalism seems feasible, and even that involves ridiculous CXP grinding...
