I saw this on Facebook a couple of mins ago and wanted to relay here but don't see a related thread on the first two pages.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/821/feature/7104/Crafting-a-Community.html/page/1


Apart from the article being very hollow and straight up conjecture, the topic is important. The dominant reward system in modern mmo's feels as though it only targets Achievers with the simplicity of platformer games like Marrio bros. People with other play-styles are marginalized so have to make do the best they can with second hand systems and I think that reduces a lot of stickiness. I want to take time between PVE/PVP raiding to develop my characters depth. I want to upgrade existing gear instead of throwing out last weeks outfit. I want to create custom appearance that I like rather then display textures for stuff I am not wearing. I want to expand my character outside of the stats sheet with Housing, Personal Storage and Custom Itemization. And to do all that I need a robust crafting system that lets me create these things the way I want them.

I can not stress enough that my playing this game after I burn through the initial two or three months of content hinges of this topic. And it is the opportunity for developers to redress a couple of issues. One being the need for appearance tabs to make people happy. Another is perceived gear grinding. Both can be solved with a deep crafting system that lets us alter and enhance gear by laying on crafted gear mods that are both practical and visual.