So I wont lie theres not a firm basis for this but after reading and listening to several sources I think it is something worth tossing out there and seeing if it sticks.

TESO has already said they want top end gear to be obtained from not only PvE or PvP but from a mixture of both as well as crafting and purchasing. They also said they want crafting to play a bigger part of the game.

So could it be possible that we will see not see bosses only dropping gear but also rare high level crafting materials. In the case of dragon armor/weapons how are we going to acquire the mats for them (assuming that TESO uses the same armors found in previous Elder Scrolls Game), its very possible that TESO plan is to make them only accessible in raid content (either slaying dragons as raid bosses or clearing bosses for their caches) and then take it to a crafter and have them either craft new armor or upgrade pre-existing gear. I wouldnt be surprised if we started raiding with Glass/Ebony level gear and Tier 1 would be the gathering of Dragon/Daedric materials to make basic Dragon/Daedric eqiupment and the following tiers being used to improve existing pieces.

This could also be extended to PvP, taking over a Keep or Fort would yield a cache for players to divide among the group and those mats be put towards upgrading gear as well.

I do realize this is not in keeping with previous MMOs but it does seem like it would fit in the style in which previous Elder Scrolls games have been made.

For one armor and weapons have been pretty standard in appearance. There are very few unique designs found in Elder Scroll games.
Also the crafting in Skryim kinda eludes to upgrading armors and weapons with the addition of the work bench and sharpening stone. To translate that from a single player game (where upgrading to max efficiency was done through maxing your blacksmithing skill to as high as it could go) it could changed so that exotic/rare materials could be used to improve gear. This would give crafters more involvement in the game, they wouldnt be left to just making little bonuses (like sockets, belt buckles, armor kits) that previous MMOs did to make the crafters somewhat involved after the initial raid level.

This would also go back to TESO's goal of diversifying how Maxed Gear is obtained. Sure some gear would still be found in Raid Enviroments and some gear be bought with PvP currency (whether its honor or whatever they choice to call it) but there would be that little niche that would have players seek out crafters to make those other pieces.

Another thing having these rare materials be drops off of Raid Bosses would be that it keeps raid content desirable/viable longer. Guilds that clear content quickly will be able to use mats to create off spec pieces or sell mats on the open market. It would make it easier to go back to old content if raid groups need to gear new players.

I know for me one of the things that makes content stale is when the majority of gear gets trashed because its either a more commen piece or the raid team is already geared out.

Tin foil hat? Good thing I have my monogrammed SPUF foil hat just for this type of thing! a joke no one here will get

If they they do make crafting mats/recipes drop off raid bosses, they had better NOT be soulbound to your character the moment you pick it off the boss corpse. They should be Sellable/tradeable after you leave the raid/instance/PVP vendor - and ONLY become soulbound (if needed) when you equip/learn said item/recipe. If they do that, it should be fine.

They had better recognize that not everybody wants to do everything. That's the point of an MMORPG. MMORPGs aren't about having massive amounts of people... it's about a virtual world of VERY different playstyles that can interconnect to benefit each other. (example: A full-time fisherman provides great stat-boosting food for the Raider, which helps the raider kill the boss easier - thereby obtaining that special PVP centric weapon to be given to the PVPer, which allows the PVPer to help the fisherman by defending his fishing hole/lake from enemy PVP players.)

If it's like ES where everybody CAN do everything, but they don't have to - that's fine... but PLEASE do not FORCE people to have to PVE/PVP/Crafting to upgrade. TAKE ADVANTAGE of the virtual world and encourage to BUILD a community via those who SPECIALIZE in one type of gameplay! This encourages helping eachother via trading between all three gamestyle items, not forcing everybody in a raid/PVP/craft to compete with eachother.

The fact that most players don't do everything was part of the reason I thought this might be a way for them to go. The mats definitely shouldnt be soulbound if this system would be implemented (since it would force crafters to raid and/or pvp) but it definitely could create situations where a PvP guild, Raiding guild and Crafting guild teamed up to accomplish gearing themselves up.

WTS [Pristine Hide of the Beast] and [Sulfuron Ingot].

I realize that lately WoW has started making all sorts of crafting materials bind on pickup, but it wasn't always so. I like the concept of finding materials deep in difficult dungeons, taking them back to town and making something awesome out of them.

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with tinfoil hats, however.

Think about skyrim's system for a minute - just how often did you obtain armor from slain enemies? I know that in most of my playthroughs, I would loot some leather or hide armor early on, but after that most upgrades came from crafting.

Most of that crafting could be done with little to no fighting - you could trade for materials or hunt for hides and delve into mines for ore. However, when it came to the best armor sets, you had to acquire both normal materials as well as looted materials from enemies - in the form of daedra hearts and dragon bones or scales.

Some of the best items in the game, after that point, were either enchanted items that had been crafted, or unique/legendary quest rewards.

One thing that broke Skyrim though is apothecaries. They'd often have hugely rare stuff like daedra hearts and void salts. Kill him off and reload, and his stock replenishes. I got me every ingredient I'd ever need without lifting a finger. Also, without mods, most quest rewards dont come near the crafted stuff. Skyrim's definitely weighted towards crafters.

I disagree that rare materials should be something looted from boss encounters, as a matter of fact i highly discourage it.
I would rather rare materials be a very low drop rate from random mobs around the world. Bosses will always be there to kill, we dont need to create a system where a crafter still feels the need to raid if he doesnt have the gold to buy the materials through players.

Some of the material's needed could be rare-roll-rewards... (player a got 100g from quest a, player b got a really shiny diamond from quest a)
or something, but i'd try to avoid giving anyone the feeling that raiding is necessary to craft.

Edit: and maybe the drop rate could be slightly increased based on your crafting ability.