Originally Posted by
Windblade
I like the idea of having all crafts to level 100, myself, but what would make me even happier is stopping the curse of item loss when crafting items I've already leveled to. I can remember wanting a Halcyon Fishing Rod. There was one for sale on the auction house, but I had materials to make one on my mules. So I muled to two characters and got just enough materials to make a Halcyon Rod. I was way over the level for the rod, but it broke! I had to mule again to get replacement materials. I restocked my stuff, again having just enough to craft it, thinking surely I wouldn't get two breaks in a row, but I got a SECOND break and lost even more materials. This time I didn't have enough materials to replace what I'd lost and I ended up buying the darned thing off the auction house! I was so mad my eyes wanted to roll back 180 degrees and expose the nerve connections. It's so senseless. A similar thing happened just a few weeks ago, except it was just one break. I still had to mule more materials, but the second attempt succeeded. Again, I was well over the cap.
Most of the time I send more than enough materials just in case something breaks, and much of the time nothing breaks and I end up muling it all back anyway. So whether I prepare for possible failures or not, multiple mulings to make one item seems to be the biggest annoyance of all in crafting.
Removing breaks for items you've capped just seems like the most sensible thing to do. That I can break a Level 1 cooking recipe with Lv.91 cooking says that I'm able to make fantastic Lobster Thermidor, but I still mess up a pot of boiled water.
As for the problem of procuring items needed for crafting, I recommend another Guild Point Item, maybe make it a key item, or something you could equip, like an earring. It would increase the drop rate for all items needed in that craft. So in Alchemy, you'd be guaranteed at least one, maybe two beehive chips for every kill, in addition to what would have normally dropped without the equipped item.
Honestly, if I need beehive chips, I get them from low-level bees, popping them off one at a time with a crossbow bolt. It's pretty fast, but since I don't like killing mobs where others are trying to level, I often run to unoccupied areas to farm. If higher level monsters would drop higher quantities of items, it might be worthwhile to farm them. But I don't want to go kill bees in the Temple of Uggalepih when they don't drop any more than the bees in Giddeus. If higher-level bees dropped plain old beehives (working like a lighting cluster: break the beehive and get 12 beehive chips), and the drop rate was comparable to one-hitting low-level bees, I'd be more inclined to farm them. The bees in the Crawler's Nest seem like good candidates for dropping beehives.
Windblade on Odin