Ways to Improve Crafting

First off, this thread is here to help ideas that could improve the crafting system. Any feedback or suggestions are appreciated. I've always felt that the crafting system in this game left something to be desired. Feel free to post ideas for synergy and fishing as well, but I will not touch on them, as I do not participate in either.

I recently got my WW to 110, and it was frustrating, although maybe not for the proper reasons. My biggest problem was getting the items for recipes that I could actually skill up on. I understand I am not the first person (or the last) to have this issue. As the player base gets smaller, certain ingredients are just harder to come by. If this game is to have any type of future past November, certain problems (like this one) need to be addressed. A server merge is not ideal, as it would only possibly be a temporary solution to a long term problem.

So, I started to brain storm ideas to improve the crafting system. Some are minor, but would be helpful nonetheless.

1. Introduce quests that allow rare, unique ingredients to be purchased from the guilds. In order to purchase said items, your rank in that craft needs to be at a corresponding level. Example: To purchase petrified logs, your WW rank would need to be Artisan or higher. Maybe make the costs of these items expensive, so purchasing this way would not be practical, but still an option nonetheless.

2. Crystals: Crystals stack to 99. this saves space. If this is not a viable idea, at least give us a way to turn a stack of crystals into a cluster.

3. Allow players to use conquest points to purchase ingredients. Let's face it, CP has become somewhat antiquated. The items we could purchase would be from BCNM's in the original and RoZ and CoP zones. Possibly do the same for Imperial Standing and Allied Notes, but for items obtained in BCNMs from their respective zones. Maybe in order to purchase ingredients you need a specific rank. This way you can't just farm CP on a mule and purchase a bunch of Siren's Hairs.

4. Taking the CP one step further, maybe allow us to purchase crystals with conquest points? Lately, there is a lack of crystals on the AH, and this is because of the dwindling player base.

5. Guilds: They shouldn't close at all. This would be no major improvement by any means. And now that this rule only applies to one NPC, it may not even make a difference. Regardless, this has always been one thing about crafting that has annoyed me to no end.

6. More equipment that benefits crafters. The Torques were a step in the right direction, along with the Adoulin rings. I've heard Shaper's Shawl is amazing, but let's face it, that item applies to a select few. We do not need more rings. Maybe some earrings, waist pieces, even a weapon perhaps?

7. Building Guild points. I never understood why you can only collect Guild Points one Guild at a time. I've always thought this limitation was unnecessary. If people want to spend the majority of their time playing doing this, they should be able to.

8. Records of Eminence. Seriously. There's an entire category dedicated to fishing, but 2 steps for each craft and then you're done? Oh wait, I forgot the 30 successful Synth attempts and the daily craft with Unity. Did you guys just forget? Or am I just completely not seeing crafting RoE's? There's no category for accomplishments at all. Seriously, why not? Getting a craft to 60 is a bigger accomplishment than getting a job to 99, let alone getting that craft to 110.

Thank you for reading, and I apologize for the long post.

Every craft is easy to get to 110 with the update that allows you to use crafts capped below your level to go up in levels. So with this you can use crafts as low as 99 to get up to 110. And with a ton of ingredients coming easily from mog gardens, NPCs, or easily farmed materials there really is no valid complaint for not being able to get to 110.

4. Go to sky, elementals of all types are up, 24/7.

6. Already weapons for alchemy and cooking. There are already enough +skill options (you can get at least +12 skill in every craft); if they were to add any more it would break some tiers and mess with the rarity of some items and therefore the crafting economy.

Allowing us to skill up off crafts 11 levels below obviously made getting to 110 easier. Before that getting to 110 was incredibly difficult to the lack of practical skill up recipes. I'm not saying every ingredient is difficult to come by, but certain ones are, like the petrified logs I mentioned earlier. If they're not on the AH, and there's no ancient lumber, you're not doing the synth requiring those. Maybe petrified logs and ancient lumber are a special unique case, and maybe every craft does not have an item like them that can absolutely stump you. Crafting has become much easier over the years, but saying there is not a single valid complaint about getting to 110 is really a bold statement.

Admittedly, the CP->crystal idea may have been me getting off on a bit of a tangent (and was one of the weaker ideas), but like I said, on a smaller server supplies are incredibly limited. And when crystals are limited... that's when there's a real problem. Going to sky to farm clusters is a good option, but will always take you more time than buying off the AH. Some people have a limited amount of time to play, and when you constantly have to interrupt your crafting sessions because what you need isn't on the AH, it detracts from that.

I should have been clear on #6: I didn't mean to necessarily add more items with skill, just equipment that benefits crafting in general. Maybe more skill gain rate, Maybe an item that (rarely) allows a successful synth without consuming mats? And yes, while all crafts can get at least +12 skill, I would like to point out that the torques are not exactly easy to obtain. Mind you, I'm not saying they should be either. There's a lot of possibilities for equipment that benefits crafters, not just items that have +skill on them.