A Treatise on NMs, Crafting, and Missions

ideas to fix NMs: NMs should award prestige points, which can then be used in conjunction with an appropriate scroll for an amount of ISP, CP, AN, etc from the appropriate gate guard. Each 'tier' of NM would award a key item prestige xX scroll. For example, Leaping Lizzy would be bottom-tier, and would award 1 prestige point and a key item prestige x10 scroll, worth 10 CP, ISP, or AN at a gate guard. This award system in combination with temporary buff scrolls or other 'medicinal' items prevents players from feeling like their hard-earned equipment is worthless when killing or repeat-killing an NM (for a friend or LSmate, for instance) when new gear is constantly introduced, obsoleting the old gear, and also brings a long-overdue booster to dwindling CP and ISP acquisition methods. Perhaps a way to combat an overabundance of CP entering the market would also be to add tags to character data (similar to how certain synthetic atmas "check" to see if you have a specific title or rank before allowing you to buy the atma proper) so that only characters who are repeat-killing could obtain the key item, and not more than once per real life day per NM. In this way, camping an NM becomes worth something at least when the item you want doesn't drop and not over-camping once you have already obtained it.

ideas to fix crafting: make crafting interactive! For example, under this idea, I could raise smithing by working on an anvil in a similar fashion to chocobo raising or synergy; the higher the level I am the more extensive and difficult the training session, where the session would always give me a 0.1 skill up. I could do 10 such sessions a day, at a cap of 20 such sessions a week, and 60 such sessions a month, and each session would be divided amongst all crafts (in other words, no 10 sessions in smithing followed by 10 sessions in bonecraft.) This would cost CP/ISP/AN but also be devoid of crystals and materials, offering players an alternative to crafting provided they invest the time necessary. Options would be something like "heat up the kiln" "cool down the kiln" "work the iron" etc

ideas to fix missions and quests shouting: hire mercenaries of every class up to the max level you have unlocked and to the skill levels you've acquired; the cost would be 100 ISP/AN/CP per level and an additional +1000 for a predetermined number of "HQ" or "rare" gearsets, as well as an additional 10 for every rank of skill you need after your own cap, or alternatively 1000 to acquire that class at a level you've already attained for it. starting level would be 10, max would be 90 (right now, obviously.) It would involve an interface menu in which you would select missions, quests, or other tasks assigned within the boundaries of the area. For example, in Bastok I could select "9-2" as my mission and since I'm a THF 90 I could select "WHM, BLM, RDM, PLD, and BRD" as my team. Since I've got a 73 WHM and a 71 BLM, their skills are decent and those are only 1000 to pay since I've got those already. Since my RDM is 41 and my PLD is 30, I'd have to pay 3000 for the RDM and 4000 for the PLD in order to bring them to 70. In addition, my BRD is 74 but I'd really like him to be in Sha'ir, so I pay 2000 to acquire him in sha'ir. I choose 9-2 in the interface and they're in my party when I go to do the fight proper.