Undercutting

[WinglessSeraphim]

I think it was more the time needed to level that discouraged players from trying it than the difficulty (since what difficulty there was only existed for the Master recipes). As soon as leveling became easier, almost everyone I knew started leveling crafting and gathering. Most of them still don't touch Master recipes.

I'm talking about when you had to level up BSM to get Byregot's Blessing instead of automatically getting it when you just mindlessly level say CUL, for example. Or to craft new gear, you had to play switch with your specialist stones.