Why not let crafters (repost to right board)

[Imapooonu]

I like you op. Great post, great ideas.

[Sibyll]

I like the weapon and armor buff ideas. Make the process two-fold:

1) Buying the appropriate buff which is crafted, or purchased from the market board
2) "Shining" process which would be analogous to the "Request Meld"

This would benefit gatherers as well as crafters because the Oils/Sharpening stones for these buffs would require materials but you'd still need the crafter to actually apply the buff for you. This could also help certain crafts that are really lacking in terms of end-game usefulness (Alchemist comes to mind). You could also take it a step further and have the consumable buff require a materia of your choice in it's recipe (ex: using Vitality Materia would make a consumable that buffs Vitality) which would give a venue for the Tier 1/2 materia that often become vender trash while also providing a really simple and flexible system for crafters.