Mini-game for crafting might seems fun at first, but after doing it the 100th time you will get bored of it. The first few Computer hacking in FO3 seems fun, but after the 30th time it's a chore. The welding mini-game in Metroid Prime was fun the first few times, but after a while when I had to do it again I would go "not again". There was a Korean MMO called Goonzu, the crafting is basically click and wait but they add a Bejeweled like mini-game where if you perform well you get bonus to your crafting. First 15 minutes playing with it, it's fun and all. After 1 hour most people just click craft and ignore the mini game altogether. The next MMO from that same developer, Atlantica Online, they scrapped the mini-game altogether. Even if you only need to craft ONCE to hit cap level, you will still have to/want to do it again many times later because this is an MMO, where you want to replay again and again. Doesn't mean to say the current system can't be improved, just saying everything will eventually be boring. Involving multiple people however, will be less boring compare to doing it alone, so party-crafting should be priority.