I'm all for making crafting into a fun minigame, the problem is making it into one that doesnt become extremely tedious as it goes on which could require a large amount of dev time by itself, as it would essentially be its own game within a game (Maybe try introducing new elements every 10 levels.)

Though I suppose EQ2 does have that whole trading card game you can play while playing EQ2.

Though the last time Square released a puzzle game they had popcap do it..




...also the steam generator is where most people ragequit brave fencer musashi.