Perhaps they can make crafting more engaging by adding subcategories to the craftables. Taking cooking for example, there could be soups (meals in a bowl), drinks (apple juice, coffee, so on) and dishes (meals on a plate). From here the developers can add / modify skills. Observe could be useful for soups as you wait for the liquid to boil and then move on to the next step. Juices could have a "press" step to extract the juice. Whatever route they decide on, I can't imagine things improving without big changes somewhere.