When you mention getting rid of the minigame process and progress bar I was a little worried. Sure, the process takes a lot of time for some people, but I enjoyed it at least. I can see that as a gameplay element it just made the process of playing with luck go on for a few minutes.

If we get in trade off, a more deep crafting system with items that hold value over longer periods of time and also differ in stats from other items of the same name, then i think that will be fine. If the crafter has to look at the economic situation and access that, i think that is a more compelling gameplay element. I do believe that right now the crafters disregard making profits, but if making profits is more emphasized on the path of the crafter, things would be more fun.