Ok, basically im thinking that DoH and DoL need to have some more entertaining quests/missions/leveling options that involve specific goals in synthing for example
you should have quests that make you test your skills
things like,

make an item with a certain quality
make a bunch of items in a certain time limit
completing these with high scores could give bonus skill points

quests could involve creating outfitting npcs, and getting to see them try your wares
basically simulated combat, where you outfit the npc, depending how well you do it, they succeed or fail.

some competetive quests with other pcs, to get the highest quality/ best times on random synths, awarding titles, money or skill points, if no pcs join, then you battle npcs, (can also work with just npcs)

team crafting quests, where you can make the quests easier by having multiple people, (like trying to craft X amount of weapons at a camp before beastmen invade)


i think you might be able to implement some crafting parties, but thats for a different thread and uses different mechanics.