Also, as for crafting. I think the main issue with crafting is generally that just about anyone can do it. It becomes a forced addition to the player's setup because, well, there's no reason not to do it. If you have the material and taking the skill necessary has little to no negatives to the decision, even poorly thought out optimal play screams to go to your nearest anvil and upgrade that weapon. The only time I've ever really found crafting to be interesting is when applied in more of a roleplay sense, you actually need to specialize into it. You're not a warrior, a mage or a hybrid. You're a craftsman and you make up for your lack of true skill in weapon play purely through quality. You might not be able to swing a sword five times a second, but you do have the capacity to build a flaming ice sword of necromancy that no one else can.
The problem with this train of thought, however, is that it's really only fair in a single character situation. There's absolutely no reason why the guy who can swing a sword five times per second isn't wielding this flaming ice sword of necromancy over the guy who built it but can only wield it with mediocre skill. Which then leads to the problem of everyone getting to craft everything because in the party situation the pure craftsman doesn't balance himself out, he just super-empowers his squad.
Although, I suppose, that could be a point of balance as well. Trading a 4 man team who mainly buys their armor and weaponry or finds them for a 3 manteam who mainly gets their armor and weaponry from their mostly useless-in-combat master craftsman.
It's an odd trade. Still, I think giving everyone the right to empower their weapons despite their own specializations is an ultimately pointless interpretation of crafting in any rpg. (at least, without taking substantial losses or simply having finished their specialization and free to branch into other things) It just adds an unnecessary and tedious element to the game and personally, I dislike the idea of free options in general. Nothing should ever really be a win win situation unless the player manages to force it to be so. It's not even an option at that point, it's just a thing you get.
