If we had a craft system, where the naturall assets in the game would be used in a logical way as base for the crafting, then the different types of trees could have different values, i.e. trees that load more seldom would be worth more than the more frequent ones. This would make skills like lumberjacking, mining and collecting much more interesting and would also provide an interest to players who want to do other things than bashing mobs.
We already have the base for an interesting crafting system in the game. Different types of wood, metals and gems for weapons can be found in the zones, as well as different kinds of fibres (flax, hemp, silk, wool), different kinds of animal hides, skin and fur, different kinds of herbs, roots, fruits and flowers etc. The experienced explorers would know where to find and extract all those things. There is even a Crafter's Alley northwest of Olde Yorke, with all the necessary tools for the various crafts.
This was all designed with the a working craft system as the ultimate goal. If everything that already exists in the game, could be used in an intelligent way as the base for the system, it could add a lot of new aspects to the game and also create a real player run economy. But regrettably none of the coders have ever been interested in creating one.
Since the coders never seemed interested, I have been working in the past on a script based craft system. But it is a rather big and complicated task for one person, especially since I have many other things in the game that need my attention, (as well as my present RL situation). So it never got completed, but the bases for it still exists. We do have many skilled scriptors in the staff, and perhaps some of them could help finish the task.
However, it does make sense that a system as complex as this should be based on code, not scripts,
Once said some time ago that he was working on a coded craft system. What happened to those plans?