120559-crafted-gear-at-endgame

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Here's what I've noticed -- as much as people say crafting is dead, it isn't.    There's a 'resting place' people get to in gear progression.  It's when you have most of the dungeon epics you want, a few GA drops, and you're buying EG pieces as the weeks move along.    Basically you're gear stays the same unless 1) you get that drop in GA or 2) you get the EG.
 
I've put a Luminite core in every pattern I have as an outfitter, and made every variation of that piece.  Of those I've found 8 (so far) pieces that can end up with stats appropriate for the 'resting place'.    For example, Stalker DPS boots that are better than the Walkers of the Souleater, but not as good as the 3 GA drops.    Stalker DPS shoulders better than Razorguard Plates and Distortionist's Mantle, but not as good as the other 2 GA drops.    I can make a support system that rivals almost any from GA/EG, and asks nothing of RNGesus.
 
The problem is they only have 3 rune slots.    Even with 2 less slots the crafted gear still has more stats, so the only real problem is losing rune sets.   This gear is great.  It's expensive, but worth it as a buyer.  It's challenging to make, mistakes are costly, but worth it as a seller.   Crafting could be alive and well exactly as it is, *IF* gear didn't cap at 3 slots.     All people know are the 5 slots on epics.  That's where most people are in progression, that's what people have built their rune sets around..  And by comparison, seeing 3 slots makes people blind to how good the stats are.  Thus all the "crafting is useless now!" cries.
 
Tossing out an idea - make Luminite-Hybrid crafted gear be able to go to 4 slots.  But make the material cost for that core go up, like, a lot.   Right now they cost ~2p50g.  Make it closer to 7p, or more.  If those shoulders I can make went up to 4 slots, people would pay no problem.   Maybe not at first glace, but after weeks of bad RNG, you may start to look toward that super expensive upgrade, since you can make plat at your own pace with no lock out.  Then close the gap between Refined and Luminite by half, but keep Refined capped at 3 slots and at the same price level, making them the poor man's end game alternative.   Point is, there are ways to keep the current system almost as-is and revitalize crafting.  
 
TLDR: The swappable core system is perfect, just attach everything to the cores - the number of rune slots, the power, even specials and circut color types.  It's a plug and play system begging for depth.   Have 30 different types of cores, each with it's own combination of attributes.   Make a commitment to keep crafting a relevant end game activity - with the stats and costs at end game levels.   Without that commitment, crafting will wither and die.	
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Yes, please!
 
Crafting HAS to be endgame relevant, imho. Looking at all the time you put into lvling up the skill it has to have a relevance even in the late endgame.
I would love to see bosses not just drop extremely good gear, but rather materials required to make that gear. (maybe give us the option to have more than just 2 tradeskills as well)	
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This. The other day I started crafting some Adventus gear for my Stalker, and was dismayed that pretty much any decent core would give 2 slots, while the dual core didn't do anything additional like its description and the UI says other than having less charge. If you slot a dual core in an Adventus chest schematic, the UI says the result will be 3-slot, but Drop 3 nerfed rune slots on crafted gear for reasons unknown to me so the result is actually 2-slot with the option to add one. When you consider that fairly easy to obtain blue gear from the Defile quests and random drops, and some rep items, are about the same as these expensive to make schematics, it does make crafting a bit more frustrating than it should be.
 
That said, endgame crafting isn't as broken as it can look on the surface, as the OP said. It would only take a small amount of tweaking to make it great. Personally, I think one thing that might help would be making things craft as they do now, but able to accept more than one Runic Module. Say 2 for blue gear (for a total of four max) and 3 for Archivos (for a total of six max, IIRC) That's just off the top of my head, though.	
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