Let's change up the crafting system just for the fun of it.

First off, let's deal with sources of the materials. When you take minerals out of the clockworks, you can have the option of either storing them as-is, depositing them in a gate, or breaking them up for shards. I'll leave monster drops alone for now.

To create a weapon, you don't need a recipe; all you need are the materials, a crafting machine, and knowledge of how to properly put them together to create what you want. You can combine just about any materials you like; combining a light and a dark shard will produce 1 CE. Combining 3 light shards and 2 bronze bolts will yield a Bolted Blade. Combining a Bolted Blade with 5 light shards, 2 bronze bolts, and 2 swordstones will produce a Calibur. Some items start all the way back at 0*, with the 2* Wrench Wand requiring the 0* Robo Wrecker and 1* Rugged Robo Wrecker (among other materials) in sequence.

Where's the energy in all this? In the crafting process, 0* mats will each add 1 energy to your crafting costs, 1* mats add 10, 2* mats add 20, and so on linearly. A Bolted Blade, for instance, is the result of combining 3 light shards and 2 bronze bolts. Light shards are 0* and bronze bolts are 1*. The net crafting cost, then, is 23 energy. To craft a Calibur, though, you will need a Bolted Blade (1*, 10 energy ea.), 5 light shards (0*, 1 energy ea.), 2 bronze bolts (1*, 10 energy), and 2 sword stones (2*, 20 energy ea.). This adds up to 75 energy. For a 5* item like a Leviathan Blade, you will need an Ascended Calibur (4*, 40 energy), 1 sun silver (5*, 50 energy), 2 silver coils (4*, 40 energy ea.), 3 force dynamos (3*, 30 energy ea.), 4 sword stones (2*, 20 energy ea.), 5 bronze bolts (1*, 10 energy ea.), and 20 light shards (0*, 1 energy ea.). That's 410 in crafting energy. That's in the ballpark, no?

But weapons are not the only craftable items! You can craft some other materials this way, too. For instance, 2* Blast Powder can be obtained by combining 1 brimstone and 10 red shards. Combining opposite shards, like red & blue or light & dark, will annihilate them and produce 1 CE per pair.

But what happens when you make a mistake in the crafting process? What if you are trying to craft a Bolted Blade but add too few light shards? You might still get the item that this combination most closely provides, but there is a chance that you will get a UV penalty of some kind. If you instead add too many light shards, you might get a UV bonus of some kind. If you don't like the item you've crafted, you can take it apart and recover all the materials that went into it, but not the energy. What happens if you mess up on crafting other materials, like Blast Powder? Your materials are returned to you and nothing is created, but the energy you put into the crafting is lost forever.

However, the crafting machine will not let you input fewer than 2 materials. You just can't combine a lone object!

But what about token materials or gear? Can they be crafted? No. Depending on the item in question, they may have a different upgrading system. Taking cues from developer comments, the Sealed Sword has 9 seals on it. To upgrade, combine it with 9 ecto drops, 7 swordstones, and 5 redwood, and then 35 light shards & 3 miracloth for an Avenger or 35 dark shards & 3 mugs of misery for a Faust. After that, if you want a Divine Avenger or Gran Faust, you must first break all nine seals by combining them with nine Almirian Seals. Then, only after all nine seals are broken will you be able to successfully add either Sun Steel or Shadow Steel to get a Divine Avenger or Gran Faust.

But that's just the Sealed line. What about the other weapon and armor lines? I don't know, but I've got more ideas than I can put down in one post. Maybe you can upgrade to the Argent Peacemaker by getting Grim Sparks and Sun Steel, obtain the Blackened Crest by chance drop from an enemy carrying one, the Crest of Almire from combining a Blackened Crest with a Maiden's Tear...you get the idea.

The goal of all this is to promote creativity and to make some of the in-game items feel really special and rewarding.

Concerned about economics? I have some theories on why this is better for OOO:

• Note that the lower-starred gear requires more energy to craft.
• Less grinding for 5* gear, which means lower energy prices that will retain and attract more customers.
• Shadow Lair mats required for more items. The keys cost a lot of energy. ;)
• More interesting lore surrounding the gear. The more interesting content can translate to more interested customers.
• Most importantly, since crafting is the main energy sink in the game, adding more stuff to craft can significantly increase the amount of CE purchases.

Opinions? I know this is all very complicated and a lot to code into the game, but I think it'll be really fun and profitable in the long run.