Originally Posted by
Seikojin
How far did you get in crafting? In my experience, as soon as I started going full tilt to craft, I had 0 income. This was mainly due to regular item purchases and repairs to gear eating the coin only profits from runs.
If I alternated crafting runs, I was able to keep crafting and buying useful potions and gear, but my crafting gains went from 3 - 6 levels for all three schools down to 1 - 3 levels.
For new players, I don't think they will have the huge resource pool to purchase ability level 5 items, which is the best gear to decon for essences. And you do not gain enough essences in questing to gain crafting levels adequately enough to utilize crafting to its full potential.
But I see crafting as a way to have a main character build the gear for multiple lives and for alts to use instead of rehunting the specific items for their build.