First let me say that I agree that the traits need rebalancing. This idea is more about giving us reasons to repeat content once we have the item we want, and keeping crafting relevant and interesting in the end game.
In coming up with this idea I also thought about the systems that already exist in the game that could be copied and repurposed to support this, to make it easier and cheaper to incorporate into the game.
That being said, here is my idea in Natch Pote style:
- When deconstructing any of the following BoP items, a master crafter now has a good chance of also extracting an Aetheric Essence: Monster masks; Master Weapons; and Maelstrom weapons.
- Aetheric Essence extracted from masks and weapons will be attributed to one of the divines (e.g. Aetheric Essence of Azura). Deconstruction of a certain mask or weapon will always yield the same essence.
- Aetheric Essence is tradable to other players.
- In addition to her current stock Adhazabi Aba-daro the Golden will now also sell a selection of Anubic Distillates (e.g. Anubic Distillate of the Sapphire; or Anubic Distillate of the Fire Opal). These expensive items will be available for both gold and AP, will be BoP, and will change each week.
- Once you have the essences of each of the eight divines, you can use a distillate to combine them and produce a single Aedric gem. Aedric versions of each of the trait gems can be produced. (e.g. Aedric Sapphire). The gem produced is based on the distillate used.
- Aedric gems are tradable to other players.
- There is a new icon in the equipment crafting dialog (next to the improvement icon) called ‘Infuse’. Selecting the ‘Infuse’ icon presents you with a dialog similar to the improvement dialog where you can select any existing piece of equipment and an Aedric gem. Infusing an item with an Aedric gem changes the item’s trait to that of the gem used. The Aedric gem is destroyed in the process.
- In order to infuse an item, you must have reached level 50 in the relevant craft, be at maximum skill rank in that craft and have mastered all 9 traits for the item you wish to infuse.