Currently, and in particular at end-game, people use, mostly, world dropped gear. As someone had pointed out previously, this makes crafting obsolete. That being said, I do understand the importance of such a mechanic since it's the most common activity that players do when they reach end-game, farming for gear.

Not only crafting becomes of no importance but also all those motifs we've collected along the way do too. The enormous plethora of aesthetics with which with could imbue our characters is suddenly gone, as we are forced to use gear with pre-set styles. For some of us, it is important not only to be effective but also look good while doing it.


So my suggestion is to add an option to REPLICATE dropped gear.
This could be done by adding a replicate tab in the crafting window, which would allow a crafter to do a similar copy of any given gear the player has in the inventory or bank, granting the same set bonus, the same trait, the same level, but using the materials needed to do the same level gear, given that the player has the skills to craft the gear for that level, with that trait, but the player could CHOOSE THE STYLE used.

So that the grind for gear isn't affected, the original gear would be destroyed in the process (much like as it happens in researching). Not only that, but the resulting gear would also be of "common" quality, meaning that people would have to spend additional tempers to bring it back to its improvement level. And this shouldn't be an immediate process but take some time, like 24 to 48 hours.

To be able to replicate a gear it would be needed a new skill in the crafting trees, and people would have to use a couple of extra SP if they wanted to do it. It seems to me obvious that any SP spent would reduce the time it would take to replicate a gear or how many replications could be done simultaneously.

I believe take this mechanic would keep the current gear farming alive, while allowing players to choose how they look and giving a use to all the motifs they collected, while having some negative implications so that it isn’t simple but rather forcing the player to choose if he would spend all the materials and time just to change the way he looks.
I almost forgot. The case of Monster Sets. Being such a unique item, I don’t think this mechanic should apply. They should remain as is.

There is another way to do the same but considering how the game works I believe people at ZOS would be less inclined to choose this one. Instead of replicating there would be an EXTRACTING option. Instead of replicating, the player would extract any given set bonus and trait (both must be tied so that the farming would continue).
The extracted item should be level bound too, but a crafter could then use it to craft the piece of gear with any style he chooses, for that level.
Just to clarify the same Bind on Equip or Bind on Pick Up rules of the original gear would apply to replicated or extracted and then crafted gear so it doesn’t affect the economy or power level of the game.
This would have one of two implications. Or the player has a character that can craft to use this mechanic or there would be a way for the player to exchange bound equipment with a crafter that can make it but cannot use the gear.

I have no idea how itemization works, but I think it shouldn’t be too hard to implement.

ZOS please consider any of this options. Thank you.