It seems for me that crafting in this game tends to blow alot out of other games out of the water. Breaking stuff down into it's possible components beats having to build 500 of one thing and 200 of another just to get your skill up..

Its too bad we can't have more than one skill though (like, within arms, we could get 2 of the three options instead of just 1)

Thoughts?

Crafting in CO sort of divides people. 

Not being a hardcore crafter in MMOs, I think the system is pretty well done and fits in with the superhero theme.  It's easy to level crafting just in the normal course of play, which is what I like about it - I don't have to go out of my way to craft, and it's a fun little diversion from combat.

OTOH hardcore crafters dislike the system for the same reason - for them it's not enough of a minigame, and a bit "pointless" (especially from the interdependency/economy point of view). 

Another problem is that (last time I checked) some of the Adventure Pack Blue drops (Serpent Lantern and Demonflame) have made the high end crafted Purples weaker and pointless to craft, which rather takes the wind out of the sales of high end crafting, especially since the Purples do require significant farming of UNITY missions to get the recipes, and significant farming for some of the mats.

They might have changed this since f2p though, dunno.

I enjoy crafting in CO, it is not a must but still things you might want to do. For me:

Grindy:

Crafteable travel powers (maximum grind)

Crafteable action figures(non combat pets) for collectionists. Some of them are pretty nice.

Crafteable gear with costume pieces unlocks

Casual:

Consumables

Devices

Power replacers

So it depends on your playing style.