Low level Crafting game

I would love to seen the developers (either here or in Announcements) lay out the current philosophy for the low level crafting game. We are seeing a bunch of recent changes and previous (possible) false starts and (I at least) are getting a bit confused.

Back in the good old days we could count on some low level tasks to get us started in a school. Yes, they were a bit primitive and a grind, but they boosted our initial level rather quickly (past the very slow XP phase). Then we saw the NT blacksmith get fancy with tasks that were more fun and actually gave us some cash and formula.

Now, we are starting to see starting tasks (and in some cases the low level trainers) go away. It seems Mining/Gathering tasks are gone for good and we have lost Standish and his low level tinkerer tasks. Is this a trend?

I am not necessarily asking for the master plan, but only a sense of the current direction. And I am most certainly not expecting any schedule commitments. However, it would be nice to know where the game is headed.

I have no idea what the Devs have in mind, but I can quickly give you my impressions of lowbie crafting at the moment:

1) Crystals from the saris ghosts and later the zombies on NT from levels 1-10 are SO much faster, easier, and more fun than actually crafting. This completely leapfrogs the original starter quests that give formulae rewards. I find myself zipping up to level 12, then going to the trainers and cursing the next many hours spent doing quests that give little XP just to get the formulas that are hit-and-miss on the consigner.

2) Selling low-level gear is an iffy prospect. Every newbie starting player needs silvers. Yet there's not many ways to get silvers. Placing your wares on the consigner may or may not result in them selling. I guess many just don't have the patience to buy some items today, some tomorrow, some next week. I can understand. For some, next week's needs will already be beyond this week's.

But if someone shouts in marketplace for something, and you provide it, it's very typical to never get offered payment for it. There's a big tradition of experienced folks helping newbies for free (which is great), but there's just too many newbies (and a few elders), who don't realize the level 22 crafter helping you out is the highest character that player has.

So there's a huge motivation to get past Tiers I and II as fast as possible. The very lowbie quests aren't as much fun as leveling with crystals, and there's very little reward for actually crafting at those levels for anyone but yourself and your friends.

My opinion is that lowbe craft quests in the levels 11-20 or levels 21-30 range would be a lot more interesting, and make the work somewhat less monotonous. Maybe quests found in main cities that send workers out to some appropriate resource fields (which will actually inform people where to find the stuff they need).

One thing I would like to add about low-level crafting/etc, is that the gather rate is so painfully.... slow.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1..... ugh. It can take 10 minutes to fill a 1000 bulk max pack, and when you finally drag it to the smelter/saw/whatever, you find that you can only make 20 processed resources. Heh. Those 20 processed resources will only do what, 3-4 finished items?

Once you get to where you can get 4s and 5s from Tier I, it is okay; it will only get better, and you can pick and choose which tier of resources to go after (choosing not to do anything Tier II until you're 3:1 is usually considered very wise), but when you first start out -- especially with NO cargo disk -- it is quite boring to sit there getting 1s and barely budging the meter when you do a full load (which only allows you to make 3-4 pieces of armor/weapon/tool).

I never thought of spamming crystals for XP, but it does make sense. Otherwise, the only real way to get any crafting XP whatsoever until teens, is to get someone else to donate about an hour or so, digging up Tier 1 for you, so you don't have to sit through the 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1s. Even 15 minutes from a Tier 3+ character will zip you along several levels in one lump sum.

I think the devs should give considerations of speeding up the gathering curve -- make Tier 1 easier/faster to master (maybe 100 skill instead of 200 to get 2:1 with Tier 1 resources and/or Max Gather rate), and also... please... give us Refurbished Cargo Disks for sale from an NPC. Nothing is more frustrating than getting to Level 5 in your first craft, and there are no cargo disks on the NT Connie (or you have no money -- see above), and it is starting to take _forever_ with your measly 1,000 bulk max.