The more I read and the more of the beta I play I am coming to realise that it would be unwise (and possibly end up being quite expensive) to totally ignore crafting. As such I'm thinking it may be worth creating dedicated crafting alts if we have the character slots available. My question therefore is how many slots are we likely going to have when the game goes live?

I believe they have said we will have 8.

That would be sufficient to make me do a little dance

10 as of the last patch.

IIRC

There is one point - to be able to be good crafter alt you need ot get skill points, to get all skill points you need top level character that can complete many dungeons and quests.

Just said.

I agree but at least in the early stages it would be overall beneficial to be ahead of the curve in crafting as you're levelling your adventurers without them having to use up skill points in crafting in order to get access to better gear?

I have 6 characters in the beta that are operating simultaneously and are all advancing at comparable rates. (That's character level and not crafting level.) Each one was initiated with the intent of focusing on one craft.

It turns out you can do that quite efficiently and it creates player generated content with each one doing their part and contributing to the group to support the associated demands for crafted items in return.

This is the same concept I will employ at EA. I will develope my alts first. That will grant me 4 slots to generate and deplete a never ending cycle of character creations. TBH, I doubt I will ever have more than 7 characters at a given time. 6 permanent alts and one main at a time.

You don't need to get ALL the skill points for crafting. Crafting doesn't really require a lot of skill points, so long as your main is doing the gathering for you.

The sticking point is actually gonna be accessing the set item benches But with a little help that should be doable for a lowbie.

And I could never do a crafting alt, because when I'm playing a character, I want that character to develop, and be happy, heh. Would not feel right about consigning em to permanent slave status

That's just me though.

Means tourism of alts is expected. I actually always liked when I had to take someone's alt or my alt to be part of some difficult raid. That gives some feeling that I can not do anything but I support my team.

I thought there are some crafting skills that require to have minimum level.

When I did alts they have always been some "slave" types as they could only work hard and never progress too much