I started this thread after a lengthy reply to someone else's thread that mutated into this one. Easy enough.

Smithing and Crafting skills should be divided up but binded together in certain ways.

Fletching should be a skill and bow stringing should be part of it. It would be cool if you weren't a smith as well, you couldn't make metal bows. You could give the reagants and materials to local smiths and they could make the bow part for you but you have to use the fletching skill to string it. Different bowstring materials could have different effects, no "bullet drop", fire damage, frost damage, first shot knockdown, etc. And smith characters who were not also fletchers would have to have their created bows strung by someone else with the skill. Of course again, the player provide materials and reagants.

I feel it could add depth to the crafting part of the game and make it a little more time consuming to craft certain items/stop rapid power leveling. The idea could be expanded on by separating jeweling from smithing as well. Certain weapons and armors could require the expertise of a jeweler to add any embellishment and finishing to weapons and armors. Including enchanted jewels that could either be found during questing and exploring or be aquired from enchanters. Breaking the crafting skills up but making them reliant on each other for "epic" and "legendary" type items would for one, give the said items a much greater sense of awesomeness, it would also make leveling in your respected skill area more rewarding and slightly more time consuming.

I believe they would have to bring back the seven major skills system or make the perks in the related skills (smithing, jeweling, fletching, enchanting) very important to the advancement of the usefulness of the skills. i.e if you wanted to play a character that was a smith/fletcher/jeweler/enchanter, and you wanted to be able to craft the "epic" and other higher level items all by yourself, you would have to have lots o perks attached to each of those trees. While of course this could be a completely viable character, the major investments in the crafting skills would leave your other skills (weapons usages, block, archery, etc.) somewhat suspect. I think it would be cool but I am a dork so who knows.

I personally love the idea of fletching and creating bows and arrows through that skill. Would make my hunter more of a hunter. I mean why should my hunter not know how to make bows, but know how to smith armor? (just me trying to stick to my character lol)

guess it's just you and me lol