Not sure if this has been suggested but one thing I'd like to see that's totally doable (I would think) is...
Extend the current animation for crafting to armor and weapons repair. Maybe something specific is planned for repairs, but for now, it shouldn't be to hard to apply the existing crafting animation when repairing. One benefit of this is for those standing around the plaza repairing weapons...this would signify they are doing something rather than just standing around with a weapon drawn.