in my opinion, players should be able to create anything equal to that fond or looted. this insures player interaction and causes smiths or other tradesmen to compete for prices.. also all those steps to make an item.. come on... trades should not be a time sink.. they should be interesting to do. the same formula should work with all pieces. want to make some chain mail? take some ore (baught in a store or loot from rock creatures) add some water and a smithing hammer in a forge and now you have metal pieces. take those pieces and file them into rings. now fasten the rings together to make a coat. all these steps should be able to be done in mass quantaties.. just have the skill timer based. the more you try to make the longer you must remain still or the longer you stay in an encumbered state at low stats. you want to make a weapon like a sword or something.. to make a blade you would hammer a few ore blocks into a sheet. take the sheet and fold it over to the blade. take another block and melt it down and poor it into a hitl and pumle mold.... then all you would have to do is forge the individual pieces together.. to make higher quality weapons, enchant the ore before forging it. or maybe use higher quality ore.
all this ,,,,having to go mine irone, then mine tin, then mine coal... just to make a silly bar of metal....thats a time sink and only a slight few would spend their hours on line doing such tasks. keeping a few steps in the making of an item is good.. but there is such thing as too much of a thing....
