Also, Mike, maybe instead of crafting gear (because there would be need for constant updates to this with each patch they could put in the following 2 professions that once in would not need to be updated as often

Gear Enhancements: uses the harvested green/purple/pink material from items to enhance your gear
  • green enhancements would be +2 Dex/Int/Str or +4 mana/health regen
  • purple enhancements would be +4 Dex/Int/Str or +0.5% dodge/crit or +6 mana/health regen
  • Pink enhancements would be +6 Dex/Int/Str or +0.75% dodge/crit or +/-5% threat or +8 mana/health regen


Alchemist
  • green would be 1x health/mana potions
  • purple would be 5x health/mana potions or 1x 15m elixir
  • pink would be 15x health/mana potions or 1x 30m elixir


Maybe you would have to choose between a Enhancer or an Alchemist, but you can't be both (further uniqueness to each character). Any gear that you have enhance that you put in the CS have the enhancement removed. There may be a 1x plat cost for a special material that needs to be used to make each purple/pink enhancement/elixir. This would allow a revenue stream for STS and go with my initial suggestion of removing the ability to purchase potions/elixirs/gear except from merchants in towns.


On that last note, there should be Pet vendors throughout the world that sell different pets, so that you actually need to play into the game to get to the vendor to buy your Malison, etc.