This game ultimately feels demotivating to me

[BetaNotus]

So the more I think about it, the more I'm tempted to add new restrictions to help here. Not as limits, but as structure, rails to help players. For instance, maybe I should let you only pick one or two major crafting skills at a time. When you get a skill to 100 (or whatever), you can add another skill and start leveling that, but you have to focus on only a couple at a time until they're "done". Just one example idea.

I want the game to be very free-form and open, but I don't want to burn players out with a lack of direction and a lack of movement on their goals. It may seem paradoxical, but in MMO design, adding more restrictions is often the way to help players feel less frustrated and have more fun. If you have ideas about how to approach that, please share your thoughts!

I'm not a serious in-game craftsman by any definition, but I think the freedom to decide one day to stop gathering materials for Leatherworking and heading to <dungeon> to gather different materials for <other skill> is important to break up feelings of repetition in gameplay. I know in the past you mentioned subskills for crafting skills, giving examples such as Haberdashery (mentioned in patch notes on 6/19/16 as a skill that will take over crafting of tailored animal headgear). I think these sub-skills provide the solution, not as the rail tracks themselves, but as distant stations players will hope to someday visit. Taking it a step further, what if the endgame subskills were developed similar to Sushi Preparation? Sushi Preparation requires multiple skills to unlock, but not high levels in either prerequisite skill.

Suppose Blacksmithing caps at Level 80 or 100, then players must make a long-term choice. Will they specialize in the armorsmithing subskill, or weaponsmithing? Whichever they pick, the "get a skill to X level" proposal before they can work on the other applies. At the same time, the same choice applies to other crafting skills. Will the player specialize Tailoring into Haberdashery or Modiste? Will Leatherworking become Saddler or Cobbler? I think people would be more accepting to a limit on the number of these subskills, with players only being able to pick 2-3 of them at a time and 1 from any parent skill at a time.