Assuming they are 600 Expertise in their items. Many crafters who are PURE crafters dont want to do a 20-30min OPR, or ARENT 600 Expertise… Also what system do you propose in place to determine “Max Crafters”. Nearly everyone I know is a “Max Crafters” in the sense they have 200 skill.
The REAL “Max Crafters” in my book are the ones who have 6/6 Gear pieces as well as 3x Major trophies.
Having this tied to Umbral Shards really does nothing to address any of the other issues. It feels like a duct tape option where as it could have far reaching impacts, to boost other areas of the game. Azoth, Repair Parts/Kits, and Crafting Mods.
Having some “life” breathed into OTHER areas of the game, such as Portals, Elite Zone runs, etc. Can keep those activities alive. Once a server stops getting new players, and those existing players get their GS up above 600, people will just stop doing most open world stuff. Will stop doing Elite Zones, Portals, etc.
Why not put some value back into those activities? Portals? Yeah, we need the Azoth for reforging gear. Elite Chest Runs? Yeah we need the repair parts and crafting mods for re-rolling gear. All the crappy gear pieces we get from doing mutations? Yeah, we need the repair parts for re-rolling gear. Etc.
Leave Umbral for upgrading GS. We dont need more “Umbral Sinks”. We DO need sinks for other items in the game, that we currently dont really have (Azoth, Repair Parts/Kits, Un-wanted Mods).