oh yeah, the title says it all ...
After playing a while (since the closed beta started), I thought a lot about the game and what's missing. And there's ONE thing that's really missing. For me. and the following is only my opinion and it's not meant to be an offence in any way.
My opinion is, that EVERYTHING someone does, should be rewarded in one or another way.
Some examples:
.) Gathering plants/herbs - There should be a knoeledge-"scale" for each plant from 1 to 100 - and with each step, you get better in gathering this specific plant/herb. And maybe you get a bit more yield when reaching 25%, 50% aso. 100% should be reachable only in months. So it should take a really, really long time for us players to be a "master gatherer of Nightshades". For example.
.) Gathering wood - the same like gathering plants/herbs, but by getting better and better, maybe we could get some wood which has better "quality" - for better staffs aso. This would be much more rewarding then the actual "get wood" task. Because ... it's boring and it has absolutely NO long term motivation.
.) Gathering metal - Again the same like the other two. And in the end more yield or being faster in doing so. The gems are quite nice to get - that's a good reward.
.) Gathering stone - Again the same like the other three. And there should be different types of stone (lime, granite, sandstone aso..) - and different qualities. Only the high qualities can be used for special figurines to provide a buff or whatever. Just a suggestion.
.) Gathering and collecting things from mobs - Again the same like the other four. And with knowledge comes much more variety in loot. And yes, by battling foes, our knowledge increases and we learn about the attributes aso. from this foes. There should be a huge difference in battling a spider with 0% knowledge and 100% knowledge. Actually it is not enough difference. For me.
I think all of this together could make some long time motivation for most of the players.
And - to prevent any misunderstandings - this are just suggestions and my opinions. Nothing more.