Will weapon crafting evolve to fix vault space and collections?
I am hoping that weapon crafting will evolve to the point where crafted weapons end up being "the chase" instead of random rolls. I'm not saying that random rolls should go away, but rather crafted weapons become the primary focus.
To fix vault space issues crafted weapons need the ability to have multiple perks per column. That allows each weapon to be crafted with a PvE and a PvP focused roll. I'm open to how many perks per column should be allowed, but obviously a minimum of 2. Ritual weapons already have this, so it's not a stretch to allow this on crafted weapons too.
With weapon crafting Collections should be where we access patterns at the Enclave. This gives Collections a purpose and eliminates the current Patterns UI component.
For this to truly fix vault space we need Collections to maintain the XP level per weapon so when we craft a weapon it has that XP level. This allows players to delete weapons without loosing all the XP dumped into a weapon. Crafting a new weapon would still require materials to apply perks, but at least we wouldn't need to re-grand the XP level of the weapon.
Anyway, just some random thoughts.
EDIT: Some more thoughts for clarification.
I was originally envisioning that the crafting screen would have the ability to unlock at least one additional row of "sockets" so you could select another perk to be available in every column. Unlocking this extra row of sockets could be tied to the XP level of the weapon. You get the weapon to level XX and the 2nd row of sockets becomes available. Slotting the perks in the 2nd row would have the same perk costs as they do in the 1st row of sockets. There is no need to increase those costs.
I would also have it be optional to slot a perk in the 2nd row, meaning if you only wanted an extra perk in one column then you only have to pick the one perk you want.
Then, once you craft the weapon with your desired perks in both rows those perks are then available to switch between for free just like any other legendary weapon that has multiple perks per column.
If we could change the perks whenever we wanted for a decent price anywhere we want (or for cheap/free but only at the relic) as long as we have the perks unlocked. It could be possible.
We'd have fewer weapons we would need to keep since there aren't that many archetypes and it would eventually come down to aesthetics.
Do you want the 140 kinetic vanguard HC or the Gambit one, they'd be functionally the same but would look and sound different and you would only really need to craft one and invest time in it to have a favorite 140 HC instead of multiple ones for different situations.
You wouldn't need multiple rolls of multiple weapons and even if you wanted both those HCs you'd only need one of each because they would both have access to the same perk pool and it would mostly be a collector thing.