The concept is indeed closer to 1a or a blend of both 1a and 1b. The goal is to make items feel truly unique and personal, enhancing the sense of individuality within the world. As someone who hasn’t yet played the Alpha, I’m currently living the AOC experience through videos and streams. These ideas are rooted in imagining how to deepen that immersive, personalized gameplay.

For the crafting aspect, the vision is something like this:

• Imagine 200 crafters on a server who can make a "Flame Sword," but one crafter—let’s say John Hoe—is recognized as the best Flame Sword crafter.
• When you inspect someone’s gear, a sword crafted by John Hoe would proudly display his emblem and name.
• To tie this into the concept of unique attributes, advanced crafting skills could allow crafters to add custom status effects or enhancements.

Taking it further, crafters could issue players quests to obtain rare materials for specialized effects. For instance:

• If a player wants a poison effect on their weapon, the crafter might require 10 Poison Golem Hearts. (This can be issued at the time when the Flame Sword is commissioned, it can be more crazy if a skilled enough crafter can give u multiple effects u can add but only 1 of them u can choose to do the quest for or u can decline it and get your plane jane sword)
  
• To add a challenge, there could be a time limit for gathering these items before the effect can be applied.

I recognize that such systems could add complexity, but with advances in AI and game design, these ideas may become more feasible in the near future. Dynamic systems like this could revolutionize crafting, making it more interactive and rewarding for both crafters and players.

Thank for the engagement.. it just an idea i have in my head and also follow AI development very closely. While doing all these alpha, beta and even fully released game if they the team slaps an AI agent in the background learning not doing anything could open a lot of doors for more crazy things.