I dont know if you played last patch, but there was the homogenising orb which allowed you to slam a mod with a tag same as one you already have

It made creating items far too easy

I think a homog orb that worked like the catalysing orb would be a happy balance

You can still deterministially craft with things like an iLvl75 Gloam Amulet.

I agree more determinism would be better, but there are very few crafts where you can completely brick it mid-craft... You can always safely get 4 mods, and very often you can also get the 5th and/or 6th without any risk. Doesn't mean it isn't expensive though, and some different strategies that have a little more RNG to them could actually be better because on avg you might brick a few items but you'll still hit in less currency than crafting it the proper way.

Homogs were a little overtuned probably, but my favorite thing about them was it forced you to really plan and solve the puzzle of how to craft whatever item you wanted so tags wouldn't get messed up.

Ohhhhhhhh, yes.

I would love something like this too.
While I don't mind gamblecrafting in the campaign it really sucks when I am tweaking my build after level 70-80.

I recently had already posted an idea like this (in the GGG feedback forum) and will gladly add it here.
The idea could be tweaked quite easily I think to be equivalent of "x-many divs found in playtime X".

Also it would finally allow for players a path to not to care tooooo much about magic find on gear.

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Here my base idea:

You can find realm gate shards for entering a "Path to success".

Imagine it simply as a mini-atlas of just 3 waypoints.

On the first starting point you have to give it two things:

1. one uncorrupted T16 map with max mods
2. the item you want to have the specific new mod added to.

Lets say you want "x% increased speed" on the boots you have.

• If they are not yet at max mods then that would just get added
• If they are already at max mods you can simply select which one to replace
• The tier of this could still be RNG, but not low tier.

Now when you activate this the item gets locked away and you have to complete all three waypoints to get your item back with the item mod set as selected/wished by you.

If you die the run ends and the item plus T16 map is lost.

Each waypoint runs the same map you set at the beginning, but with the following changes:

1. 1st: Just the map as-is
2. 2nd: +1 to monster level
3. 3rd: Waystone gets corrupted

And finally you get to the custom boss of this encounter. Defeating this guy drops the item you set and with the mod you specified.

The three maps DO NOT provide gold, currency or item drops. Only XP is gained.

You cannot teleport out unless you want to end the run - which would lose the item, shards and waystone invested.

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Looking at how much playtime would have to be invested to purposefully craft a full item with this method makes me regard it as a viable alternative to orb spamming. And the risk involved also feels pretty solid for the payout.

I most certainly would find a purposeful and directionally clear goal to achieve much better.

I dont know, i find poe2 crafting way easier than PoE1. The only problem right now is having to spam orbs for everything. Essences can mitigate some of that, but i dont get why different tiers of the same essence have different equipment they can affect. That being said, they should get rid of tiered currency (because it only bloats the game, spamming chaos 1 is the same as chaos 3), and make some omens more common. The price of crafting is the only thing holding people back from trying it, the process itself is easy and satisfying

The current system of "source 20 x the exact correct type of base, gamble them all the same way and hope one might hit right, and then do that for every piece of gear you want" is just so unimaginative.

I don't do crafting other than basic orbs and essences, I value my time too much to do the chaos spamming. I am still not sure if I want crafting to be more accessible, I play Diablo 4 as well, and there you have a horrible example of RNG-less and brainless crafting. It is just not fun. Increasing drop rates of crafting omens a bit probably wouldn't hurt the game though. And for ssf, it would be really benificial