'I definitely wouldn't call Andromeda an open-world game' (Xbox Magazine info)

Yeah, I'm still waiting to play a game in which crafting doesn't suck, for the most part. I liked it reasonably well in TW3, but that's because it was pretty basic. I completed some fun quests in a fun-filled world, crafted my items from very specific schematics, and then forgot about it for another 10-20 hours.

If crafting were ever framed or presented correctly, from a narrative and mechanical perspective, I guess it could maybe not suck. I'm unconvinced, though, and suspect it simply isn't for me. While I think it definitely makes sense for crafting to be part of MEA, I wish that the background NPCs handled it, and just gave me the fruits of their labors. I have important stuff to do. Likely, the benefits of crafting will make it impossible to ignore.

I mostly ignored crafting in DAI, since the results were so damn ugly.

In TW3, I think I at least enjoyed the quests that led to the schematics, and then the materials. In DAI, I enjoyed the acquisition pieces less so. Still, they are essentially the same.

I'm not sure that I agree that "the Inquisitor (or Geralt) did none of the work," unless you mean he or she didn't actually pound the anvil and lay the lyrium. (Hell, that might've made it more interesting.) I fetched the schematics. I fetched the materials. I did all of the work, excepting the "fade to black" part. I have no desire to craft at all, basically.

My ideal crafting scenario would be something like the following. Driving along in the Nomad, passive sensors note a deposit of X. This info is passed along to relevant AI personnel. Later, since Pathfinders are the key personnel of the entire initiative, I now have access to slightly better resources. Swap passive drive-by sensors with Tempest planet-scanning (ME3 single-probe variety) for space scanning.

I don't mind schematics being more involved. We can pick those up from dead enemies; enemy strongholds; vaults; importable tech, such as huge machines that can be "hacked" for intel and data; etc...

I thought the ME2 approach to crafting was great. "Shepard, we have the ability to construct X at Y expense, if you see fit." The upgrade was then universally applied or available in the squad armory, as logic should dictate for a modern fighting force of any means. I don't look forward to MEA's version, if it's a step back from this, in terms of ease and internal logic.

I fully expect that the benefits of crafting will be too good to pass up, and I'll do the bare minimum needed to excel, as in DAI. Maybe I'll be wrong, and someone has finally invented a crafting system I will like, but I doubt. As I said, I suspect it just isn't my thing; and I wish it weren't such a popular feature of RPGs. On the bright side, at least the gameplay and world could prop it up even better than did TW3's.

You aren't horrible for it. Or at least I'm just as horrible, because I love this idea. It will be refreshing to have some of your team mates be upset with/dislike you on principle instead of always happy to see you. I'm sure it won't affect how they perform on the squad. If it does, I won't bring them along.

Didn't they handle that well in Inquisition? Cassandra was icy as fuck if she did not like the Inquisitor or their policies. Until you became her friend of course and got her to start approving of the things you do.

Hell if anything BioWare needs to do a better job of maybe having friendships where the people disagree with one another and do not especially care for some of your decisions but yet still like you and consider you a friend. (Kind of the rivalry system in DA II, but better).