I once suggested that repair canisters should be made a timed buff. Now I’d like to suggest that certain boosters are given the somewhat opposite treatment and are instead given charges. It would remove the imposed limit of needing to perform a specific action for the entire duration of the boosters to gain their maximum potential.
The numbers below are just examples.
Magic Find
The next 250 enemies killed where magic find is considered should expend one charge until the booster is exhausted.
Gathering
Rather than an imposed time limit that wont give you its value, this booster should be good for the next 250 nodes gathered.
Crafting
The next 250 masterwork (rare?) or greater items crafted will expend a charge until the booster is exhausted.
This would give the player freedom to switch up their play style and still benefit from boosters. For example, maybe someone only wants to craft for 20 minutes, then go PvE for a bit and return to their crafting later. The current boosters are impractical for this purpose. Similarly, with the magic find booster one is compelled to stay out in the field and continue killing until the timer runs out. Being able to spend some time in the cities, do a dungeon, hang around a bit, then do some PvE or WvW would greatly enhance the ways the booster could be used.
The numbers can obviously be balanced to make sense, but I definitely think that people would feel more compelled to enable boosters if they did not feel obligated to perform specific tasks for a specific amount of time as a result.
It would also encourage the mix and match of boosters. For example, one could enable a crafting, gathering, and magic find booster. One would no longer have to compromise between killing and gathering, and if desired, one could take a break to go crafting before returning and claiming the last of the bonuses.
Think of the possibilities.
