I don't really see the current setup (where, with a Repair skill of 1, you can fix an item at 40/50 durability, but not 30/50 durability (without a Repair skill of 2)) as being unrealistic. I would expect a novice to sometimes run into something he can't fix. "That's too badly damaged and beyond my skill. I can't fix that; I'd probably do more harm than good. We need a professional.".
Or, are you talking about something else?
No, that's what I mean. It seems very strange to me that one extra nick in a dagger will cause the player to throw up his hands and say "well, I can't do anything with this anymore," when he could repair it easily just before. There's also the major "annoyance" factor that Hassat Hunter mentioned: "I'm not really that fond of the idea of having to repair constantly to prevent being able to repair at all, unless you spend 3+ points." So I guess that's why I'd prefer a system where even if you let your equipment go for a bit (also think: long battles!), at a given level of the repair ability, you can still always do something with it.
I think we're making some assumptions about the amount constant repair that's really going to be required. You might, for example, lose 5 durability over the course of a battle and have a range of 30 durability points between shifts in skill requirements. If that were the case, is expecting a player to do some checking on and maintenance on his gear once every 6 battles really that unreasonable?
I do think it's realistic to have a point where the problem (durability damage) exceeds ones skill to address (repair) it. At some point someone is going to run into something that is simply beyond their skill to repair. To the player, that line is a number (e.g. 170/200 vs 169/200), but the number simply represents an idea. In reality, 170/200 would lead to someone thinking
"I'm not sure if I can fix this.. it's badly damaged, but let's see what I can do.. (tense time passes). Whew, I managed to do it. That was really touch and go; let's not let it get that bad off again.". And 169/200 is the same speech, except the result is a failure.
"If only I had gotten around to repairing this a little sooner." It's not simply a matter of
"I got this easy-peasy" and
"sorry, that's impossible for me". The gradient takes place in the player's imagination.
The important thing here is that even without a huge investment in the Repair skill, you can still repair anything as long as you remain diligent. A higher Repair skill gives you the convenience and flexibility of more wiggle room, and lower cost (as you use the repair tool less often). But even a level 1 Repair skill is cheaper than allowing NPCs to repair it (as it should be), and can ultimately repair any item - provided you haven't let the quality degrade into oblivion through neglect.
But as for your points further above, I didn't realize Crafting could enhance a particular piece of equipment beyond its standard quality, without transforming it into a "new" piece of equipment - or can it?
I haven't checked in the beta, but in the alpha you could take a piece of armor and, through crafting, add extra resistances to it (crushing, slashing, etc). I think the armor value received a buff as well, but don't quote me on that last part.
