I kinda thought the magazine system was interesting at least. It's just that...tedium, frustration, all these other things need to be balanced. They need to have a sane, practical reason for existence. :V
Also, did any of you ever end up giving my arcana mod a try? I kinda...put a lot of love into cooking up the implied lore behind the major books, items, and sites. I kinda hope it at least is still functional. What about gaining arcana skill from the books? That was the expected method of developing skill, not endlessly crafting with difficult-to-acquire items.