Resources...Crafting... Repairing...Identifying...Upgrading

Repair (more instant)
Craft These things take time... (especially for trying to imbue or upgrade rare and legendary items)
Craftsmen could be gods or deities that you need to win favor to craft
Dangerous Crafts (might explode or unleash  curses or side effects)
Multiple people (Swordsmith & Armorer and Mage) might need to mess with weapon

Resources
Souls
Get Ore
Farming Resources (Ore, skins, etc.) might require you to have special things equip
i.e. Pickaxe, "Soul Stones"

Sometimes you need to kill in a certain way to get resources
    stealth  backstab (cripple and kill without destroying armor, weapons)
    non-poison
    non magical (using magical attacks might curse or poison resources or cause them to explode
    for instance if you kill a fire golem with ice/water you get no drops with brimstone
        (in this way it makes the fight more difficult, but more rewarding)
    also, for people who routinely use "curse" "poison cloud" or "death cloud" or "acid cloud" type spells, note that it
    causes drops to be cursed, damaged, poisoned, etc. and to remove those effects may be difficult

sometimes you need to "disarm" things to get resources
   disarm traps
   poison plant/cactus
   fishing (net)
   tree axe

Identify
     some items can use identity scrolls
     ...some items require specialists (monks, mages, etc.) to help you identify
    ... some items are identified as "cursed/possesed" and will do you harm if you equip them
    ...you can equip unidentified items, but you get lessened effects (and they might harm you)
    ...sometimes the mage/monk/priest will tell you to bring an offering to a deity to uncurse
    ...some items only give you bonuses when they are "set up"
    ...some items will give you bonuses because you are of a specific race/type or have alegence to a specific god or deity (they are possessed and you need to be worthy of the gift)
Spirits to posses (trap souls into swords/armor)
crafted items
Set and Random Properties
Drops and combining
Items to help in craft (Red hot demons souls)
Items might "set up" meaning you might get a sword that conducts electricity and if you have other metallic items you get a bonus on damage
items might have modifiers based on Strength, Dexterity, Magic