Pick up EVERYTHING > Sell to NPC > do PTJ > do Commerce > Run from bandits if it's too much to handle. Eventually you're in Dunbarton crafting with a party that says B>Finest Leathers. You may NEVER see things like the Soluna Blade in a permadeath server but if someone has it, you know they went through a lot to get it.
First of all, plenty of people do that. It is not a feasible idea with how you have it set up. Your server would be emptier than the pvp arenas.
Have you ever ranked Magic Craft, Blacksmithing or Engineering? Those skills are beasts to rank, master and dan in general. You're not going to have crafters.
Is people not crafting really the weak pillar of my idea? I believe people would craft. (We could go back and forth forever on this.) You're not explaining how it's not feasible. Yes, those specific life skills are incredibly tedious but if no one wants to max out those skills, the server simply won't have access to items crafters of that level could make.
-Everyone doesn't need to be able to max out every single skills.
-Doing that would be incredibly challenging
-The server doesn't need R1 Dan 3 Crafters
-If someone DID make it to R1 Dan 3, maybe they should leave the gathering to combat oriented players/ be escorted if they really want to Hillwen mine or gather shyllien.
Like I've said a lot earlier, this would be a different experience. Familiar yet different. Thinking about a things from a normal server perspective might not work. In a normal server players might ram their against a roadblock until it breaks but on a hardcore server you would have to think, be cautious, not be greedy, and it would be optional. Being social would be valuable. Guilds would be valuable. Party play would be valuable.