Well since I noticed that repairing gear is very costy and is in constant need.. and it makes the need of tribute pretty high.. how about a blacksmith building.. make it for example drop the ammount of tribute needed to repair a certain percent lower.. of course every upgrade would drop it or something.. just like 10/20/30% or something for example.. just to cut it by half or 1/3rds would help.. that's the more ideal than making it work on shards or ingredients.. maybe do a little delay on the repair depending on the ammount of workers or similar.. just throwing thoughts out.. consider it ^^

Edit: this should apply only to durability.. not divine composition.. tribute items should be divine comp.. imo..

It's a nice idea, but check the thread in my signature for another one. Implementing repairs with the current crafting system.