I'd love to be able to take up the alchemy skill tree without having to learn refining, and at first I thought this was possible, since refining is not a prerequisite of A1. As it turns out though, it kind of is, since there are no other ways of acquiring elements at the moment: they can't be auctioned. I don't like the idea that something that's not a skill-tree prerequisite must sit there, weighing down my total skills number when I want to have my skill tree streamlined in case any new advanced skills I want turn up...
Proposed solutions:
either 1) make elements auctionable, or 2) make refining 1 a prerequisite of A1.
Edit: renamed to make it clearer what I meant.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?