only Raise3 is too expensive too buy for a casual player. but who cares, its not like it would ever effect you (reraise3 is cheap). get utsusemi from the bcnm it takes 3 people and is incredibly easy (and great gil to buy your other stuff).

af3+2 is not hard to get, you take 6 people who all can get online together and go get your stuff. the reason it gets hard is when people get greedy and dont share the loot or leave after they are done with their stuff (that's why you have linkshells).

i had all weapons for War up to 200+ before the easier skillups, its not hard. stop paying to leech XP and actually PLAY during book burns. you'll skill up just in time for 70-75 and abyssea invites and you can cap your skills doing endgame stuff. stop whining, cop was horrifying before the cap (still got it done) but nothing else is hard. i leveled pup and blm recently through book burns and abyssea; pup20-90 and blm45-90 in only two weeks (including all pup AF1 some af3+1, and most Blm af1).

test server is not as fun as the real game, but it is fun to play jobs before putting actual effort into leveling them.