Originally Posted by
Gunspec
I guess it feels much worse for me, since I usually have high crafting levels in everything. For 1-50 battleleves, the pink gear was nice because you could equip it at -1 or -2 to level requirement compared to the crafted versions, and was basically like HQ + a few materia in terms of stats.
The amber items are literally the exact same as NQ crafted items. I have 10 battle classes left to level from 50-60, and I can give them HQ jewelry the whole way due to having a level 60 goldsmith. The aetherial items may have been random, but they were still useful for someone like me.