Originally Posted by
Oscillate_Wildly
Pretty sure some of the lower ranked recipe changes were to make gear more obtainable for lowered ranks, such as cotton gear. With the parts missing, it's easier to make your own or to sell a ton of them cheaply for lower ranked DoW/M.
I'm almost certain that, due to Yoshida's large crafting post, those changes were for lower ranked recipes. Not all of them.
So the argument that required rank is exclusively hurting crafters is a load of BS. Of course you'd naturally rather go for mid-rank items, but having a required rank isn't going to automatically make everyone go out and buy r12 shirts. Although it might if there are going to be EXP changes in the near future.
Although It'd probably have people going nude until they were able to equip mid-rank items. Which others have admitted they'd do.