Questions Concerning Crafting and End-Game

Crafting in this game is presented as an alternate path of advancement for those who want to make it their thing, rather than a submenu for a combat character like basically every other MMO. How true is this? If I so choose, can I make my end-game revolve around outfitting the guild's raiders as they go off and kill dragons while they in turn bring me recipes and materials for roughly drop equivalent gear? Or is it like in most other MMOs where aside from furniture and leveling gear, crafting brings little or nothing to the table?

I understand that loot pinata drops have to be better than most crafted gear, otherwise there is much less incentive to raid. I just want to know if all the time spent leveling the crafting skills, learning to make better and better implements of war, and honing my skills over long hours will allow me to make weapons worthy of felling mighty beasts or just a rather lovely lamp and nightstand to go with that bed.

Imo crafting is just a way to make $$... unless leveling a new class then you can gear as u go. But as for endgame nothing beats endgame gear you obtain n not craft

Short answer: You're probably going to be disappointed.

Long answer: Outside of a few specific cases, the loot pinatas are too effective to make crafted gear worth the trouble. When a new patch hits, crafted gear might help people pushing the bleeding edge gear up a little more quickly (and a lot more expensively), until gear from drops/tokens overtakes it (depends on the patch and the gear and what they've already got). Or if someone has just hit level 50 and has tons more money than time, crafted gear can let them jump iLevels to get into more content faster. There are also a few cases where fully melded crafted gear (pretty much just accessories) can help someone tweak different stats (e.g., tanks trying to push more STR instead of VIT). If you've got friends in those situations, you could (maybe) help them save some gil. For most players, it's not at all necessary and would at most be a temporary perk.

There are the relic quests, where everyone needs a specific crafted weapon with two specific materia attached, but the materia are (generally) the expensive part of that, and you really can't do much about those.

I see. Thanks for the replies!