My issue with crafting is a bit different. I'm not so much bothered by inadequate recipe ranks or durability loss/elemental instability, it's something different. I apologise about the long post, but here goes....

I agree that it's not an afk-fest like in most MMOs out there, different yes, but I wouldn't call it 'best ever' or even good for that matter.

Here's why; I can't say I've encountered a single person since release that genuinely enjoys focused crafting as their primary class. When I say focused I mean people who chose crafting professions as their primary, dominant, ones. People that they're actually engaged with crafting in XIV, rather than watching a film on TV while pressing enter/confirm.

That's the issue I have with crafting. I can't say I hate it as it is, but I'm certain I don't really like it either. I like that you actually need a certain degree of skill and gear setup to craft successfully, especially if going after HQ results. It's better than just leaving your PC on afk mode, but I cannot stand in its defense when the majority of people who are primarily crafters go on autopilot and spam confirm all the time. Why is that so much different, or 'better' than having afk crafts like some other games? However, I do think that the system, as it is, does function well for the casual crafters. The thing is though, in XIV, unlike in other MMOs, crafting professions are not just a side job. They're (supposedly) equals with DoW/DoM/DoL.

For casual crafters, if you do a couple of local leves and grind-craft for an hour every other day it's not as bad, but reaching the cap is a whole different issue (incomparably slower to ranking battle classes), and I think the same applies to Disciples of the Land, while we're at it. And sure, grinding up battle classes with leves or grind groups isn't the most fun thing to do either, but I don't want to stray from the topic too much.

I just feel ridiculous when I hear people say that they love crafting but then go around saying 'Oh god I have 500 fish to turn into crystals. Going into robot mode for an hour talk to you later' or they keep saying how they're falling asleep when they craft :/

I can't really think of a smart way to 'fix' it, don't think the devs can either. The two things on top of my head would be; Allow automated/afk-crafts for recipes 10 or 15 ranks below yours, or improve the reward factor by making progress faster (by increasing sp gain).

Then there's the issue with lenghy crafting animations and too many clicks involved per single craft, and Hasty Hand will only get you so far, which I think still persists, even though they somewhat reduced the clicking through menus.

I loved crafting in mostly any other MMO I've played. I loved leveling it just so I could be able to wear different clothes than the majority of players. It's a silly reason but I got fun out of it, but XIV just makes my brain go numb, many times over, before I get to that point.

With all this in mind, I can't say I blame people for botting really. I reckon they're reasoning is 'I could sit for 2-3 hours in one spot just pressing confirm, or I could go do something else that's more fun with my time while the bot does the work'. And you shouldn't need to read a book or watch TV while you're 'playing' a game in the first place SE makes new and bit more elaborate systems, to make them more fun and to prevent RMT from easily operating, but I don't think they fully explored all the aspects of them. Or their perception of what fun is might be quite different o_O Need to find a better balance between time spent versus reward factor I'd say.

Anyhow, if you've read through all this congrats, your patience ranked up to R40, at least!