Quote Originally Posted by Bishop81 View Post
I don't see how that will break the economy.

High prices will normally cause an increase in supply until it comes down. If supply stays low due to natural scarcity then everyone is in the same boat - could be intentional on SE's part; you can only afford to level one DoH.
The economy as a whole isn't exactly broken, but the high cost of materials do make things expensive for everyone. The problem is that specialists have a significant disadvantage when it comes to even leveling that one DoH. This is due to the market for intermediate products.

This is what I've observed:

Scrips and leves don't provide much of a return in gil, so all crafters need to make a significant investment up front. However, an omni-crafter can significantly reduce the cost by buying/farming raw materials, crafting the intermediate products, and then crafting the final products, which can then be handed in. They can also recover their investments quicker due to the higher margins they can sell a final product for. Generally, omni-crafters do not sell intermediate products, leaving the supply of these products mostly to crafters who desynth gear (expensive) and sell the materials. There aren't enough raw materials and sellers to keep the costs low like they were in 2.0.

Specialists, on the other hand, have to purchase these intermediate products at a premium, making the investment considerably larger than that of an omni-crafter. They also have a disadvantage when it comes to recovering their investment due to lower margins. It's still possible, but they'll likely have to sell truckloads of products or get their materials through private trades.