Don't forget the 2 biggest reasons I and any new players can't make a lot of gear: The recipes take waaaay too long to make and a large majority of low level items will need high level parts. Shouting for a crafter doesn't work all the time. It took me about 30 minutes to make a hempen acton someone had asked me to make for their newbie friend.
Also since it seems not many people caught it:
The "all crafted gear will become required-rank" was a miscommunication on the devs' part. They meant that all crafted gear that involves materials that drop from a NM will become required-rank gear (ie: Dodore Doublet, Silver Tricorne, etc)