Propositions to address crafting/economic woes circa 3.0.

[Aeyis]

@1: That's not reasonable. Crafted gear has ALWAYS been 20 ilevels below strongest tome gear available. Currently the Esoretics i200 vs the crafted i180 is not a problem.

It kind of is.

S-E made it very clear from day 1 of ARR that crafted gear will NEVER be strongest in the game.

And that is the real issue. Making it below viable means it's not desirable. The only reason why they've sold in the past is for alt classes (with no time, or tomes already capped) or the greedy. (read: stupid)

Crafting is all about making interesting or powerful items. If you take away the option to make powerful items, that just leaves the interesting ones. Which in this game, due to lack of interesting effects comes down to just glamour, furniture, or bardings/pets.