@Kiara in regards to end-game crafted sets: I too remember the glory days of FFXI crafting an optical hat that my whole LS farmed for one of our rangers praying to any God that would listen that it didn't explode. Now, to be fair, that was a totally different kind of game but this is something I and many others have been stewing over since it was first stated that there was no way we'd be getting it...but why? Requiring raid drops like the abjuration system of FFXI would remove the fear of people pushing too far too fast and would allow for that precious horizontal progression we would all love. Additionally it would increase demand for materia (which is most effectively farmed by adventurer's) and create a real place for DoH in the overall hierarchy of the game outside of chintzy glamour gear. It could even be a rare drop that was still farmable after the loot lockout had been triggered allowing raiders to continue to challenge content outside of the once a week restriction which would keep servers more active and people more interested. Even for those who could only clear a1s, it would provide for a higher level of desire to push into advanced content which seems strangely uncommon as it stands. In addition to all of that it would also encourage more people to participate in the DoH classes in the first place (and they could even add in rare DoL components to this superior gear to bolster that crowd as well), unlocking a whole ton of content that not many people take advantage of these days. THAT is the kind of gear whole FCs would come together and push hard for.

@TechnoTechie: I would hardly consider Alex: normal a "raid". It can be easily pugged by anyone and was available well before the actual raid content was released. You can't realistically walk into alex: savage with Law gear on so really law gear was basically a toss-away stepping stone to the pre-raid puggable easy content that anyone and their mother has access to. Given the cost and difficulty of acquiring the crafted set why should it be Law level gear and not Alex: normal? Why can't I walk into a raid with a crafted set that is actually harder to acquire and only marginally better than the prototype gordian? TBH alex normal just seems like a distraction while they finished up making the real raid content. If they think alex normal deserves its place at the table then add a drop from that raid that's required to make the i190 set. All I can say is that I sincerely hope this new paradigm of i180 craft/tome > 190 proto gordian > eso > upgrade eso/gordian isn't their grand design for the 3.x series. For the love of god add some horizontal progression and give people a reason to push forward (everyone loves choices).