It's a pretty cruel joke SE played by getting people to invest 3+ months per class of red scrip into the i180 gear, only to turn around and have it be almost completely unsuitable for 3-star crafting, unless supplemented by well-melded i170 gear and/or specific foods that don't give any CP, even with the Specialist bonus. I thought for sure that the i180 sets would be taken into account and that my melds were total overkill, only for it to turn out that I don't even meet the requirement without a Specialist soul.

I can only assume that this means that Thursday's hotfix is going to include pretty substantial upgrades that will bridge that gap, but I'd be pretty crushed if I weren't one of those people insane enough to cover my bases by leveling up a couple of alts to cover all eight specializations.

It's a shame, too, because for a person in my situation, this is probably the most exciting patch that crafting has ever seen, but nobody should have to put in that kind of work just to be able to fully participate.