Quote Originally Posted by -BlueGreen- View Post
Besides, at these prices, how is this sustainable? Is this SE's way of endorsing the gil sellers? I can't think of any other way for this kind of gil to enter the economy for "most players" to use this stuff to gear up for entry level raiding. Going based on what I've seen before with prices, these will crash once they're obsolete and therefore won't do anyone any good for entry level raiding.
The problem with your economy is almost certainly due to a low number of Endgame Crafters on that server. Either your server is small and a few people are holding a monopoly, the market isn't Crafter-friendly (Low mat costs, plentiful amounts listed, etc.), or others have taken the exact same stance you about the Specialist system.

The best explanation I can honestly give you is that since the start of 3.0 SE has been trying to appeal to all types of Crafters, including HC Crafters, but the Crafting Endgame for the past 6 months has been lackluster at best with no real motivation to improve gear other than self satisfaction. Now that Crafting gear is viable those who put off gearing their Crafters for the past 6 months are struggling due to inflated costs and no preparation (I.E. Didn't save Red Scrips). Because of this the only players capable of mass producing 3*s are those who planned for the future and those who Craft for enjoyment and progression like myself, and the demand is much MUCH higher than the current supply.

I can't really find a non-Elitist way to say this, but the drastic changes to Crafting since HW release has effectively separated the HC Crafters from the Casual Crafters, and there is a VERY small number of HC Crafters even when compared to HC Raiders.