The main problem is there's no benefit to doing anything but spamming standard in the current system to level up. Having a proper risk/reward system so you actually get a meaningful reward for higher quality/getting an HQ at the end of a synth would be a good start. Getting an HQ in the first place is so incredibly random and just forces you to spam craft to get a +anything. Having ~160q and getting a +2 and ~400-500q and get a NQ after touchups with identical XP for both is really silly.

Several good changes wouldn't even end up being that complicated. We've only been getting a more and more simplified system and removing what little benefits you had for getting better quality in terms of XP gains.