Why is crafting/gathering so difficult/grindy?

[Maeka]

When I talk about "time" to take crafting, I'm talking about the ridiculous numbers of materials.

Let's say a spear pops up on either GC or Scrip turn-in. I want to make said spear.

The spear requires, say, 3 ingots, a potion, two wood (most likely enchanted wood, which requires another potion), glue, leather, and some sort of bone/jewel/whatever.

I mean, seriously? The ingots also need nuggets. So..

3 Ingots = 6 synths, minimum. That's assuming the ingot only wants 1 nugget per.
Potion = I don't even know what goes into a Dissolvent.. but I'm willing to bet that's 3-4 synths.
Wood = 1 Synth per wood, 2 if it's enchanted (holy/hallowed/whatever)
Leather = 1
Jewel = 1

So you're looking at what, gathering at least 10 different materials and doing 12, 14, maybe 16 synths for ONE turn-in? You're talking a whole RL hour or more trying to procure all of these materials (or pay the absolutely ridiculous prices on MB for them).

It's just getting out of this world ridiculous.

And when it comes to leves... you get a piddly (at Lv58-ish) 150k out of an NQ turn-in. If you can HQ, you get 300k.

Meanwhile, three Moogle Quests is 1,500,000 XP and takes 10 minutes. But sadly, that's once per day.

[Frizze]

Potion = I don't even know what goes into a Dissolvent.. but I'm willing to bet that's 3-4 synths.

I can see why you would think this, but it actually isnt the case. As of this writing, all the grades of dissolvent/reisui are single synth products. They use a combination of mined botanied fished and hunted mats(some more annoying then others), but all mats are unrefined. Of course, since these ingredients are only ever used in combat gear you end up with plenty of other steps to go through.

[Synestra]

So you're looking at what, gathering at least 10 different materials and doing 12, 14, maybe 16 synths for ONE turn-in? You're talking a whole RL hour or more trying to procure all of these materials (or pay the absolutely ridiculous prices on MB for them).

I always keep finished materials stocked up on my retainers to avoid this hassle.