Quote Originally Posted by Texa View Post
You don't "need" to use any one method to increase progress. The main gamble with any progress increasing skill is the risk of either losing a step or not having enough left to finish with. The appeal to the maker's mark method is that it's a long and relatively safe approach compared to anything that relies on rapid that's good for a couple of high-end crafts but a huge pain in the butt if you're trying to craft stuff like potions and food.

That said, yeah the balancing on crafter skills feels a bit weird right now. I get the impression they didn't really pay much mind to old skills while adding the new ones.
Actually, the main appeal of Maker's Mark is its longevity. While under the effect of Maker's Mark, Flawless Synthesis is a free action that uses up no CP or Durability, making it the ultimate stalling action. This allows you to rebuild CP after using a good amount of it in other ways while slowly adding Progress as well. For the current Lv70 2* recipes, this can be quite beneficial when working with NQ mats.