How do I feel about the changes? I agree something had to be done, levelling from 40-50 was an absolute slog and the complexity at endgame was daunting, leading a lot of people to rely on macros made by a few clever people who managed to work it out. However, I think it's too easy now.

The change to levelling-speed will be of huge benefit to raiders and people who simply wanted crafters so they could repair their gear (but surely there were better ways of addressing their needs?).
I don't think the changes will affect very rich crafters much, but I do think they'll be detrimental to people taking up crafting in the hope of making gil. With a huge pool of crafters at max level, easier crafting but very little to sell, I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of people getting to 80 and wondering why they bothered.

I've already seen people on the forums asking for macros for level 50 crafts and upwards, so I don't think the devs will achieve their aim of reducing dependence on them. A lot of people just want to take the easy path, and even with a simplified system, they're not going to start working things out for themselves if they can get someone else to do the work for them.
If the devs decide to replace skill with RNG at endgame, I'm not going to be very happy. I enjoyed the depth of crafting before 5.1; I don't want a system where you depend mainly on luck.

It's early days still and maybe crafting will get more interesting as the expansion progresses. I hope Ishgard will give us a challenge but it could be just more of the same. Right now crafting feels gutted.