The item is meant to be rare.
How do you make an item rare: By linking it to some tangible or intangible artifact that has great value.
What is the only artifact that has great value (or indeed any value): Time

All things can trace their value to time. (Let's put aside how some special people are very elite and can do things that others could never do).

The item therefore must represent its value based on how much time is needed to obtain it (either directly time spent, or indirectly by time spent to collect totems, or time spent to make gil).

In this situation, it is very obvious that it will take time. Perhaps decreasing the psychological impact of how much it takes would be better (Along the way you obtain other riches and wealths but still need to spend the same amount of time to get that specific item).

However, eventually people would catch on and still have the same complaint. The end of the day, it should not be the amount of time that is needed to obtain the item that should be considered, but simply:

Is this an activity (raid) that I have fun doing? If so, do it. If not, go do something else.

The reward you get at the end of the day should be just that... a reward (not payment).