Boy, you're right. That is a terrible waste. If only you had not been so short sighted in the first place yea?

Here's my PSA concerning this problem.

Fates Pros
Fates are easy
Fates are fast
Fates award a lot of XP
Fates award a lot of GC certs

Fate CONS
Fates dont drop gear (except a few of the max level ones and even the gear here is replaced by level 45 gear)
Fates give almost no Gil
Fates teach nothing

You are playing a game with tiered endgame raid style content. If you make it to level 50 off of only fates you might as well go back and do it again because you are an infant in terms of understanding you class compared to someone who used dungeon finder. I'm not trying to say don't use fates. They can be fun time to time and is a nice xp and cert boost at times. It certainly was never meant to be used as a way to develop your character.