I don't really have a problem needing the tome mats from combat classes. That's not any different than needing a gatherer to do it for you. You can pick up the class and get it yourself or buy it, either way.

But, at the very least, the two-star crafted items need to cost something close to the same number of tomes as a comparable DL piece so there's a reasonable choice to be made between the two.

Even the best value crafted things, like the Astral jewelry that can work on healer and DPS casters, cost well over what it would take to just get two separate DL pieces.