Crafters charge far too much for what they make. Being able to get by on NPC gear (Bearing in mind, you can use NPC gear for every dungeon, assuming you get your AF-0 at level, all the way to the last main-quest story one.) is a good thing. It means people who are poor, or have made mistakes and wasted their money, can continue.

If crafter players were decent and charged a little less than NPCs for NQ, and about 20% more for HQ, they'd see a lot more buyers. As it is, it's all maximum profit or gtfo, no-one seems to understand that 110 gil from 100 players is better than 1,000 from 10. This isn't helped by the gatherers overcharging either.

I do buy crafted gear when it's not abhorrently priced, and thankfully I have crafter friends who can make everything else, but the market boards are disgustingly overpriced in general.