To start: I love crafting in MMOs. LOVE. IT. It always saddens me when I play one where the crafting is almost pointless or used for one good thing (ie. spam a craft to cap in WoW just for the bonuses).

I have to say FFXIV's crafting system has been my favorite in any MMO so far (Though honorable mention should go to EQ2's original system where crafting could actually kill you. lol)

When 1.0 came out I was really excited about the idea that they wanted DoH/DoL to be really classes. I was excited to hear they wanted ways to get them in dungeons and events sometimes. Rather than always being just in town. I feel that really was helping to push the concept of crafting in a very unique and excellent way.

To give those who didn't experience 1.0 an idea of what I am talking about, in 1.0 we had an event called Hamlet Defense. This was a town siege event that utilized all of the jobs (DoM/DoW AND DoH/DoL). There were npcs that fought with you, and gathers could gather mats to give to crafters. The crafters then made weapons (ex. arrows) to give to the npcs that would make them stronger in helping the fight.

Yes, during shouts for groups, crafters were in high demands to get into a party for this event. To me, that's awesome. It meant they weren't just important as a singular person sitting in town. They could actually assist in being part of a team to fight something.

But it seems the direction crafting is going is the same as every other mmo, being pushed further and further away from being important. Endgame gear doesn't need materia, we can no longer repair other people's gear, Halmet was removed and I haven't heard anything of them bringing it back, and iirc a recent live letter stated they weren't giving crafters any new gear above ilvl70 to make.

Do not get me wrong, I am really looking forward to getting to craft furniture. I know we aren't getting completely ignored. I just feel like crafting started off as such a strong point to 14 that is now being slowly pushed aside. And that makes me sad.