Crafting Needs a Place in Endgame Raiding

[TheUltimate3]

-snip-

There is no difference. I could pay for 10 weeks, get nothing, then simply pay for more. At the end of the day, I could still RMT my way to the top, regardless of how long it takes.

And when you end up with a market where items made from items that cost myth costs an arm and a leg, the end product has to also cost an arm and a leg.

Though this obviously gets into the finer points of economics which you have no interest in so arguing that point is moot. But it does bring back my question: if the items for crafting can easily, and I mean mindnumbingly so, replaced by even the lowest tier of dungeon gear, then why have crafting at all?

I really want to know a "anti-crafters" opinion on that.

EDIT: And I'm aware that they want to revamp the Materia system, to make it far more useful and I'm aware that could change things greatly. I am also aware that people would rather it not be like WoW where things got really "You must enchant this or no invites ever!".