Crafter progression - joke's on us?

[devwild]

Thank you square, for once again telling crafters how much you hate us.

Crafter progression for mastery could have been sane, fun. It could have had crafters make their own, untradeable, HQ i70 gear to meet the requirements for mastery. It could have had a story attached that demonstrated your growth as a crafter and contribution to the realm.

Instead the quest lasts 2 seconds, and then you to spend a fortune in time and gil on materials, as well as re-melding all your gear with another fortune in rare materia - all to craft gear that nobody is going to want to pay for, and will ultimately be undersold to nothing by the few tenacious enough.

How is any of this supposed to be fun or improve crafting? I don't expect mastery to be easy, but I expect it to be more than just a money and time sink for no return or entertainment value.

As someone who has enjoyed crafting in this game, my first inclination after this patch is to walk away before I hang myself.