Quote Originally Posted by giantslayer View Post
My problem is not the difficulty of crafting (I got my LTW book in about 20 minutes with no new equipment or surpas). The issue is the scarcity of resources and the lack of reward in the end.
I've bumped into this very same issue.

As near as I can tell, it's basically NOT worth crafting 4-star items because, even if you DO manage to HQ the item, the rarity with which they sell means they're going to sit on your retainer for a substantial amount of time.

During the time it takes for one four star item to sell, I could've sold a dozen other items in that same slot. Combine that with the risk of outright LOSING money if you don't HQ it (such as on artisan offhands which don't sell for the sealant it takes to make them as NQ on my server) and it seems like it's just overall not worth pursuing.