Crafting

[Urthdigger]

It's actually not THAT expensive after the most recent patch. While fully melded crafted artisans to have the highest stats may be expensive, if you buy the Ixali gloves, and just fully meld the level 55 accessories you should be able to get turn in items for level 70 tools and artisan gear. Do that to gear up, then aim for the level 75 and 90 tools. With all that, you should be able to have decent enough stats to make some money, and work on replacing your turn-in artisan's with crafted artisans

[baopee]

I started leveling my first DOH after 2.4 patch right now I am working on 2.5 bis for all 8 jobs. Needless to say, every single gil I have made since 2.0 they are all gone into my crafters

[baopee]

I started leveling my first DOH after 2.4 patch right now I am working on 2.5 bis for all 8 jobs. Needless to say, every single gil I have made since 2.0 they are all gone into my crafters

[giantslayer]

In endgame, crafting is basically good for three things:
1. Making money.
2. Accessories with vitality melded. Normal accessories for non-tank classes give you 0 vitality, so vitality melded accessories are legitimately better than higher level normal accessories. All other crafted gear is inferior to higher level regular gear which is also more easily obtainable.
3. Helping people much further behind you with gear. Pre-50, HQ equipment is very nice to have (although unnecessary). For a fresh 50, i90 gear is a great way to kick start them into endgame, but they will quickly acquire better gear if they are doing up to date content.