Crafting is shifting toward harder to obtain materials, NOT harder to obtain shards. In 3.0 we are spending more time farming enemies and unspoiled nodes, INSTEAD of smacking nodes in a circular pattern for 4 hours just to farm color crystals.

I think this is an intentional shift, to makes us focus more on what we are making rather than on generic one-size fits all crystals. The hardest part of 2.0 crafting was getting enough crystals, it was the same grind on every class, and it presented no challenge or leveling experience for gatherers. I'm glad this isn't continuing forward.