Don't forget, it's ALL THAT GRUELING WORK, and what do you get to make? Stuff that is still mostly inferior to stuff you can get with tomes or out of savage. Yes, I know that in some cases the higher crafted stuff fully melded out will be close or superior, but the overall ridiculous cost to purchase that means only top tier guilds with maxed out gil will bother with them.

I feel like at the very least, crafters should be rewarded with Unique/Unsellable/Untradeable special gear/weapons/armors they can use for themselves that are equal or superior to other methods.