Why is crafting so useless?

[Alise]

Just like how players now require lv 170 to join Ravana EX, when it was always only lv 160 during my time in the past.

If you make expensive craft gear become lv 200, then players might raise up the current lv 180 req to join Alex Savage into lv 195-200, and then the people with less gil will not be able to afford the gear and cannot join the party. (they might even enforced RMT in order to buy)

All in all, it is best to make a mixture. What if the raid drop part of the weapon which you require crafter to finish it. That would be better. So both raid and craft become necessary.

[Terribad]

Just like how players now require lv 170 to join Ravana EX, when it was always only lv 160 during my time in the past.

If you make expensive craft gear become lv 200, then players might raise up the current lv 180 req to join Alex Savage into lv 195-200, and then the people with less gil will not be able to afford the gear and cannot join the party. (they might even enforced RMT in order to buy)

All in all, it is best to make a mixture. What if the raid drop part of the weapon which you require crafter to finish it. That would be better. So both raid and craft become necessary.

Then don't play with those players? But I honestly don't think OP was asking for it to be on par with raid gear. I think someone just went crazy and complained about that.

[Atlaworks]

Just like how players now require lv 170 to join Ravana EX, when it was always only lv 160 during my time in the past.

If you make expensive craft gear become lv 200, then players might raise up the current lv 180 req to join Alex Savage into lv 195-200, and then the people with less gil will not be able to afford the gear and cannot join the party. (they might even enforced RMT in order to buy)

All in all, it is best to make a mixture. What if the raid drop part of the weapon which you require crafter to finish it. That would be better. So both raid and craft become necessary.

What

Lemme parse this. Crafting gear should not be stronger than raid gear, but it shouldn't be so weak as to invalidate it either. Current top tier crafted gear while fully melded is still weaker than law gear. God forbid it's even close to anything that takes effort or weekly lockouts to achieve, when the 180 itself has it's own weekly lockout in the form of red scrips. I understand the idea of both raiding and crafting being necessary, but raiding was never invalidated for obtaining gear. Even in 2.4, when crafting was on par with raid gear, you didn't NEED crafting gear to beat FCoB, it just gave raiders more of an edge. It was never a requirement, and it was never intended as such. But come today, the strongest crafted battle gear you put your time, money, and effort into- is weaker than raid gear, older easier raid gear, and tome gear that's not even got a weekly limit. Crafting is entirely invalidated in it's current form, save making items for other crafters and gatherers, which becomes a vicious cycle.

If crafting gear is both A: on par with, not above or below, raid gear, and B: isn't absurdly expensive to create, considering material, effort, time, and melding costs, then both would be viable. The problem is that SE can't parse the second one correctly.