Quote Originally Posted by Sibyll View Post
As the OP suggests, WoW kept crafters in business by having consumables each of them crafted for upgrading gear. It's a way of making every crafter relevant for the duration of the patch because people are always upgrading pieces.
On the one hand, I agree. On the other, that alone wouldn't be enough. Anything locked behind the current grind would be extremely expensive, and there just aren't enough people who can and will spend that kind of gil. Looking at the statistics from their live stream, less than 10% of players have even hit 60. The number of those with millions of gil to spend is a fraction of a fraction, and those willing to part with some of that gil are fewer still. Even if we made BiS gear, we'd still be fighting for scraps. That can't change until they severely cut down the time investment to something more sane to the average player.