Quote Originally Posted by Frein View Post
Despite hating crafting, I probably would do it if it actually gave me some benefits. Right now all I can make is gear that's too low level to be of use and I can't repair most of my gear, either. What exactly do you suggest I do? Craft items to sell? Don't make me laugh. I can earn much faster by simply fighting and my retainers are brimming with unsold wares anyway.
It does give benefits. Binding materia to gear, repairing gear in the field, creating quite literally, the best available equipment in the game. That's the direction the game is going. Even now, all the best gear is not stuff from dungeons but from crafts. All of that cool, nifty stuff from Darkhold? Crap when compared to crafted gear with materia. Hell, from what a lot of the high-end LSes show, it might actually be impossible to beat level 50 Ifrit without crafted materia-infused gear.

So, if you don't want it to be ridiculously expensive to gear your character, investing time into Crafting/Gathering is hands down the best bet. This is the reason I am kicking myself for not ranking it sooner, because once all the "dated xxxx" recipes are removed in 1.20/1.21, it'll be more difficult to level crafting. Unless they provide more interesting things for crafters to do.

I'm not saying it's fun, nor am I saying it's ideal for anyone to do. But it has the greatest benefits for a player, especially if you don't have a good hefty LS to help you.