Quote Originally Posted by Lastelli View Post
I understand your standpoint, but devs have a completely different opinion. They do not want crafting to be relevant for end game raiding, they clearly stated that. And, as both a crafter and a raider, I completely agree with them.
I guess I don't understand why. I'm not a raider currently... but I have been in the past, and I have been in other games as well. If crafted gear were relevant to the endgame, sure, that'd mean you'd feel obliged to buy crafted gear. Of course, people still raid without the Best-in-slot item... in fact, you have to raid to GET a lot of the best-in-slot items... so it's understandable that people would still raid without crafted gear even if that crafted gear was Best-in-slot. It's also understandable that the best raiding groups would have a crafter or two to hook them up with that gear... in fact, the best raiding groups already have a crafter or two for potions/food, and many of those crafters are lvl 60 in other crafts as well (in fact, many of them are lvl 60 in all crafts). So in terms of needing crafters, things wouldn't really change for most raiding groups. What WOULD change is that crafters who aren't raiders and raiders who don't have crafter friends might find themselves needing each other, which would enhance the game considerably for the crafters without really detracting from it for the raiders. And, in the end, it's not like I'm saying "Get rid of the endgame as it is now and require that all endgame armor be crafted". I'm just saying let crafters have a piece of the pie. Even if only one or two crafted pieces per tradeskill end up being best-in-slot, that's enough to reward the crafters that have spent months of time and millions of gil getting themselves up to the crafting endgame... crafters that currently have absolutely nothing to offer the rest of the game except for glamour items, food, and potions.