I had this dream..

[Sollux]

Well now I'm being forced to raid because crafting dead. Raid gear is BIS, than eso gear than technically crafters gear, but since it's not practical, law gear is next and crafter gear is garbage, gg.

You're not being forced to Raid, but you FEEL like you are, and that's EXACTLY how other players would feel if they needed each discipline leveled to a certain extent to reach optimal Endgame. Your case is the exact opposite in that you're frustrated that you can't use the other classes you've leveled to help reach BIS on your Combat class and while I can see where you're coming from in that regard, the majority of the playerbase would rather be able to reach their Endgame without the need to level other classes.

Crafting isn't dead, you just don't see any benefit from it right now. Raid gear will ALWAYS be BIS for Combat classes, and the Crafted Combat gear isn't completely useless, it can be great catch-up gear. If you take the time to look at stat weights for some of the classes then you'll find that a few properly melded i180 Combat pieces actually beat their respective i190 Gordian gear. I know for a fact this is true for the BRD Crafted i180 Headpiece, Chestpiece, and Gloves, and the MNK Crafted i180 gloves actually edge out their Eso gloves in terms of raw DPS gain.

Crafters will NEVER be useless. Just because we can't supply near-Endgame Combat gear doesn't mean we can't still contribute to our FC or a static, even if it's only through food, pots, or gear to help jump-start an alt into AS1. Again, the only thing I'll agree with you on is the scarcity of the Crafted Combat gear itself and the length of time it takes to craft versus how long it will actually be useful. The rest is just your opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt.

[nickyblaze]

imagine gatherers not having the stealth skill, they'd have to party up with dow/m to gather, encourage team play. Everybody benefits for what's gathered cause the gatherer can't gather alone. Gatherer directs the party and the roll of dow/m stays the same. the loot ends up back at the fc and can be used to make everyone's gear. And perhaps raiders can raid in this gear and can get upgrades after beating raids to improve the armor.

Crafters make the armor, maybe beating ravana you can use the ravana forewing to buff it 10 ilvl to 190, maybe a1s can enchant it to 200 and give it a different glow, make it unique,

I gather as well, it's limited to a loop of nodes, nothing changes, nothing eventful, timed nodes are timed, always in the same slot, no surprise nodes, no fear of getting attacked cause of stealth. Has a gatherer ever been in a party with dow/m? Again where is the team spirit? :/

Maybe it's just me that enjoys a well rounded team effort outside the battlefield