They went with such a convoluted system at the start probably they didn't want people gearing up "too fast" but they took it way too far. Their answer for everything lately has been "throw a daily/weekly requirement on top of it" and it was probably affected by how ARR crafted items made raids "too easy" according to them. At some point they need to realize that another daily or weekly is not the answer to new features.

As for red scrip 180 gear, it is possible to reach the stat caps using all 180 gear, and Beet Soup HQ: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/TLZS

The only problem with that setup is you're completely gimped on CP, so your crafting requirements become "need a lot of HQ mats".