I agree synthesis is a grind festival at the moment, it is really time consuming and I had to drop it even though my first choice was being a weaver when I joined FFXIV last year.

By comparison, I gained 3 levels, from level 27 to 30, with my miner in Nophica's well really easily. Mining is fast, each point has many attempts and it gives around 300~400 exp for each successful attempt.
While synthesis requires three times as much time to perform and gives less exp. Not to mention the difficulty involved! You have to gather all the proper materials in large quantity, then it takes a lot of time to perform the mini game (I like mini games, that's not the point), you have a good chance for failure, aaaand you are rewarded with little experience points.

I really hope the experience points yield by synthesis increases in 1.20, especially since the recipe change, less equipment is produced and the existing equipment is being turned into materia. No need to worry about having a flood of equipment in the market wards.