Another one of these threads >.>

I'm just going to post the list I've posted before of all the ways you can obtain Lore in this game currently:

DREX
DR 60
DR Trials
DR Frontlines
DR Mentor
Thordan Normal
Sephirot Normal
Bismarck EX
Ravana EX
Thordan EX
Sephirot EX
Alexander Gordias Normal
Alexander Gordias Savage
Alexander Midas
Alexander Midas Savage
Void Ark
Aetherochemical Research Facility
Neverreap
Fractal Continuum
Saint Mocianne's Arboretum
Pharos Sirius (Hard)
Antitower
Lost City of Amdapor (Hard)
Treasure Maps
Seal Rock
Vath Beast Quests
Diadem
3.0 S Rank Hunt Mobs

As for using "limited play time" as an excuse to only run DREX, well let me ask you this, if your time is so limited that you can't do anything but DREX, what exactly do you need the lore gear for in the first place? Also, with the current state of crafted gear, a lot of the i220 gear even without melds is stronger than the i230 lore gear. You also have the option to use the i220 Midan gear which for some slots are better than the i230 lore gear. Currently the highest ilvl requirement in the game is i205 for Sephirot EX. If you don't meed the ilvl requirements people post in PF, then start your own party with a lower ilvl requirement.

Outside of Midas Savage, you essentially do not need any gear higher than the i210 set. I'm not quite sure where you are getting the idea that "the designers want us to do a dozen things, but then have emphasized just one or two of them as being the absolute best choice that needs to be done first all the time thanks to tome farming." Yes, DREX is the most efficient, but it is not the only viable way. This is the same as people who cried when the 210 relic step was released and all they saw was that they had to run Alexander Gordias normal 800 times to get their items. They ignored the fact that A, you get Esoterics from running Gordias and B, that there were multiple alternate methods of obtaining unidentified items instead of Gordias normal.