My experiences with MMOs and crafting/gathering is that the crafting/gathering systems tend to feel stapled on, almost like a bizarre house addition. Yeah, they give people something to do besides grind in combat and yes, they can add depth to the economy, but more often then not they're just poorly designed and thought-out time sinks with marginal benefits. Grueling is usually a good word to describe them.

FFXIV has one of the more robust and dynamic crafting and gathering systems I've experienced. It's intimidating at first and certainly isn't explained well, but once you delve into it I've found it to be pretty rewarding. I don't have all my crafting skills at 50 but I have almost all of them near 20 and I plan on continuing onward with them. And hopefully SE will continue to evolve these elements as they evolve the other classes.