I think that local leves are good sp the way they are, personally. They aren't really enough SP if you're only focusing on one class because you're forced to take lower rank leves, but when you are leveling multiple classes, they are quite a big SP boost. The goal is always to take a leve where the items are 5-7 ranks above yourself (If you have the full range of abilities, 7-9 above yourself is actually more ideal). That way you are maximizing your sp gain from leves.

For instance, taking the weaver leves to make canvas cloth at r20 is absolutely ideal if you have hand of the gods, fulfillment and maker's muse.

The biggest disparity between battle and local leves, though, comes from the fact that you can SEE marks gained through battle leves. In the week prior to the shutdown, I did a full round of 8 locals every leve reset in that +7-9 range above me and only managed to get one that gave marks out of forty. By comparision, let's take battle leves - my conjurer is rank 43, currently. If I am working on leveling my thaumaturge primarily, but I still need conjurer marks, I can check the r40 leves in each city every reset specifically targeting the ones that give conjurer marks. Then, I can focus the rest of my leves on sp for the thaum or even target other classes for mark bearing leves.

You can't do that in a crafting class - not only does crafting necessitate a large outlay of money, it takes 10-15x longer to gather the marks needed for ability purchase than a battle class does. In some ways, the skills purchased with crafting marks are more necessary for crafting classes to function than the abilities purchased with battle marks. (There are perhaps five abilities across all battle classes that can even remotely be considered 'necessary').