Back from Rift....

[Chezen]

Another innovation is the parity between crafting and adventuring, even here there's room for improvement (mostly in joint activities between crafters and adventurers), but there's a ton of potential for people that enjoy crafting and end up, in basically every other game, having to bear a ton of time/money sinking only for the future perspective of getting "rich" or at least economically independent.
Crafting in FFXIV is not a "sink", but it's part of the experience, designed to enrich it, and not just to be a "utility" service.

I find this part particularly true. I've not known another game (admittingly I'm a bit limited in my MMO experience) where weapons and armor come almost solely from crafting. Usually quests and drops are a very viable if not main source of armor. The crafting in these games become almost pointless as the armor aquired from them isn't worth anything.

I think SE did an outstanding job with the crafting. It's so vast and involved, and so many things require help from other professions, high levels, etc, everyone should have a valid way to make gil and keep the market going. My only complaint is the armor and weapons themselves, which I think need to have more variety.