Op i strongly disagree with you. I am a casual crafter but a lot invested in the matter. I am a "pacifist" gamer and maybe i enjoy more crafting, tending my garden and do other stuff more than fighting, in fact i have a lvl79 WHM and never put a step in SHB xD..
I swear to you that i always find crafting/gathering, i won't say difficult, but neither easy.
For example i have all the crafters over 50, but i have not completed many of their job quests because i could not craft the items HQ required to progress, and a friend of mine has the same problem. Sure, i could buy the item from the MB or a friend from my Guild could help me, but should i not be supposed to be able to complete them BY MYSELF? Or maybe gathering the items with difficulty, put the hq bar to 50% like 6 times and FAILING 6 times in a row for RNG, is supposed to add COMPLEXITY for you?
How the hell is it possible (also in gathering) that i have the gear of my level, and i sometimes have to pray Gesus to be able to gather/craft something of my level..
Another example, regarding the mechanic "Appresail", useful (in theory) for level or made some scripts: I have the BEST gear for my level, i checked the rotations Online (because yes i admitted to myself that maybe it was me that was stupid) and i can MAYBE gather the more stupid item at the MINIMUM level of Rarity needed for the turn in, and in the process depleted all of may gpS (in case of gathering). What the hell????
In my guild they say: "Buy cordials".. Sorry but i am not buying it (no pun intended xD)
To me (also reading stories of people that have maxed all the crafters/gatherer ALREADY to 80 after only a few days of expansions even in this forum) there are factors (like gcs turn-ins) that are easily influenced from the fact that a lot of people have already A LOT of money and can AFFORD to buy HQ-items crafted by other players (or mats), and have already "started" from a position of "advantage" from other players that makes for people like me harder to catch up.
So, to summarize: i am NOT asking that crafting is made more easy, but i DO NOT WANT to become more difficult or complicated that already is. To me you and the other player already "AT THE TOP" just don't want for other players to catch up, but THAT in my opinion is not fair.

To finish i just want to say that i am sure that i sounded more angry that i was but i am not a native english speaker and i wanted to be as clear as possible.
Garten