Square Enix, please think about both Casual AND Hardcore crafters..

[Joven]

Well obviously not to the other gal, see above.

I'm only addressing the OP's points as they chase their tail with their own logic. Crafting exists as a way for players to be relatively self sufficient in terms of gear upgrades and as a means of making money. If making money isn't their concern then making crafting difficult for the sake of making it difficult is pointless even with exclusive awards because, as I said previously, the 'pro' crafters would just release their optimum rotations for those crafts so everyone interested would still get the prize.

Making crafting difficult serves only to limit how much of certain items are posted to the marketboard. They can do as many 'challenging' crafts they want, but what are they gonna do with it once it's done? The only options are to use it or sell it and I don't see the point of wasting mats or inventory space on a craft you aren't going to use or sell just for the 'challenge' of it.