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

[Granyala]

the new abilities have little to nothing to do with how grindy it is.

I never stated otherwise, if you had actually bothered to read my posts and not be triggered by the first line or seeing my avatar, you would have read (multiple times by now) that I agree with you on the fact that the current crafting process is too uninvolved.

I'm merely arguing that more grind through harsher gear requirement is not a valid way to fix that because once you get your gear grinded you would, yet again, end up in a braindead macro-able and boring crafting system. It would merely take more time to get there and that [more time] would lead to the exclusivity you apparently seem to want.

BTW: I didn't ask SE to make crafting easier. I didn't ask SE to lessen the grind. Back in ARR I accepted that this aspect of the game was not my cup of tea.
But they did it anyway and now I am enjoying being self sufficent.
YOU want to take that away from me. YOU are the selfish one here. Not me. I merely take what SE offers me and tell them "I like this one better than the old one!".