To answer your questions with a question, why is the rhetoric here entirely focused around the concept of 'casuals' as some kind of formless entity that have managed to invade the ivory tower? You do actually have it exactly right- people who seek out the resources to be able to craft can craft, and those who don't either make their own way with whatever degree of possibly reduced viability they have.

It's inevitably going to be the same with Ishgard, and we're inevitably going to see the same kinds of complaint threads from the elitist upper-crust when anyone with cursory knowledge of crafting and the manual dexterity to press Delicate Synthesis on their controller (or keyboard, I won't judge) is able to play competently in that space.

In order to create 'hardcore only' content, it necessitates the creation of an arbitrary gate that keeps people out. Is this even necessarily a bad thing? No! We don't even disagree on this. But without the presence of a meaningful barrier to execution, as it stands anyone that can meld CP onto their gear and learn a basic rotation from readily available resources can do this thing, and all of the ideas that set out to be spiteful and petty about this seem to actively be calling for the system to become worse in the name of 'crafting is MY special thing! it's what *I* do! none of the rest of you should be able to have it!' and that's what a lot of 'casual' players take umbrage with.

The question now is, does that necessarily make them the enemy?