Kind of how it is. The challenge, such as it is, is in making macros and optimizing them, even though it is much easier to do so now. Or if you are manually crafting, taking advantage of good/excellent procs.

I can't see them reducing the time, and I also think complete afk crafting is unlikely as it changes the nature of the game too much when you can play in a completely automated fashion for hours without even having to press any buttons after the first one. But I agree you can already afk and watch netflix and just press the button again every time your controller chirps.