Firstly, crafters were not meant to fight in combat. Everyone going around saying that lately don't know what they're talking about as nobody from SE ever said anything about crafters fighting except in response to demands by players pre-release and even then they were only considering it.

I think the Physical level system was supposed to work as a buffer, true. I think Physical level was supposed to be what mattered and I think Rank was supposed to be nothing more than a way for player's to get skills.

In the end, they needed to make compromises though because that system didn't really work for a game that is utterly dependant on endless grind.