I dont see a problem in crafting beeing more then a sidething. FF11 crafting was just as horrible as WoW crafting is for me. XD
Yes SOME materials are very easy to obtain, rivets for example but that is cos the craft spits out a ridicoulous ammount of them. I mean 32? oO I wouldnt mind paying 500 gil for the one i need instead of getting it thrown after for 50.
Besides.. this isnt FF11 its FF14 and please dont make 14 a cheap ripp off from 11. If i wanted 11 back id simply grab my Bard and play it. ;-)

It might be that on 50 every Material id ever need from any other craft is easy to be obtained. I dont know im not very high level/rank as one can see on my signature. :3
At lower levels thats defnitly not the case. All i need to do is thinking of how long it took since i saw the first person selling that shoulder guards i needed....
The crafting system has great potential, its not as innovative at it seemes tho i just need to remember Vanguards crafting system.
It needs a little tweaking and also i feel like FF14 should realy get away from the "googeling info" = challenge and running arround = challenge thingy. :P

It feels a little like they made great wings and kinda flew way too high.