Has anyone considered writing a builder along the lines of the enhancement builder?
Basically you'd put in the item you want and check Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 upgrades. From that it would give you a nice step by step guide on how to get there.
Perhaps start out with a breakdown of all the ingredients you'll need (maybe even display which part of the raid to get them from). Then list what you need to do at each altar to get there.
I don't think this would be that complex, just time consuming.