Requiring Raid Loot for Crafting leaves us soloers out in the cold

[My2Cents]

Because of scheduling and many/family distractions, I must solo most of the time. I don't mind the extra effort.

Requiring raid loot for crafting means I won't even bother with crafting. Making crafting "more challenging" is just adding insult to injury. Someday I hope hirelings are allowed in raids.

When I first read the release notes and saw they were "adjusting" some higher level items to make it "more challenging" I was glad I have not yet wasted my time on Live. I worked with the original crafting on lama and decided it was way too costly, I'd wait on Live to see what became of it over time.

With the addition of raid look recipes, which loot I will likely never see, I am thinking it is good I waited. I am thinking that now I can sell all those essences I was saving for $$$ if enough people still want them for crafting after this.

I hope I am wrong in what I am reading.

[Tenchi]

I think this is an interesting angle that was not brought up by many people. One of the reasons why crafting became a viable option is because soloers can actually get raid quality loot with a different kind of grind that can still be achievable on your own, or with hirelings.

I hope the devs think about the point you made here, My2.

Personally, I think the solution for this crafting problem (raid loot vs. easy to make shards) lies in answering what you brought up in your post.