I think it's not new that many people are not big fans of crafting anymore. This has two reasons:
1) The dilithium tax. Okay, anomalies and particle traces have become incredibly abundant with the Doff-system, and if you craft for yourself it is still cheaper than the dilithium store but if you want to craft for trade it is now an exchange of valuable dilithium vs. worthless energy credits.
2) The new STF equipment. When the crafting system was implemented properly there were two big sets in the game. Borg and Aegis. With the new STF-equipment Borg was downgraded to a ridiculously cheap "retro" set. Crafting didn't get anything new, so that's what Aegis is perceived as too. That you can get Mk XII gear through STFs while crafting is stuck at Mk XI doesn't help either.
Now the new FE series has started, and while it's fun to play it reminds me of something that was already the case with the Romulan series and that it shares with crafting. It's just not a viable way to get useful gear at endgame. I have played this game right from the start. Almost all of my gear is Mk XI purple (where it isn't the Mk X were actually better than the available Mk XI versions or it's something I just use for style). However, what the FE's usually introduce are items with unique game mechanics or looks like the Breen cluster torpedo, the CRM, the Reman shield etc. Now it seems that we get an interesting set of Jem'hadar equipment, and the new mechanic of buffs for a specific weapon type (by the way, I'm sure you know it already but the crafting recipes for the buff devices are bugged). While I want to experiment with the new rewards it kind of hurts to unequip your superior gear to do that.
So my proposal to make both, FEs and crafting viable for endgame again: Allow crafters to upgrade the rewards from the FEs to purple Mk XI and/or Mk XII. While it doesn't fix the fact that selling crafted items is nonsense it at least would allow us to craft something viable for endgame and a reason to keep the interesting items from the FEs without feeling nerfed.
Edit: It seems the nanostream crafting recipes are working now after multiple relogs.
I'm still of the opinion that the reman shields should have gone with the prototype gravimetric drive from the swords? mission, along with one other then and been an alternative set. I would have probably made the last piece a plasma torpedo.
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