The dividing line between crafters and non-crafters, or even between crafters and hobby-crafters, is still pretty sharp. Most games to date have encouraged crafting as a pastime, not a "serious" pursuit like adventuring (with a few notable exceptions, none of which are doing very well right now).
Some of the hate you're reacting to (and believe me, I've heard it too, and I sympathise) comes from those who won't like any non-trivial crafting system no matter how it's designed, because they think crafting itself should be trivial.
Some of it comes from people who might be crafters but who have been thrown into panic mode by the Vanguard system - we'll see how they turn out over time. One thing this crafting system surely does is separate the men from the boys, so to speak. :-D
And then, when bad things happen, there's always some venting, like mine. I'm pretty careful these days NOT to say "That's it! I'm outta here!" -- because I know from experience I'm a total junkie and it's probably not true anyway. For others though, throwing the rattle out of the pram is just normal venting, to be ignored and instantly forgotten. (It's just hard for the crafting hos like me to ignore and not react - maybe I've had an easier time of it than you lately in that respect.)
I understand your concerns totally, and if I'm colluding in giving VG crafting a bad name then I need to fix the way I'm coming across, because that's the last thing I intend.
And those items are still pretty kick-ass. I'd level my weaponsmith if I wasn't feeling so bloody poorly today.
