I like many others are completely aghast at the coming changes to HWM GS. I like many others have worked on my crafting over looting endless chests to grind out HWM. This change would essentially make my hard work completely futile.
I understand to some extent why they are doing this, but it certainly punishes those of us who have done the grind in crafting vs HWM looting.
Why not add a “Crafted By” notation on every crafted weapon/armor/jewelry piece etc? They should delineate between “Looted” and “Crafted” items. Keep the Expertise GS requirement on “Looted” items but allow people to use higher GS items that have been crafted. That would also allow those of us who have put in the time and energy to raise our crafting up to make money on our efforts by selling our crafted items on the TP or the services in /Global.
Instead of completely screwing a major section of their player base why not give crafted items the extra perk of being able to be used by anyone despite their GS Expertise?