I will throw my two cents in the ring.
Regarding the feats I am not totally opposed but have some concerns and would put forth an alternative.
Don't gate the best gear behind feats. My philosophy around crafting has always been that mastery should be a pursuit of heart and dedication, not easy and not restrictive. Rather, I would suggest a model similar to what we did with appraise feats and that there is a selectable feat that would allow you to pursue a craft even if you have a negative natural modifier. It would work as follows:
-Aptitude For Crafting I- When crafting, the character gains +2 CXP for every successful item crafted that would normally yield at least 1CXP and +1 CXP per failure. This feat must be taken by level 2.
-Aptitude For Crafting II- When crafting, the character gains +3 CXP for every successful item crafted that would normally yield at least 1CXP and +2 CXP per failure. AFC I is requiredand the character must have at least 25 crafting levels in one or more crafts.
-Aptitude For Crafting III- When crafting, the character gains +3 CXP for every successful item crafted that would normally yield at least 1CXP and +2 CXP per failure. AFC Iand II are required and the character must have at least 100 total crafting levels of experience.
-Determination to learn- The character stubbornly refuses to accept that they are unable to learn any skill. Characters with this feat may take up any craft, regardless of their natural crafting modifier.
Regarding weakening crafted gear I have some thoughts:
-I think the issue is the highest tier gear in each craft is too strong, not crafted gear across the board. Specifically, I would say addy and mist dragon are the biggest problems at least from a combat perspective. Tailoring skills in general are rather high, but a lot of players dont appreciate tailoring even with that being said so..... if we nerf anything I would be for buffing some of the weaker materials once enchanted like Asbestos, Yeti Wool, etc.
-I am fine with nerfing properties as long as the old gear is grandfathered. It's going to be very frustrating enchanting a 100k worth of xp on a character into gear for it to all be retroactively worse than what was bargained for. In terms of the comparison to loot drops I do and don't agree. I would say enchanting makes 90% of loot drops fairly valueless, but shouldn't it? You are basically saying you are willing to sacrifice your time and xp so you don't have to rely on randomness and there is still nothing thats going to remove the need and desire for the truly high end stuff everyone is needing all the time like iron martyrs, spot gear, etc.