Some crafts are easier to level nowadays due to materials being easier to get.
For example, when I quit a couple years ago (right before Abyssea), Spider Webs were so godly expensive. Nowadays, at least on Slyph, if you're patient, you can nab quite a number of them out of the AH for more reasonable prices, AND you can get a lot of them out of the garden. This has allowed my family member to level their clothcraft past Rainbow Thread and it allowed me to finally get my Alchemist to 97 (using Papillions).
Now that we are both 99 wearing Sparks gear, we can at some point try farming Ahriman Wings for the last 3 levels on Alchemy. Before, the only kill-able Ahriman were the low-level ones in Xarcabard or the very beginning of the Castle, but now we can kill higher level ones that might drop wings more often. I've already gotten a couple stacks of Wyvern Wings from the Wyverns in Onzozo from leveling on the Torama and Manticores there (we pulled Wyverns whenever we saw them).
Also, Despoil is awesome for farming certain things; we got three mules past Green Ribbons because we were leveling our thieves AND we called out NanaaMihgo (who uses Despoil!) while leveling on the Crypterpillars in the Maze of Shakrami; we had enough Silk Cloth left over to make a pretty good sum of money after leveling 3 mules.
And again, the Mog Garden is ridiculously awesome; I'm finding stuff I can't even use yet that I'm hoarding. I've probably got like 5+ stacks of Darksteel Ore on a mule just waiting for my Blacksmith to get up to that level. I've found at least a couple stacks of Gold Ore, a decent amount of iron, some Orichalum Ore, etc. Ebony Logs aren't all that uncommon, and sometimes I even find Lacquer Tree Logs and other such things from the grove.
And let's not forget the Adaman Ore that drops from the Pygmytoises in Gustav Tunnel; take a thief there and you'll find more Adaman Ore than you'd ever get from the 'normal' sources in the past. I have like 2-3 stacks of those and I wasn't even really trying to farm those either.
On the Leather side, I'm ready to start skilling up on Coeurl Leather after getting a few stacks of skins from the Torama (that we can easily solo now, unlike before).
So ...... yes....
I'd have to say Crafting is easier to skill now. I dunno about 100 (I was looking at the lists and some of them still seem a bit ridiculous), but 90s should easily be possible on most crafts.
Edited, Sep 17th 2014 7:28am by Lyrailis
Edited, Sep 17th 2014 7:29am by Lyrailis