While I don’t think this has any real bearing on the merit of the crafting system, since truly perfect items in this game are, for all practical purposes, impossible to achieve, it is being used as an argument against the system so I’m going to address it.
A truly perfect item in the game would have 3 tier 7s, a tier 5, and a tier 4 sealed affix. So it would very much require crafting in order to get the perfect item.
Not to mention that legendaries rely on crafting, too.
This depends on what you value imo, to be pedantic, if you only care about 4 affix stats, then a perfect item is four t7s, like if you wanted bleed chance/ignite chance/attack speed/damage over time on your weapon, then having more bleed chance or ignite chance etc might be more valuable to you then having an extra t4 affix. : ^)
Had to have a chuckle when I saw this… Mine is virtually the same barring a few very specific items that I highlight so that I dont miss them because they are for an alt and I might forget… The total tier filter is something i have used since the filters were added and it simplifies everything - all I do is adjust the minimums as I play and the char gets better gear… No idea why people need the complicated filters they tend to play with (sorry @Heavy 
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I dont feel that crafting is as irrelevant as you do, but in a lot of ways, you are correct and your take on crafting is, while somewhat demoralising, something I think the devs need to consider…
imho, crafting is not needed in early play, works well when you are fine tuning the build in the mid-levels and then becomes much less useful in min/maxing end game for most of the reasons you touch on and the fact that getting a 1 tier improvement through crafting on a t20 item is more a question of luck on the dropped items suitability for purpose & the randomness of BiS item crafting…
Its almost like the Devs drew a bell curve for when thier crafting system would be the most useful.
EDIT: In thinking of improvements, I am less worried about the early stages of the game where perhaps some tutorials, handholding quests or even relaxing FP cost based on character level and T1 (maybe T2) crafts could help with understanding and doing basic early crafting… For end-game I think it would be great for crafting to have a “legendary mode” where, at very HIGH cost to the player - like using up 100x the mats, requiring a very rare rune and only being allowed at char level 100 - top tier crafting can become possible again… making crafting become viable at end-game?
That is actually funny and very true,… my filter is super complicated, BECAUSE I want it to be as generic as possible, but still not be build specific and usefull for all kinds of characters, so it ended up relatively complicated 
If you really want to be pedantic, then you’re gonna need to use some shaping and refinement runes on that tier 28 
True, its not a perfect item even if its t28, or t30 or what have you unless its modifiers are perfectly rolled as well.
Do you have any ideas on this?
I didn’t really think a lot about this, but the dungeon system allows to introduce many new or even temporary ways to expand upon the crafting system.
You could e.g. introduce mechanics that let you
A dungeon mechanic could also be introduced temporarily as a season/cycle theme and then discarded or kept based on the success.
Please don’t fixate on the suggestions. My point is that the crafting system can be also regarded as a foundation instead of something that needs to be changed from scratch.
Yes, but how forging potential works prevents many good items from becoming better items, just through a single shitty FP roll, not unlike the previous system that FP replaced. The costs are out of whack.
The system is only marginally better than the previous “brick” system. With the only real noticeable change being the loss of the “breaking” sound when you bricked an item back in the day. Now, it’s just your FP number going to zero.
This is what I said back in the day, that it wouldn’t fundamentally change things other than removing the soul destroying sound when you break an item (& that it can’t make your item worse).
But isn’t that a problem? I mean really. Even with 1000s and 1000s of hours of gameplay, it’s unrealistic to have even a single perfect item. Let’s not even get into the abysmally absurd chances of getting a perfect 4LP item, with (near to)perfect rolls, and then top it off with merging that with a practically impossible to get 4 perfect added affixes.
I understand the “let’s not just hand out the best gear”, but LE has taken it to the extreme opposite, and made the perfect gear virtually impossible to get… even a single piece isn’t something I ever hope of getting anymore, and I’ve been playing this game for more than 4 years.
I just don’t know about a game with a goal of just obtaing “good enough” gear…
There is no reason to even have this “perfect gear”, so its fine to never “complete” a character, they is always something to work on, regardless of how much you play.
If progression because to slow for you either start a new character or maybe we get more other alternatives to do in endgame later down the line.
There is nothing wrong with a system, were the “perfect item” is unrealistic, as long as the player/community expecations are kept in check.
There’s also no reason to not have it either. What does it hurt? If you admittedly can never “complete” a character (per design), then there’s as no reason to continue to play, and work on building it, knowing it can never reach that point anyhow.
Keeping player expectations in check, huh? That’s just a funny way of saying “You can never obtain the carrot at the end of the stick, but we still want you to keep trying”.
Diablo 2 / 3? PoE? Even if you have 100 mirrors there might not be a perfect item on trade available. And if your gear is not 'perfect ’ but you can do all the end-game in PoE isn’t that enough? Also you must consider that things might change when we have a trading system in LE.
You still improve your character on the way so you do your current tasks / goals faster.
Funny, because I see streamers with all kinds of “perfect” gear (hell, I used to watch 2 of them just to watch them craft that “perfect”/mirror gear (Demigodkinglol and PathofMatth). Not to mention trade being loaded with it. The difference there being POE actually has an outlet for you to obtain/craft it. But LE actively prevents that in most cases… you cannot reroll stats on Legendary/Uniques, you cannot add additional LP, you cannot change Legendary affixes once added, you cannot further craft an item with 0 FP, you cannot craft affix tiers past T4, etc etc etc.
While it is a pain in the ass, and/or time investment, I’d argue obtaining that level of item power is actually easier in POE than in LE. And that’s about the only time I’ll give POE praise. And, as for D3, obtaining “perfect” gear is actually how D3 is built. Getting the gear to enable your build is very easy in D3, giving seasonal rewards and the frequency of drops, enchanter and cube crafting. Getting the “perfect” gear is their end-game, and that’s actually obtainable as well… given the exact same methods…it just has a longer time investment.
What goal/task is that, if I’m already beating all the content at lvl 85? What if my next goal is getting a 4LP Argentus with T6/7 (my desired) added affixes? Oh yeah, that will NEVER happen, in any timeline where me, my children, their children, or their children’s children are still alive.
That’s how PoE’s crafting makes me feel. I know it’s possible to craft good gear (others can/do) but it’s just so improbable (for several reasons, one likely being that I don’t approach it like a job so I’m not “efficient” enough) that I will so I don’t bother.