Agreed with Frith Rae.
I seem to remember a period when Mith Golem comps were fairly easy; I loved killing Mith Golems and did quite well on their comps. I believe that was pre-Manga...
My memory of the T3max tech days was that they were days of plenty. Techs and formulas were easy, though cobalt was tough... but after we matured a bit more, it was all pretty easy. That was also the time that we had a functioning economy... I've always felt that if components were very easily available, players would want many outfits, fitted for many different purposes... Demand would be increased as ease increased.