The reason crafted armor isn't viable, yet, is due to Skills and Stat/Attribute points. You will not find any crafted armor with bonus DEX STR or INT... it is also unlikely to find any with skill bonuses. There is a larger list of other combat bonuses not found on crafted armor, but you get the point of course.
That being said, The rock dungeon is possibly going to make a difference in crafted armor soon.
Also, sockets might help here as well, if your not looking to stack skill bonuses that is. Role-playing is always allowed on EVO.
I hope that helps shine some light. I was planning on adding to the wiki's crafting section, but i have a few other things going on at the moment. Time will tell.
One last thing you might do is be a pioneer, and flesh out some answer on your own about Tailoring. I intend to do a little of this myself.
--Sturger--