Crafting is tedious to learn, but a huge part of the end game. I don't craft for profit I craft for my current builds/future builds/the hell of it. Awakeners orbs especially I just like to throw together and see what happens.
We have a guy who deep dived into PoE this last league. He had played a little bit one league before and he went fucking ham this league. Made hundreds of exalts, had double influenced double awakened elevated boots and shit he made himself. He obviously asked a lot of us a lot of questions and watched a ton of videos about it, but in the end it basically increased his enjoyment of the game by an incredible amount. He had multiple level 98s and played some of the recent temp leagues to just see how easily he can craft his gear again on a fresh start.
I understand a lot of people feel crafting is something they'll never understand so they don't bother, but that's defeatist as fuck and they're just making the game worse for themselves. You don't need the ridiculous boots and shit he made, but understanding how to get X and Y out of Harvest with just random rolls or how to lock in the right prefix/suffix you NEED and getting bonus on top will do people who play leagues past the 2 week boom great benefit. It also turns trash to treasure when you start seeing influence bases that are "bad" then you realize they have an isolated mod that's worth 2 ex to an awakener orber.
Outside of PoEbrainers like the dude who does the work for Grimro or Mathil or Steelmage, it's going to be impossible to learn EVERYTHING about every item in regards to crafting. But if you've got a build you really like and you want to continue playing a good start is to see some of the top end shit they have and when you go "how did they get that?" check for some crafting guides. A lot of niche stuff can't buy their items outright so they have to make them. There's a million how-to's on stuff like influenced helmets for minions or essence crafted items.
You can also become a shitlord and farm niche crafts nonstop for money and buy what you want. I play with some one who makes his gear for his favorite build every league, then decides not to play it, and sells it all for a massive profit. He'll often craft something that's not what HE wants, but is worth more because it hits some odd mod or two that's really good for other builds.
In the end a lot of the time, maybe most of the time, you're better off just farming currency with whatever schtick is posted, but if you don't engage in trade or play SSF it's very helpful just to learn the little stuff like not wasting all your harvest crafts or stuff to save with prefix/suffix rerolls.
