The reason why they are expensive and time consuming is because they GUARANTEE you get a precursor. You pay extra (in both time and gold) for this guarantee in order to avoid having to get the precursor using ordinary methods (Mystic forge/drops).
Still don’t understand why people are complaining about precursor crafting, obviously it has to be challenging/expensive in order to maintain (or not affect at all) the prices of tp precursors.
if you try to buy from tp you might accidentally buy the wrong precursor. better craft it to guarantee you wont, worth the extra gold am i rite