I think the prices have risen, because alot of the new equips, which people want, are really hard to make and thats why they are very expensive. So people price their stuff higher to be able to buy these equips sooner. Also stuff which is needed for new manufacturings is more expensive now, than it was before the new version was out.

From my personal experience, the people who complain that compounders are such greedy overprices arent compounders themselves. They dont have a clue how expensive it is to buy stuff from the hawaiian store, or egypt, also buying books is expensive. And it is not like they are super-easy to get from that sea animal instance. Even if you are doing it with 12 charas in one day doesnt mean you will get at least a single book 1. Sometimes I have enough bad luck to get not even one book in a whole week.

Also these people seem to think that every compounding will give you exactly what you want, there are no failures and with a book in your compounding, it is guaranteed you will get the best stuff.

If you tell them, that it is not like that at all, they wont listen. If you tell them to get junior alchemy, level it to 10, then get superior alchemy and level it up to a decent level (mine is 22 atm.), they will start to whine about how hard it is to get the needed quest materials first and that they are to lazy to level these skills. Not to talk about that they arent interested in learning how alchemy works, and arent even able to do the easiest compoundings by themselves.

People like that have absolutly no right to complain about the costs of equipment, since they dont know what they are talking about.

And like others said before: If you dont like compounders prices, then get your ass up and learn how to do it yourself, instead of whining, complaining and begging to the ones who already doing the hard work.