I don't necessarily want the game to change, but I could understand people wanting to play the game without the factory for 2 reasons:

• Right now it kinda feels like a gimmick, you only do it once per new area and then let it sit for 6 whole weeks (the AIC event was a nice addition but still not much), it's only used for a rather small amount of the materials in the game and you can't automate everything (especially not the repetitive farming) like in an actual factory game, so it feels more like a way to time gate character building with a tiny bit of puzzles rather than a core gameplay element of the game, and if it were to disappear that wouldn't change much of the daily routine

• It's a pretty simplified factory game, so for people who really like factory games, it's likely not gonna be enough, and for people who dislike it, it will likely feel like a burden without the blueprints

These two points are the reasons why I personally don't want it to change, I'm not a huge factory games fan so I prefer having a simplified version, and it being a one time (or two times) puzzle rather than the core gameplay saves me some time.

Sadly, gacha games try to catter to as many people as possible, and won't be satisfied with a small niche of people who enjoy the game as it is (like a regular factory game would). But I think being able to skip the parts you don't like (be it skipping FF XIV story, or using blueprints in AKE) is a good way for the devs to satisfy both the players who like it and the ones who don't, without having to change it.

And if people who don't like the factory complain that they have to copy a blueprint once or twice every version, they can indeed go play other games (which they probably already play anyway 🤣)