Most of what a player needs’to craft can be gotten with 5 hours of gameplay on an Alt. But given this is a sandbox MMO, yes, it wasn’t designed to be completed with one character, you’re right.
The devs goals I think is that people who enjoy huntin’ would only ever hunt, and people that enjoy buildin’ would find a guild to build with. Hunters can sell their drops at request baskets and use that money to buy new tools’n level up even more. Same with gatherers.
Yes, as an MMO, they want diversification and don’t want one character bein’ able to do anythin’.
What do you think would be a better alternative? It sounds like you may want just a creative mode? Private servers are comin’ eventually.