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I am 47 right now (rogue) and, looking towards end-game, it seems drops are all better, with the exception of the shifting cloak.
Blizzard made crafting to create items that hold you over until you can get better drops. Naturally end-game drops almost always beat out what you can craft: because theoretically you could craft infinite numbers of BoE items, and then it would be worthless for people to run instances. The trade-off for crafting is that unlike instances, you don't need a group (most times) to gather the materials for them, and the items are relatively decent.
For example, in Tailoring, the Mooncloth armor is just a tiny bit under the Magister's set for Mages. But it is a lot easier to get Mooncloth items than it is to run instances if you can only play an hour or two a day!
My experience is only with Tailoring, but this is what I have found to be true. Still, I am not giving it up, as it is darn useful for my guild (bags!), I have three epic patterns (Flarecore), and I keep making myself useful items until I get better ones in instances (Mooncloth items). Also, I still want the Gloves of Spell Mastery and the Robe of the Archmage, so I'm keeping it for those as well :-D.