Times have changed quite a lot.

You don't need to sync to the nug though so surely you can still play it vanilla?

This is why Trials were added. In fact, I think Trials were added specifically to balance the effect of Tier 4 schematics available in Haven through the Golden Nug.

Too bad the Trial that would have made the biggest difference, Walk Softly, is too random to be enjoyable.

Despite the schematics, I had never thought that a Pre-Skyhold build could be overpowered. I have always rushed to Skyhold asap (usually I get there by level 8, if not earlier) since I had never seen the point of grinding and building up a character when you have no Specialization nor runes/fade-touched enchantments.
This dwarf 2H warrior ended up being a character that I found more enjoyable than usual at this level and thus I investmented more on her. But I didn't know she was able to be this overpowered early on.

I feel like Syncing is something that you can RP into doing roughly mid-way through the game. Like maybe you can convince yourself that after a certain point in the story or at a certain influence level the fame of the Inquisition grows high enough to give you access to the best crafting knowledge in the world.

Because I agree that otherwise using the coolest gear is left to too short of a time period at the very end. 

But at the same time I just can't justify syncing up in Haven or immediately after arriving in Skyhold and getting Dagna. Like if you haven't even obtained access to tier 3-4 materials it doesn't feel right to have full access to Tier 4 gear. 

I feel like I need to EARN it to some degree by beating the early game with limited crafting at the very least. 

I think you can apply the same logic to the Emporium as well. Though of course things there at least cost plenty of money and are tied to your progress so you can't just buy super schematics immediately. But you can still cut some corners.

i think combat roll/coming through is a broken ability.
i killed the dragon at level 4. i used a full party though. i just wanted to try it.
i actually regret picking the reaver specilization. i seem to be doing less damage using dragon rage(with bonus damage) than just spamming combat roll. and with cr i can hit multiple targets that are not next to each other.