... then please implement said hypothetical craftables via an earnable recipe rather than the limited crafting time window method.
A.K.A. More like Coliseum rewards, less like Apocrea (or a hybrid like Black Kats).
Rationale:
Since Winterfest comes only once a year, then missing the window of opportunity to make something results in waiting for another 12 months..
Presumably if Apocrea is to be seen every 6 months or so in the same way Black Kat probably is (assuming swapping time limited events in and out is now "a thing") then at least you won't have to wait too long if you get the itch to make one of those event items. Well, less long anyway.
My point being that if someone who doesn't want an item now might change their mind and want it later - I didn't want the Obsidian edge so I didn't make it. But if I change my mind then I know exactly what to do: Build up a Nightblade and keep it on standby until the event comes back.
Waiting 6 months with an item on standby, not ideal but tolerable. Waiting 12 months, not so much.
Of course if hypothetical items are introduced through the box system, like the Cleavers and The Bitter End, then I guess this plea is redundant.
Well the whole purpose of event items is that they are limited. If you do not acquire them during the event, then you should not be able to get them again until the event comes back. If the craftable gear was turned into recipes, then people would have access to them all year round, which would pretty much nullify the fact that they were even rewards.
Unless, of course, these recipes became bound the moment you acquired them like the coliseum ones, but even then it would not seem reasonable to make them recipes unless there were a large number of things to craft and it just wouldn't seem plausible to get them all in a single event. Take the Black Kat event, there were a total of 3 hoods to earn and 6 to craft (plus the BKC earned from the boss). Now going straight and crafting all the hoods in one go seems a bit too much, so OOO made the crafting machine and vendor permanent in Moorcraft. All players needed to do was store up a large number of tokens during the event, then buy and craft the hoods which could be done at any moment year round. That wouldn't be needed for Apocrea, since there are just 3 weapons to craft; it is completely possible to craft all three in the needed time.
So basically, the only way they should make recipes is if there were a large number of items to craft.