When this feature was announced the idea was that among the endless stream of useless ‘exalted’ and ‘preserver’ weapons you would on occasion find something interesting.
Since the system has been extended to all items and made only craftable, the costs have to be high because otherwise you could easily put skill modifiers on all your armor and the campaign would become much too easy.
However as a result of this, the initial purpose seems lost. I tried making a melee weapon at level 70 with +fire dmg to hellhound modifier, but realized I needed so many materials, it was easier to just wait for Mythical Dracarris to drop.
Also I would be level 100 anyway before I got the materials and only the highest level weapon would be good enough for such an expensive ascension, so basically ascended preserver weapons are rare endgame items instead of interesting alternatives to green MIs, which is what they should be.
Maybe specifically the weapons can be changed to drop ascended sometimes or be much cheaper to ascend.
Also consider a much lower ascension cost for ‘magic’ amulets and medals!
Amulets and medals without skill modifiers are generally useless, unlike armor and rings.