clmayfield, I think you hit the nail on the head. I have 3 501st approved costumes- an AT AT driver, a royal guard, and a Darth Nihilus. None of them I really built myself. I did a lot of upgrades on my Royal Guard, and a few on the other two. Honestly, the costumes I've done the least work on are the costumes I'm most likely to part with to fund my Boba Fett. I love wearing them, but it's eating a meal with your neighbors vs. one you made with your wife for just the two of you. The food may taste equally delicious, but you'll never get that sense of satisfaction of eating that homemade meal.
I think there are a lot of caveats to groups like Anovos getting into the business- mainly, their business model is sub-par at best and their customer service is worse. If this were not the case I think you would have more people flocking to them. You also have the fact that, at the end of the day, if you put your time in and research, you can typically find cheaper kits, made out of better quality materials, at a much quicker pace.
At this point, I would argue that Anovos is giving the tools to a part of the fanbase that traditionally has not wanted to put the work in to make their own costume. You see a lot of people buying their kits and getting approved as stormtroopers via Anovos, but I believe that group is wholly separate from the group that spends hundreds of hours researching and building. In 501st Legion terms, there are a lot more troopers getting approved these days, but I think the chunk of people putting in the time is still the same as it has always been. I'm brand new to the hobby but I was only briefly tempted by Anovos. After doing my research, I knew I did not want to deal with the downsides.