I'm not sure if i hunderstood what you mean but i can tell you how i approach the game. When i set a goal like crafting legendary stuffs i try to achieve it without farming to death, or better say i farm just the thing i find fun. For exemple i like to do fractals, pvp, wvw, some meta event, but i do what i want when i can. I log in and there is a meta event on the run? i try to do it. Maybe i find in the lfg someone who search for my specific role? i join, there isn't? I go in pvp or wvw. Every activity in this game give you gold, some are more profitable, but for exemple if i need gold i don't like to farm riba or others specific meta events like someone do. In the end while doing stuffs you like you forgot about the gold and in a blink of an eye you'll have the gold you need.
One last thing, there is stuff that you can't just buy with gold for exemple the legendary trinkets or armor, mount, titles, wvw or pvp ranks. All these things aren't mandatory and don't know if them really give you 'prestige'; for exemple i set the goal to reach 35k AP for the radiant armor set, maybe more golds can help a bit but not so much