The mechanic changes to the copper bulb and crafter in this snapshot have broken redstone contraptions. Before the change, where crafters could craft every gametick, and copper bulbs had a one gametick delay, it would be possible to boil down old redstone contraptions and build faster and more efficient redstone contraptions.

Because the copper bulb had a one gametick delay, it was possible to have multiple pistons activate after each gametick precisely, allowing them to extend right after each other as fast as possible. This feature is useful for piston doors and piston extenders.

The crafter was able to craft 20 items per second, or one item per gametick, which has recently been changed to be a lot slower. This change doesn't allow people to craft things faster than one item per 4 gameticks. Even though the most "comparable" blocks (e.g., dropper, dispenser) do indeed run at this speed, they aren't comparable since they do not store items the same way, can't craft things, can be QC powered (although crafters cannot), and cannot have toggleable slots. The only things that are in common with the crafter is that they both spit out items and can have items hoppered inside.

Since this update, game-tick accurate stopwatches using crafters, super-fast redstone latches using crafters, and other interesting uses for the crafter have disappeared. Accurate timings to power pistons using copper bulbs and other interesting uses for the copper bulb have also vanished. The inconsistency with other blocks is what made these items unique.