Warblades, Swordsages, and Crusaders are pretty well balanced vs. Druids, Clerics, and Wizards. I don't see the problem.
Also, I'm one of those people who likes the idea of Magic Item shops. It may not have the same sense of "wow, magic stuff" that going on long, arduous quests to find the mythical sword does; but in the end, it's more fun for myself and my players to do it my way.
Then again, I run a high-magic Eberron/Savage Tide game right now. High lethality, high adventure, high action, all that good stuff. None of this low magic, realistic-ish alternate medieval Europe, grim and gritty stuff here. No, we're all about the guilty pleasures of D&D: Kill the monsters, take their treasure, go to town, schmooze with the nobles, get renown, rinse, lather, repeat.
Augment Crystals and the rest of the recosting of the MIC are good in my book; something to entice players buy items besides the core (Weapon, Armor, Ring of Protection, Stat Adjustment) items.
"Augment Crystals - A Terribly Awesome Idea"
-TRRW