Seconded on the NPC idea, though I'm in the camp of having the NPC charge a fee that's slightly uncomfortable (like 10K per meld or so) so that there's still a reason to have players do it. This feels very similar to the adjustment they made to have the NPC sell some of the crafting mats that were on timed gathering nodes - I can get an unlimited supply of them easily now, but they're expensive enough that I'd still rather actually gather them.
I would also be in support of easing the level requirements to something closer to the repair level. It's especially jarring when you can easily make a HQ crafted item that's rated at one level higher than your current level and then can't meld to it.
