Why would you even own a tier II materia? That stuff isn't even worth selling to an NPC. It's like plaque for your inventory's teeth.
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...history of those pants: I was trying like hell to make some pants with two tier IV Ironman's Will Materia. After blowing up 20 or so pairs, I finally got a pair to work. I use those for WAR. I took off the pants I was wearing and in order to try to make some inventory space, I tried to double meld them thinking they would explode like the 20 pairs before them (hence the lifethirst). When they didn't blow up, I tried again. Since they still didn't blow up, I kept them for PLD. And to why I posted an image of them, I was showing off some triple melds I have. They are the worst one in my post.
And, I use tier IIs in triple melds all the time, but generally only if it's a perfect tier II and the next materia is a perfect tier III. For example a perfect tier II STR is +10, and a perfect tier III is +15. Add those together and you have +25 which is as good as a double tier III meld. After that, add a tier IV and you have a meld that's better than any double tier IV. You also have better odds of success with this method than with two tier IIIs and a IV.
Highest failure rate, so yeah you get a higher turnout for less materia used, but you have higher success on a high level armor with tier II and even III materia...I'm sure he knew that though and just purposefully ignoring it..especially since that wasn't even a serious meld.
I see why you might think this, but having "capped" stats for your weapon doesn't come with any magical bonus. If you have capped stats on a Giantsgall and change to a Garuda weapon, you're better off since the DPS is used in the final damage calculation for WS's. So the "single largest benefit of Garuda's Axe" is the increase in DPS. Even if you can't cap stats on it.
Back on topic though. I really enjoy Skirmish the way that it is. It's good fun content that you can just jump into knowing that it will go well, when there's nothing else going on. If people would like an increased difficulty setting that's fine. Just don't amp it up and cause fails, please.