Originally Posted by
Brannigan
You shouldn't be able to get the best gear in the game without leaving town. You're adventurers. The best gear should come from ADVENTURING. This means killing monsters, doing quests, and exploring dungeons. Crafted gear should be good for a starter kit, and some crafted gear (with rare materials that come from ADVENTURERS KILLING THINGS) should be comparable to dropped gear, but mass-produced stuff with materia (that is made from other mass-produced stuff) shouldn't be better than items that actually require an adventurer to go out and do stuff.
Basically, just give U/U gear higher and more interesting stats let it and meld materia, even if it's only a single piece. Take a look at the Sentinel's set. No tank in their right mind would use a single piece of that stuff if it wasn't meldable (except maybe the helmet because, surprise, head materia doesn't matter much for tanks).
Maybe it'll suck for crafters or whatever but oh well. This is Final Fantasy. No Final Fantasy boss was ever defeated by some dude making wooden masks for hours. Plus, crafters will still be necessary in order to get materia and they'll likely add a bunch of crap for crafters to do related to player/company housing or whatever.
If there's no reason to go out and get gear from monsters then people will get bored and quit.