Materia Melding NPC

I was wondering how everyone is feeling about this material melding NPC. I don\\'t quite understand the necessity, and I feel like it takes something away from those of us who leveled our crafting professions to meld our own gear, help meld our friends\\', and to make some gil melding for others. Now players can go to an NPC, pay a small fee, and not have to worry about catalysts. To be fair, I\\'m not sure what the limits are to this NPC (such as forbidden melds). Perhaps there\\'s something I\\'m missing here that would change my whole view of this, but from my point of view, it just feels like profit is being taken from players like me and sunk into the void of an NPCs pockets.

You cannot overmeld using the NPC. I don't think it's bad. A lot of new players have no materia in any of their lore gear or such. Not even those cheap IVs!

It could be for reasons like they had no crafters, and didnt think to ask anyone etc. So in all, I don't think its a big deal. I'm not sure about the profit either. It's 1 button, I'm not ganna charge someone tons of gil to press one button. Most people will do it for free anyway.

I don't think there is a limit, other than advanced melding. Really, I kinda wished they'd have limited melding to lvl 50 and below gear and/or only up to tier III materia, but it looks like they just went the blank check route instead. :confused:

Melding gear and getting tips for it was just one of the many benefits I thought I would get from getting my Grandmaster of the Hand. Maybe I'm just whining. After all, I can still craft and sell rare items, I save plenty of gil making my own gear, and I get to help my FC members. To me it just felt like they took a form of profit from us and turned it into a money sink. I never expect tips from people I meld for, and I would never ask for much more than the NPC charges. I just don't think it was necessary.