Please let us socket materia without crafting

[F_Maximillian]

...
Mainly because some people like me do not see the need to rely on others to enhance our stats.

Well see you don't need to rely on others to enhance your stats. The beauty of this game unlike many others is that you can do everything conveniently on one character. It's really a simple choice: level crafters yourself and meld your own gear or be forced to ask for assistance (on an mmorpg, horrors). The only one limiting people here is themselves. If we couldn't request melds or something and the only option was to level a crafter I could understand where the issue lied.

[Mutemutt]

This is an MMORPG, which is called "Massively Multiplayer Online Role PLaying Game" for a reason. You are EXPECTED to interact with other players. Players are expected to help each other.

The level of interaction from melding is so minuscule; it's not worth the trouble if you ask me, but then again I like that I don't have to bug crafters to do menial tasks like repair my gear. The act of melding is just not very involved.

I honestly think they should place an npc that will do the guaranteed melds for a fee so that there's still an advantage to having crafted classes leveled but the system is less bogged down. They can keep overmelds tied to crafters (so we can all join in on the "fun" of watching materia explode) because that's unique to crafted gear.

[Shurrikhan]

Well see you don't need to rely on others to enhance your stats. The beauty of this game unlike many others is that you can do everything conveniently on one character. It's really a simple choice: level crafters yourself and meld your own gear or be forced to ask for assistance (on an mmorpg, horrors). The only one limiting people here is themselves. If we couldn't request melds or something and the only option was to level a crafter I could understand where the issue lied.

You write "choice" as would pertain to not relying on others, and then proceed to offer... only one choice that actually does that. Wouldn't that, by definition, not be a choice?

The choice to level crafters has long since had its value. The only thing that changed is the choice to forego them entirely, including via meld requests, was removed. Dropped gear and crafted gear *were* separate, completely. Now they are not. Why the change? SE may be famous for oversights, but removing a person's ability to maximize his raid gear by himself is hardly a small change in principle, even if a mere 50-130k, countless shouts, a few waits, and so many trade windows in practice.