Why No Melds?

[Atoli]

I don't know why you would play an RPG and not care about making your character as strong as you can.

Because I can? For example, I play Pokemon with the ones I find cute, which are almost always babies, never fully evolved ones.
I'm always amused by people who tell me "THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO EVOLVE, WHY DO YOU KEEP THEM WEAK ON PURPOSE?!"
I also try to beat most RPGs with the least amount of grind possible, and NEVER get to level 99 or whatever the max is of that particular game.
Because it is more fun/more of a challenge that way, and because I don't see any reason to spend time on getting any stronger than what I absolutely need to. If I can beat it on a very low level, why would I bother getting stronger than that?
Sounds like nothing but a waste of time to me

I mean, this is like saying "Why would you buy Scripture gear or farm alex normal? You don't need it".

Actually, I've said that on this very forum again and again. To be exact, to everyone who always comes here to complain about the weekly grind for tomes despite not raiding - if you don't enjoy the grind for grinding's sake, AND you don't NEED the gear for savage, just don't bother..^^
I know lots of people who do not care about capping tomes each week. I even know some who do not farm Alex NM at all (only did it once for the story).
They do just fine in normal content, and why wouldn't they, after all, SE makes it pretty clear what ilvl is required for which content..

I just love when people are like this, and then rage when they wipe on something like A12 normal at 5%.

Better gear than minimum ilvl has always been nothing but a safety net. It helps to deal with mess-ups, but if you do not mess up, it is not required at all (how common mess-ups are in pug groups is a different topic entirely, though).
My best friend cleared Sophia EX 10 lvl below minimum ilvl, no melds. So what does that make her?

I could get behind a stance of "I get stronger because it is a MMO, since that will make it easier on the other people I play with" but "I get stronger because it is an RPG"? Makes no sense to me at all.