this has been discussed to death..

Future U/U items will likely be stronger than the current ones, but forbidden melds will always win out due to the high failure %.

I do not see any problems with this power structure:

1. Crafted - no materia
2. Crafted - 1 materia
3. U/U
4. Crafted - 2 materia
5. Crafted - 3 materia
6. etc..