In my opinion Materia should be used as a way to SUPPLEMENT crafted items so it can be comparable to dropped gear. Materia should be a way for people who cant play all the time to have gear that is close to the level of gear that must be farmed. Materia should NOT be the way to get the best gear in the game. Getting rid of multimelds AND making dropped gear stats better would be the best way in my opinion to make this happen.