Some of the RNG is nuts...we need to get rid of it

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I agree with this, assuming I understand you. There are other RNG things in FFXIV that I think horribly waste players' time, like Bozja field notes. And it hurts because so many other things in FFXIV at least have "pity drops." Leveling dungeons will drop one piece of equipment for your job every run. Totem and tokens let you purchase gear that wasn't dropped from trials and raids.

I'll be honest: melding is a huge reason why I don't want to get into current tier raiding. It's unnecessarily slow and expensive enough as it is, and the RNG on top of that just sounds too frustrating to be worth it. Not to mention, conceptually the idea of "overmelding" is utter nonsense to me.

But... Pentamelding is only required for people pushing week 1 clears (or world first clears).

You don't need it to raid, at all.