Never been a fan of luck being more important than hard work, and that is precisely what 1.0 was. The amount of materia I had was getting a little absurd also, it's a little crazy for Strength materia to take up five inventory spaces simply because my luck fluctuated from STR16, all the way up to 20.

A triple meld should indeed be a very high risk, however, the fact that it was purely, 100% luck is absurd in a game where pretty much everything is reliant on how good your equipment is. At best you could synth up a +1, for a meager 5% improvement, but when you meld, whether you're wearing incredible crafting gear, or totally naked, the result is the same. This is where I have issues. HQing a level 54 craft is not an easy task, but I've never complained about it, because I could directly influence my odds. Get better gear to craft with, streamline my five skills a little more, use food and guild synthesis support. Melding has none of this. Aside from HQ, they strip the process entirely out of your hands, and you sit there helpless as the explosion animation plays because your +1 is still only an abysmal 22% chance.

So I'm all for the "casual" version. Every single one of my really good pieces of melded gear were only a stroke of fortuitous luck, and my deep pockets of gil. There's nothing really to feel proud of from such a thing, as I basically brute forced my way to what I wanted with absolutely no finesse or skill involved.