Proper crafted gear?

[Felis]

Hmm how about this idea:
normal materia meld don't increase the ilevel. If you put in a materia with a higher stat than the cap during a normal meld the materia lose stat points. But the moment you put in the first forbidden meld the ilevel increase by 5 level. For the first forbidden meld the previous stat cap still count, but for the second forbidden meld the new stat cap count.

Crafting gear has never been better then dungeon gear.

you never played 1.19 - 1.23 I guess
Crafting gear with 2 or more materia in it (overmelded with the risk to lose the whole gear if the melding fail) were better than darklight gear (best dungeon gear at 1.21 - 1.23) for some gear slots. Because with crafting gear you can choose the stats while in dungeon gear the stats are fix.

I used this materia table to see which materia can be melded in which gear slot